28 replies to this topic

[Badboytunes]

How out of date is this story....... It's been common knowledge for years.

[Wigeon Incognito]

I am looking at Cooper S  2004/05.
My daily driver Ford Focus is not very well and I can get a supercharged BINI for £4.5k. Better than spending another £13k on a Ford.

If I buy a Lotus we'd share a garage - I have a 2005 S as well as my RSP.

If you want to know anything about them just give me a shout.

Matt.

[Wise Old Elf]

 

I am looking at Cooper S  2004/05.
My daily driver Ford Focus is not very well and I can get a supercharged BINI for £4.5k. Better than spending another £13k on a Ford.

If I buy a Lotus we'd share a garage - I have a 2005 S as well as my RSP.

If you want to know anything about them just give me a shout.

Matt.

 

 

LOL great minds. I am trying to keep my Focus going till after Christmas as I will know if my current contract is being extended by then.

[mingy]

My wife has got an 05 cooper 1.6 and she has not had a problem with the power steering pump.

BUT THE CLUTCH WENT ( ENGINE OUT JOB ) AND I HAD TO REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wise Old Elf]

My wife has got an 05 cooper 1.6 and she has not had a problem with the power steering pump.

BUT THE CLUTCH WENT ( ENGINE OUT JOB ) AND I HAD TO REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I think peoples expectations have changed. People think that they can run a 8 or 9 year old car and not have to maintain or renew parts.

I would say changing a steering pump after 8 years is not desirable but not completely unexpected. I am running a 2004 Ford and expect to service it twice a year as I cover a lot of mileages and expect to spend around £500 per year on parts.

[Em_the_Ghostie]

I'd agree that people seem to have very high expectations of modern cars these days.  I've got a 55 plate Saab and in the last couple of years its needed a fuel pump, alternator, gearbox linkage, CV joints both sides and a couple of sensors here and there as well as generall consumables like brakes and tyres. Its cost a small fortune but its getting on a bit now and things only last so long before they need replacing.  

 

As a general rule I can't stand watching the out of proportion sensationalist nonsense that is Watchdog, it was on for a bit last night and Richard E Grant really took the biscuit.  Honestly.  I think he was after an Oscar for that load of tosh.  I get people are annoyed at big bills - really I do but things don't last forever.

 

Cheers

Em x

[1984mini25]

I'd agree that people seem to have very high expectations of modern cars these days.  I've got a 55 plate Saab and in the last couple of years its needed a fuel pump, alternator, gearbox linkage, CV joints both sides and a couple of sensors here and there as well as generall consumables like brakes and tyres. Its cost a small fortune but its getting on a bit now and things only last so long before they need replacing.  

 

You mean to say that you actually have to replace parts and service these 'modern' cars, I thought that's what the mot is for?

 

 

 

p.s I was being sarcastic.

[Wise Old Elf]

 

I'd agree that people seem to have very high expectations of modern cars these days.  I've got a 55 plate Saab and in the last couple of years its needed a fuel pump, alternator, gearbox linkage, CV joints both sides and a couple of sensors here and there as well as generall consumables like brakes and tyres. Its cost a small fortune but its getting on a bit now and things only last so long before they need replacing.  

 

You mean to say that you actually have to replace parts and service these 'modern' cars, I thought that's what the mot is for?

 

 

 

p.s I was being sarcastic.

 

 

 

Sadly that is what most people seem to think. That's why everyone should own a proper Mini as a first car. 

I remember my dad tinkering with the car most weekends and checking it over before a journey to the coast on a bank holiday weekend.

[Em_the_Ghostie]

My dad had a mini van back in the day and I used to be in charge of making tea and passing tools while he tinkered .  I remember learning very quickly it was bad to have poured the whole container of oil in rather than just to the line!!!!  He wasn't impressed to have to empty it out again.  Oops!  That wasn't all that old at the time but things broke and needed replacing and he did all the servicing himself.  Thankfully, as most things didn't need plugging in for a machine to tell you what was wrong you could do more yourself.  

 

In general cars are much more reliable but there is a point when things still break and need to be replaced.  The next Watchdog article, stop press..... 5 year old car needed tyres and brakes replacing.  What about all those poor people having to pay for fuel to run their cars...  Yawn.....   I feel sorry for anyone with a big bill they're struggling to pay but its a known weakness with the cars and has been for some time so if its not been replaced yet, might be worth starting to budget for it.

 

Cheers

Em x

[mingy]

My wife has got an 05 cooper 1.6 and she has not had a problem with the power steering pump.

BUT THE CLUTCH WENT ( ENGINE OUT JOB ) AND I HAD TO REPLACE THE ALTERNATOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
I think peoples expectations have changed. People think that they can run a 8 or 9 year old car and not have to maintain or renew parts.
I would say changing a steering pump after 8 years is not desirable but not completely unexpected. I am running a 2004 Ford and expect to service it twice a year as I cover a lot of mileages and expect to spend around £500 per year on parts.

My daily driver is a 1996 Honda Civic 1.6i vtec coupe Auto with 115,000 miles on the clock,it still retains the original clutch,alternator and power steering pump(be it belt driven). On average i cover 200 miles per week and service the car every 12 months. Cheap parts are the issue with the BMW Mini.

[Badboytunes]

A honda civic with a clutch? That's a new one on me if you mean a conventional clutch................

[jamesmpi]

Nope poor engineering. The pump overheats and gets clogged with road dirt causing it to trip the thermal cut out.
American spec and hot climate spec Mk1 Binis had an additional cooling fan fitted to it to blow cool air across it. Not sure if it helped the situation though

Edited by jamesmpi, 28 September 2013 - 06:43 AM.

[mab01uk]

Only the R53 Mk1 MINI Cooper S has the extra small power steering pump fan in the UK, due to the extra underbonnet temperatures caused by the Supercharger, and turning larger wheels/ wider tyres.......it comes on with the radiator cooling fan. Most of the problems in the early MINI pas pump  are caused by the electronic control circuits built into the electric motor becoming clogged with graphite dust from the motor brushes causing shorting out. If you strip and clean this part of the pump it often fixes the problem.......however as with most things these days, replacement is quicker, easier and cheaper if you are paying garage labour rates.

 

Just for the record the EHPS power steering pump system used on Mk1 R50/53 MINI's was specially developed by Rover, see link below:

 

Former Rover Engineer on the new R50/53 MINI Development
Rover engineer Robin Ford says he is proudest of the MINI's steering system because, he claims, he was responsible for changing the system late in the day. 'Up until 1999, the prototype MINI's steering was fully electric with a powered worm-drive. But it was almost surreal: there was no kick-back or feedback. On rutted roads you couldn't feel anything, even at the limit of adhesion. I had overall responsibility for the whole front end and didn't like it.
'The steering department said it could be fixed with a tweak to the steering, so BMW told us to get it sorted. But instead I knocked together a simulator with an electro-hydraulic Rover 25 rack. The original simulator had a Ford Escort rack modified for the right geometry and it felt good, but BMW drove both and chose mine. Fully electric steering was a pet project at Rover and several engineers had tried it in a Mondeo, where it worked well. It was just inappropriate in a Mini – there was no joy.
'It was very hard to package a steering pump on the Mini engine. It's extraordinarily tight under the bonnet. We had to re-write the rule book on tyre and component clearances. In fact we threw the rule book away. There's meant to be 15mm clearance for tyres. Now there is actually a benign foul in extreme circumstances. It was a packaging nightmare – or miracle – and only got done thanks to computer-aided design. We needed a lot of suspension travel to cope with bumps and the 17 inch wheels on the Cooper S were an absolute nightmare to accommodate. I think the sweetest handling Mini was one with smallest tyres – it's a pity the run-flat tyres were added late in the day'.

More Here:

http://www.theminifo...1997/?p=1297947

Edited by mab01uk, 28 September 2013 - 07:52 AM.

[jamesmpi]

Like I said, caused by engineering design even if was Rover, it's a miracle that i made it into production at all.

Thanks for sharing. Good info.

Edited by jamesmpi, 28 September 2013 - 08:03 AM.