UKPylot’s MINI Blog

Passed the 99,000 mile mark this morning on the way to work. I expect I’ll hit the big 100k at the end of Feb or maybe just into March.

Other than that, not much else to say. Other than Carrie is filthy dirty and needs a good bath.

After reading Josh’s comment in my last post suggesting that the noise I have been hearing is an empty power steering fluid reservoir, I took a look and sure enough there was just a tiny amount left in the can. I had planned to get my leak fixed on Wednesday but decided to cut out an extra day’s driving and get it fixed today.

And so, after a few hours at the shop, Carrie is repaired[*] and everything is groovy again. When I picked up the car I talked about supercharger options and the mechanic was of the view that I should do nothing until it actually breaks. I am convinced that an oil service is of no value this late into the part’s lifetime so I’d say it’s a replacement/recondition or nothing for the time being. We’ll see how things progress.

[*] Unless of course I get @dbwildo’s level of quality repair.

I’ve been experiencing this noise off and on for quite some time but it’s becoming a more repeatable event and so I thought I would mention it here.

Not sure exactly how to reproduce it, but it seems that when I have been stuck in stop/start traffic for more than 5 or 6 minutes I hear this loud gurgling noise. It’s hard to explain, it’s a deep noise that makes me think of a liquid gurgling, or even coming to a boil, but without actually sounding like that. The other symptom is that I can “feel” the gurgling through the steering wheel.

It stops after about a minute, and I can feel the vibration in the steering stop the same time as the noise, so I’ve no idea what it is. Possibly it’s related to my power steering fluid leak?? And for all I know it happens at speed too, but just can’t hear it?

Anyway, I’m getting the leak fixed on Wednesday, I’ll bring it up then.

Over the Christmas holiday I pretty much came to the conclusion that I will keep my MINI running for at least another couple of years, rather than get out now before the big expenses comes my way. $2-4k on some maintenance is much less than what I’d need to get into something new and acceptable.

Other than a couple of garage bills, not sure there are any big MINI plans this year. I expect to hit the 100k mile mark in February. Since we did AMVIV last year, we will skip it this year unless my Dad, who will likely be visiting at the time, wants a trip to Vegas. We plan to take the train from New Orleans to SoCal shortly before that so it’s unlikely.

So… probably another quiet year on this old blog (which I prefer to a regular ranting of things going wrong!) but I’ll do my best to pop up from time to time. And in the meantime, hope you all have a great year.

Caught this on BBC Radio One today and found the audio online. Not MINI-related at all, but I know there are some Top Gear fans out there.

No, not referring to an (inevitable) MINI repair bill, but rather a short video of the storm that came in So Cal yesterday. I didn’t quite get home in time to catch the real rain, but you can see by the flow down the hill that we got a bunch of it (1.25″ at Lindbergh Field).

Rain from Paul Sanders on Vimeo.

A little later than the service indicator would have liked, I had my MINI in for the “95k” ? oil change service this morning. Everything went smoothly except for one identified problem: the low pressure power steering hose is leaking and will need to be replaced after Christmas. I hear the MINI is a tank without power steering.

Looking ahead to 100,000 miles they are recommending:

• replace spark plugs (something I should be able to do myself, right? I used to do it on my Mini Metro years ago)
• replace oxygen sensors
• top up the super charger oil reservoir (they are looking up a price for that and will let me know)

I’ll get the power steering taken care of in January, then start saving up for all these new goodies.