Hi all - I have a 2007 Mini Cooper S, 99k. Long story short, vacuum pump seized up, chain slipped, and caused a lot of headache + $.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4254185

An active forum member here, MiniToBe actually offered to do the repair work. I had the car shipped to him and he ended up preforming the repair for me.

It's running just fine and he did an A+ job. However... I'm wondering if I should sell it while I can. I love my Mini but I can't afford the expensive repairs down the road...(should more arise, which seems likely to me.) Thoughts?

Thank you

 

Vacuum pump failure like that is isolated, I've only personally seen it once.

If you had the head gone through, timing cassette replaced and are starting from square one again I can't foresee another hefty repair coming up.

You'll always be wondering when the thermostat is going to fail (or again), or when the water pump is going to fail, or the HPFP, but if the car is paid off and runs fine now I would ask yourself if the bear of a car payment and added insurance premium would be worth it. Should you go with another used car you could also be getting into a different can of worms all together, at least with this car you know a bit of the history.

 

I've had to replace so much on this car... clutch, head gasket, oil leaks, water pump, thermostat... HPFP twice... and I know it's going to need strut mounts and shocks.

I also own a 2006 Prius so I wouldn't have to purchase another car.

 

Unload it now.

 

Thanks, it's a tough decision but since I'm not mechanically-minded I can't do repairs myself.

 

If that's the case, unload it ASAP. I have a 2008 with about 40K miles and other than the clutch and turbo feed line, it's been trouble free. I didn't have the time to replace the clutch but if I didn't have the funds I would have done it myself. All other maintenance I do and can do most repairs myself. For me, I'd keep it since it seems like you've fixed most issues but if it makes you nervous waiting for the next thing to fail, do yourself a favor and get rid of it.