UKPylot’s MINI Blog

Last night I took my MINI back to European Coach Auto Repair for their $100 oil service. You may remember that last time I went there I walked (or rather crawled) out having spent $2000 on a major overhaul so it should probably be no surprise that I lost more than a $100.

For quite a long time now the car has been making an awful noise when hot, sounded like a half-full kettle about to boil, so I was hoping they would find that problem, and they did.

During the oil change their technician Oscar called us over to show us blue fluid over the transmission and under the car. We could see it slowly dripping and there were places where it had been dried on for a long time. The culprit was a leaking thermostat housing so I had to have that replaced. Thinking that must have been my noise problem I figured we were done but then Oscar was testing his work and he set off my noise. I always thought it sounded scary from inside the car but from outside it sounds like total car death is imminent.

Again he called us over and showed us the culprit – the fan that cools the power steering had a bad bearing and this was making all the noise. It was still working so I/we debated not replacing it but in the end the noise just sounded so frightening that I said do it.

So all in all I walked out $700 poorer than I was but the MINI is probably in good shape for a few more months at least. I’m up to 137k miles now, doing my best to catch up with db, so you have to expect more of these kinds of repairs as things wear out.

Yes, I am still here, still motoring but mostly just work and back, though now the weather here has started to cool we’ll be able to use the car at weekends since we won’t die in the stifling heat with the car’s crappy a/c. It’s top down time baby.

The car went through 134k miles yesterday on the way home, it needs an oil change, got to decide where to take it this time. I’m expecting to be told I need front brakes but getting brakes done on this car is stupid expensive. But then again I suppose crashing into a canal because my brakes failed could be a bit more?

I’ve been doing a lot of travelling for work, in the last 3 weeks I’ve been to London, San Francisco and it looks like Tokyo will be next in November. I’m trying hard to get out of that one though.

Anyway, that’s about all I have. I’m drooling over the new Coupe, I spec’d one out for exactly $30k which I thought was pretty reasonable but I’m struggling to work out how to replace my 5 year old Mac Book Pro, replacing my 6 year old MINI Cooper isn’t an option at all.

Most of you know that for the last 10 years I’ve enjoyed a 2 hour commute to work on Monday and back home on Friday. The MINI makes it almost bearable but the saving grace has been my XM Radio which I’ve had much longer than that. But since the merger with Sirius the channel choice and quality has declined rapidly but at least it still had BBC Radio 1 and that’s pretty much all I listen to.

Until now. Whether the Beeb wanted too much, or Sirius just didn’t want to pay for it any more, BBC Radio 1 has been yanked from the service and some emails from their Sr Programming Director show they pretty much don’t care so I have cancelled.

The question now is what to listen to? There are parts of my journey where all I can pick up are Mexican channels so I can’t rely on over the air. Also, much of the trip I only have “1x” service on my phone so not sure I can even use a streaming app on the Droid.

Maybe I’ll listen to some CDs and finally learn Spanish???

Been a while so thought I’d post something, even if random.

MINI will reach 129k miles this week, still a little while until 6 years are up. Generally running ok but there is an awful sounding noise, like a fluid struggling to circulate, when the a/c is on. Well, I think that’s the only time. Did I say think? I meant hope! Of course it will soon be in the 110+ temps so I need the a/c even if it never has worked worth a damn in this car.

My step daughter had a scary run in with some girls in an open top MINI a few weeks ago! They thought she had cut them up and were waving the usual abuse that one does. Then later traffic was stopped and one of the girls got out and wanted to fight. Fortunately my step-d is pretty streetwise and made it clear she should get back in the car.

Recently I’ve had more waves than usual, maybe 5 or 6% of MINI drivers returning my wave.

Well that’s it for now, am off to the uk next week for a fortnight including a long weekend in Dublin to see Robbie Williams (and those has beens Take That). Later all.

Got home last Friday to find two messages on the message machine from a law firm. I have been identified as a possible plaintiff in a lawsuit against MINI for defective windscreen design, and could I please call them to discuss. I deleted the messages.

I’ve no doubt that the windscreens are defective; I’ve had 5 between my two MINIs which I think makes me luckier than most. But I’m not litigious and I hate how these things end up making millions of dollars for the attorneys, and I end up with a $10 voucher to be used against a $300 oil change.

I’ll pass.

When I first got this MINI I was regularly getting 28/29 mpg on the motorway and a tank of gas that would cover the roundtrip to San Diego for work and the weekly commune worked out around 226/27 mpg. A few times I came close to getting 400 miles on a tank, I think one time I would have except I knew there were no gas stations for when I ran out.

But now I’m lucky to get 23mpg and I get excited when I get 300 miles out of a tank and it’s getting me down. I do a lot of miles just for work and I want better than that, especially with gas heading up to $4 in a hurry. Starting again to think about changing vehicles though I really don’t like the idea of car payments, especially with all my money going into my plane build right now and for the forseeable. Maybe I should just get an economical POS and get used to it?

Oh, I stole the title for this from one of my favourite YouTube videos. If you haven’t seen it, beware it contains profanity. Oh, and it also makes fun of Apple fan peeps.

Maybe it’s the “winter fuel” mix but my fuel consumption is really starting to suck. Used to be that my regular commute to and from San Diego would be a 27/28mpg ride but now I’m lucky if I get 24mpg. The car does have 120k miles on it now but when people ask me how the car does they laugh and say they thought the MINI was economical, a car that small should be getting 30. Yes, it should.

In other news our biannual trip to AMVIV is definitely not happening this year, we’ll be going to the UK a couple of weeks later (to see Robbie Williams and Take That in Dublin!) so time and money make it not doable. If the MINI is still running in 2012 (and the Earth hasn’t been destroyed) then perhaps we will see you all then.

Happy New Year to you all.