So with Carrie now at 90k and hurtling towards 100k I’m thinking about strategies to extend her life or, more accurately, save me money in the long term. All of the following have been suggested to me, any one think they are all worth doing at this time?
- transmission fluid flush – no brainer this one, can a lube place do it, or is there special equipment needed?
- fuel injector cleaning – people tell me this is a con and these days they are self cleaning, so not sure about this one
- supercharger oil top up – this seems like a good idea if it will give me another ~50k before it dries up
Oil change is in 3000 miles so maybe I’ll take it to an independent MINI dealer and have the oil and supercharger oil done at the same time?? Anything else you can suggest for the almost 100k MCS?
As far as I know, it’s not possible to refresh the oil in the supercharger. I am, however, hearing of units going to 150k miles and beyond, so there is that.
Transmission oil change would be a good idea too. I don’t remember if you have an auto or manual, but anyplace should be able to take care of that for you either way.
I’m with everyone on the injector service. I think the dealer does as part of service 3 or something, but if you’ve always run good gas, not to worry. if not, a few tanks of Chevron or Union Super will take care of that in short order.
Stay on top of your oil changes. Keep your air filter clean. Stick with OEM filters, both counts. Get them from Moss or OutMotoring or DetroitTuned, you’ll save a few bucks.
Report back if they are able to change the s/c oil. I’m actually going to include that in an ask chad segment on WRR.
I just hit 94,000 and am going to a mini-friendly shop nearby for several things, including accessory belt, spark plugs and cables, brakes and rotors, and more importantly a general inspection. Still the MINI is running good as new so everything is really preventative. I’ll let you know after this weekend if we came up with anything else to do.
I’ve done oil changes myself since the end of warranty, and always use Mobil 1 5-30. Just this year started to loose a little oil, so I just changed to Mobil 1 10-30 High Milage two weeks ago.
Hey DB, I saw several people on NAM say that there was a way to refill the oil in the supercharger, that it takes an hour or two to get at the valves or whatever they are but it is doable, and obviously much cheaper than a replacement.
Josh, yeah I figure I’ll one of the independent MINI dealers to give me a general inspection. But probably not the one that charged me sooooo much money for that brake work last year 🙂
Hum, not sure about any of those, sorry. SuperCharger oil top off, I had no idea they even had oil in them.
Just got my manifold and catalytic converter replaced at 60,000, free, by MINI of Monrovia.
Plug for SC top off is accessable but removal of the water pump is necessary to get to it.
I would replace your injectors….I did mine at 80K and the OEM 330’s looked like they were on the bottom of the ocean for year…..no joke. There are tiny parts inside the injectors and they are not life time, nor are the 8 Rubber O rings holding/seating them in. They are subjected to extreme heat conditions and IMO replace all 4 as they get brittle and you lose power over time.
As parts have gained mileage, I have been replacing them with JCW Factory Parts from MINI. Most cases they are now as cheap as the replacement R53 parts and come wtih a factory warranty. This includes exhaust, Sport Brakes and Sport Suspension.
If you have a manual 6spd. Fluids can be topped off. If an automatic, make sure the tranny filter is replaced as well and dont go to some chain oil shop to do it either, it’s real expensive to replace a MINI automatic transmission…..and most cases those shops will not fix what they broke…..