What did you do to your mini today?
More TLC
Let's see last week it was a set of 4 Conti Extreme Contact DWS tires which are fantastic in the flooding rains we've had on the border this week and in Saltillo where I live from the latest tropical storm to hit the coast.
This week, it was an oil change using a Mann filter and Royal Purple 5w30. Front brakes and rotors.
Had a blown midrange speaker in the R/H door panel. Had Infinity Optimus component speakers installed on both sides. Made a world of difference in the sound. Next I'll be replacing the rear speakers with the same component speakers as used in the front.
Next week it will be inner and outer lower ball joints and lower control arm bushings. at 80,000, the left front has about 1/2" of play in them. Waiting for the parts to arrive from Pelican.
Then an alignment as she should be good to go.
This week, it was an oil change using a Mann filter and Royal Purple 5w30. Front brakes and rotors.
Had a blown midrange speaker in the R/H door panel. Had Infinity Optimus component speakers installed on both sides. Made a world of difference in the sound. Next I'll be replacing the rear speakers with the same component speakers as used in the front.
Next week it will be inner and outer lower ball joints and lower control arm bushings. at 80,000, the left front has about 1/2" of play in them. Waiting for the parts to arrive from Pelican.
Then an alignment as she should be good to go.
I had my MCS towed back to the dealership. I was making a bagel run this morning when I had sudden, horrible knocking sounds from the front end followed shortly by the low oil pressure alarm. I put it into neutral and got off the road ASAP.
A quick peek showed me a lot of oil on my right front tire, and there was a steady dripping beneath the car. Needless to say I raised the white flag for the tow truck. About to call the dealer, but definitely putting a damper on bagel-n-football Sunday.
And to think she was about to get a "Happy First Anniversary" gift...
A quick peek showed me a lot of oil on my right front tire, and there was a steady dripping beneath the car. Needless to say I raised the white flag for the tow truck. About to call the dealer, but definitely putting a damper on bagel-n-football Sunday.
And to think she was about to get a "Happy First Anniversary" gift...
I had my MCS towed back to the dealership. I was making a bagel run this morning when I had sudden, horrible knocking sounds from the front end followed shortly by the low oil pressure alarm. I put it into neutral and got off the road ASAP.
A quick peek showed me a lot of oil on my right front tire, and there was a steady dripping beneath the car. Needless to say I raised the white flag for the tow truck. About to call the dealer, but definitely putting a damper on bagel-n-football Sunday.
And to think she was about to get a "Happy First Anniversary" gift...
A quick peek showed me a lot of oil on my right front tire, and there was a steady dripping beneath the car. Needless to say I raised the white flag for the tow truck. About to call the dealer, but definitely putting a damper on bagel-n-football Sunday.
And to think she was about to get a "Happy First Anniversary" gift...
just feeling a little hopeful that I saved enough buying the car to get an extended super warranty...
Installed new outer tierod ends and awaybar links. I thought the front suspension was done and ready for the alignment shop when I noticed the Moog strut mounts installed a few months earlier are just about blown out.
I ordered new Lemforder mounts, went inside listened to some Michael Bolton and started looking at Tacomas. The only other car I've owned that has pushed my sanity to the breaking point was a Mk3 Jetta. The MINI is a hell of a lot of fun, but the honeymoon is wearing dry.
I ordered new Lemforder mounts, went inside listened to some Michael Bolton and started looking at Tacomas. The only other car I've owned that has pushed my sanity to the breaking point was a Mk3 Jetta. The MINI is a hell of a lot of fun, but the honeymoon is wearing dry.
White S lites , very nice.
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MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
I just got off the phone with the Mini service advisor, and yup, the timing chain tensioner did in fact come out. They are still trying to determine the extent of the damage, so no full prognosis yet. Off to search the forums now to see when this has been happening to everyone - I'm only at 47k.
Looks good, but doesn't that stuff come off really easily? I've had friends experiment with it and it lasts a few weeks tops before it starts to peel. Maybe it was the surface they were using?
I did my entire roof. It was white and I decided to try black. Its been about a year now and not one area is it peeling off. If applied correctly with enough coats, it will not come off on its own.
I did a Homelink OEM install in my R56 MCS last night. It's not a job for the feint of heart :D
I had to Dremmel out the roof console, tap into the purple/gray wire (2nd from the right on the black plug) for 12V power, screw the ground into the roof bold behind the sun roof mechanism, replace the F14 fuse after it blew from be screwing around with a multimeter, and now I'm stuck on trying to find a way to get the button plate to stick.
The unit looks similar to this, and the buttons are a rubber "membrane" with a plastic cover.
The buttons aren't quite long enough to reach the circuit board, so I added little "extenders" to them so they'd reach. Do people usually just end up gluing the plate to the console with these?
I had to Dremmel out the roof console, tap into the purple/gray wire (2nd from the right on the black plug) for 12V power, screw the ground into the roof bold behind the sun roof mechanism, replace the F14 fuse after it blew from be screwing around with a multimeter, and now I'm stuck on trying to find a way to get the button plate to stick.
The unit looks similar to this, and the buttons are a rubber "membrane" with a plastic cover.
The buttons aren't quite long enough to reach the circuit board, so I added little "extenders" to them so they'd reach. Do people usually just end up gluing the plate to the console with these?
Kudos in having the courage to work this mod, but I wasn't even aware it was possible. I do know there's a rearview mirror with Homelink built into it for retrofit, but unfortunately I don't know which circuits need to be activated to use it.
I did a Homelink OEM install in my R56 MCS last night. It's not a job for the feint of heart :D
I had to Dremmel out the roof console, tap into the purple/gray wire (2nd from the right on the black plug) for 12V power, screw the ground into the roof bold behind the sun roof mechanism, replace the F14 fuse after it blew from be screwing around with a multimeter, and now I'm stuck on trying to find a way to get the button plate to stick.
The unit looks similar to this, and the buttons are a rubber "membrane" with a plastic cover.
The buttons aren't quite long enough to reach the circuit board, so I added little "extenders" to them so they'd reach. Do people usually just end up gluing the plate to the console with these?
I had to Dremmel out the roof console, tap into the purple/gray wire (2nd from the right on the black plug) for 12V power, screw the ground into the roof bold behind the sun roof mechanism, replace the F14 fuse after it blew from be screwing around with a multimeter, and now I'm stuck on trying to find a way to get the button plate to stick.
The unit looks similar to this, and the buttons are a rubber "membrane" with a plastic cover.
The buttons aren't quite long enough to reach the circuit board, so I added little "extenders" to them so they'd reach. Do people usually just end up gluing the plate to the console with these?
The R56 w/ Sunroof console cover just pops off, and there's two torx screws holding on the underlying black console. I unscrewed that, and there's a compartment in the middle meant to hold some kind of module. I was able to dremmel that area out to accommodate the Homelink casing so it fit flush, then I used a hot glue gun to secure it in place.
I then dremmeled a hole for the buttons into the gray console cover, glued it in place with some superglue, and put a clamp on it for a couple of hours so it would dry flush.
The rubber button posts didn't quite reach the buttons on the circuit board inside the console (as shown: )
Therefore, I glued 1/8" extensions on to the posts using a strand of rubber flashing I happened to have. Makes perfect contact now.
12v power was supplied by the thick purple wire on the black connector located inside the console (search the forum for the instructions on hooking up a radar detector). The only other thing needed is a ground, which is available with a 10mm bolt attached to the frame in that same area.
Here's the finished result. Not bad and it opens the garage door a block away from my house
Today, on my 2003 EB/B MCS, I replaced the top and bottom clamp and supporting bracket for the right muffler. I had recently noticed a clunk noise from the right rear. I pulled the right rear wheel, expecting to find a broken sway bar link but instead found the clamp was kaput. The OEM Muffler itself shows signs of corrosion and will probably need to be replaced sometime next year; I think it will make it through the winter fine. It probably would have been better to replace it now but that just wasn't in the cards.
When I do replace it, I will replace it with an OEM exhaust. Keepin' it real!
When I do replace it, I will replace it with an OEM exhaust. Keepin' it real!