[Mr T]

Gave this checklist to my dealer to go through prior to delivery of my car later in the week - thought it might be useful for others. Won't stop problems occuring, but should make it more likely that your dealer will have sorted them before you collect the keys. Interestingly, he said he had seen all of these faults since mini started production, but that most of them have been corrected in current cars - with luck he'll be right.

Programming of Mini computer

· Auto door locking at 12 mph
· Follow-me-home lights
· One click for driver door, two for passenger door

To be checked prior to delivery

Interior

· Faulty seat adjusters, causing seat to lock
· Passenger seat adjusters fitted
· Poor cloth/leather seat coverings, or leather not properly fitted
· Driver and passenger seat squeaks and rattles when driven
· Dashboard squeaks and rattles when driven
· Rear seat assembly not bolted in properly
· Handbrake ratchet too light or not holding at all

Exterior/Body

· Boot hatch very hard to close
· Boot hatch pops open while driving
· Boot hatch squeaks and rattles while driving
· Paint cracks in roof above boot hinges
· Roof leaks at aerial mount
· Angled aerial mount installed – do not want straight aerial mount
· Condensation in tail lights on frosty mornings
· Wheel arches not properly affixed
· Improperly aimed windshield washer jets
· Loose windshield rubber moulding
· Windscreen cracks
· Windscreen wipers incorrectly adjusted, causing windscreen scratches or loud wiper noise
· Rear screen wiper incorrectly adjusted, resulting in incorrect operation, windscreen scratches or loud wiper noise
· Fuel filler flap not properly fitted
· Foggy areas in paint
· Light marks on black wheel arches
· Plastic gutter around roof not properly attached

Fuel System

· Inaccurate fuel gauge due to defective tank/sender unit

Electrical

· Central locking failure – all locked or not lockable
· Window motor failure
· Air bags not functioning correctly – indicated by ECU
· Defective ignition key
· Heated mirror failure
· Wiring harness failure
· Windows open or doors unlock by themselves while car turned off
· Boot warning light stays on when boot closed - defective or improperly mounted sensor
· Tyre pressure warning light blinks or comes on despite correct pressure in all tyres
· Some owners’ wiper motors have drained the battery while car not on if wipers were not shut off properly – apparently fixable by reprogramming ECU if not correctly set at factory
· Check battery fully charged

Engine/Gearbox

· Engine clatter on startup
· Clank or clunk when clutch is released - possibly due to ABS not properly programmed/ integrated
· Hesitation/flat spot in first gear
· Loud whine from power steering pump – above standard level which is acceptable
· Noisy air conditioner
· Low oil pressure
· Engine overheating - due to defective radiator cap – can damage engine
· Reverse gear failure

Chassis/Suspension

· Car does not pull to left – if beyond acceptable tolerances (i.e. if not a normal drift with road camber in either direction) current BMW fix is to fit new front suspension springs, although this does not always rectify the problem when it occurs - acknowledged by BMW as a flaw in some cars built to date, and covered on mini2.com website and Which Car? Magazine. If this is a problem, procedure apparently requires car to be checked on KDS machine to determine if it can be returned to acceptable tolerances

ICE

· Stereo volume/speed automatic adjustment not functioning

[LMB]

Were they not insulted

I would half expect them to tell me to f**k off if I handed them a list like that. I bet they just threw it in the bin the second you turned your back

I must say thought it is a very extensive list. I think I will use it myself when I pick the car up, just to check all is ok.

Cheers

LMB

[Mr T]

Strangely enough, no. I've a good relationship with the dealer (who is a decent fellow), and was not surprised that he admitted having seen all of these faults on customer cars.

Interestingly, he explained a few causes of some of the faults which haven't appeared here before and agreed to fix the squeaks in the seats when (not if) they occur - he expects this fault on most minis.

And realistically, the guy is a car dealer - it isn't possible to insult them. End of the day, we're the customers and they are taking our money.

[rascal]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr T

Interestingly, he explained a few causes of some of the faults which haven't appeared here before

such as?

[pbraun]

So, Mr T, very interesting list - I am glad your dealer reacted well to it. I'd be interested to know what are some of the easy ? fixes for these faults that we may be able to affect here in our home garages?

Any help would be of interest to many, probably.
Thanks in advance!

[Mr T]

The bits I hadn't read before were:

· Driver and passenger seat squeaks and rattles when driven: he didn't explain what the standard fix was, just that it would be done as soon as it occured
· Handbrake ratchet too light or not holding at all: apparently this is nothing to do with the ratchet, but related to the nature of the mini's handbrake - which is a pad type, for those who know what that means (not me). When the car is driven hard, the handbrake doesn't hold particularly well for a little while afterwards. Leaving the car in gear when parked is the solution
· Angled aerial mount installed – do not want straight aerial mount: dealers don't know what type it will be before delivery. He was a bit vague on swapping it over if it wasn't the right type, but will doubtless swap it if push comes to shove
· Windscreen wipers incorrectly adjusted, causing windscreen scratches or loud wiper noise: apparently at speeds of 90mph and above the front wipers have a tendency to lift off the surface of the windscreen due to the car having the aerodynamics of a housebrick
· Boot warning light stays on when boot closed - defective or improperly mounted sensor: apparently not always a defective sensor, but sometimes occurs because of a link in the ECU with the boot and bonnet sensors, and the bonnet not being properly closed
· Hesitation/flat spot in first gear: this was a relatively frequent problem on early cars with aircon, so the ECU has been reprogrammed to give more juice than you would expect from your pedal pressure to compensate in first
· Low oil pressure: the only car they had with this problem was the fastest one they have seen, although they never found out why before BMW took it back
· Car does not pull to left: said that he found the left camber drift (his words) particularly pronounced with 17 inch wheels. He was debating with himself whether to specify his next demonstrator with them, as while he liked the looks he didn't like the hard work of driving them

Think that was it.

[smiffy]

Ive seen smaller shopping lists

[Rob.]

Mt T,
Let us all know if your list makes any difference at all to the quality of the car you pick up. The salesman doesn't do the PDI so I don't think that list will get to the correct people anyway. Why are you buying the car if you think it suffers from all the faults you have listed?

[Mr T]

The dealer is passing it through to the PDI folks, so I'll see how they get on.

I'm buying the car because it is grand, and I don't expect mine to have any faults on delivery (or shortly thereafter should any occur). Part of my reason for ordering now and not back in July was to allow the production process to settle down a bit - all new production lines go haywire at first, even if owned by BMW. The car I test drove extensively in July didn't have any problems, but obviously some folks have had problems since.

Given our access to the experience of others on this site, it seemed wise to apprise the dealer of potential problems others had experienced which I didn't feel the need to experience myself. That way if the car has them when the dealer receives it, he can check and sort them.

[Mr T]

Picked it up on Friday.

Checklist very useful, except for the dreaded left pull. Car otherwise 100%, so contacted dealer today to get them to sort it out. From other threads it sounds as though BMW doesn't have a cure yet, so we'll see.

[Rob.]

Sorry about the left pull mate. Hope it gets sorted quick. Let us know what the dealer says. How bad is it?

[Apial]

I have only just read the list of PDI things to check. DO NOT DRIVE your MINI until you have checked the coolant level. My first MINI went back to the dealers with only 35 miles on the clock with a cooked engine never to be seen again.

Otherwise your list is fairly comprehensive.

[ELISEBOY]

seems a great list
i will give it to my dealer who i am sure will be very unhappy buy *** him he is taking over £15k from me so i expect it to be right

Can you just explain the computer probs in a bit more detail - i thought that the 12mph lock was supposed to happen?
what are follow me home lights?
and are u saying that when u click the remote only the driver door opens then?

Cheers

[Mr T]

The pull is noticeable - drifts left in a flat carpark, and on a gentle country road will eventually pull over the crown of the road from the right hand side - so not camber drift.

The first bits in the list about programming the ECU are just options you can ask for - not problems.