1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: 03 Cooper S, what to look for?

Welcome, thanks for joining Motoring Alliance, the FUN and Friendly MINI Community.

I moved this to the 1st Generation area as the MINI is an 03.

An 03 will be a dealer installed JCW kit. In order to help validate ask for a certificate. Look under the bonnet for a plaque as well. The Air Box will be visually different.

Look for oil leaks, Crank seals dried up and leak, oil pan gaskets leak.

Look at the coolant tank, if it has crusties around the seam then you'll need a new one straight away. These were prone to splitting.

Lower Control Arm Bushing should have been replaced by now, hopefully with something better than OEM. If not, you'll be needing some real soon too.

Crank Pulley, check it for cracks in the rubber.

Door Sills of that era sometimes had some rust issues. It was sorta hit and miss. Around the tail light area too, some rust sometimes forms there.

 

Welcome to M/A and congrats on your purchase!

 

194k on a 03 Cooper S...if you take care of her she will run forever...

 

Everything Nathan mentioned, also check the coolant tank, should be an off color, if it is white it is recalled. Keep an eye on the thermostat housing, they tend to weep a little. Oil pan gaskets also tend to weep. All little things that are easily fixed. Shouldn't be a problem if well maintained. Currently 302,000 + miles on my 03 :biggrin5:

Nik

 

190k miles on 02 R53 . If it runs good get as good a deal as you can and the rest will work out. New to the mini myself but that's my 2 cents worth

 

MotoringFile has a great first gen buyer's guide here.

You might also think about a pre-purchase inspection (PPI). Especially if the car is being sold by a non-MINI dealer or private party, spending $150 or so for a thorough look-over by a MINI dealer or experienced independent shop will help give you a good idea of what you're in for as far as immediate or upcoming maintenance.

 

also take the vin to the MINI dealer and have them run the maint/service records...you can see if it had or has any maint trends...sometimes if they have to be constantly brought it for a particular part repair/replace it could be a sign that something is wrong

pretty much anything that has a rubber seal you need to check

Oil Filter Housing to block gasket
Heat Exchanger gaskets
Map Sensor
Maf Sensor
Crank Sensor
Knock Sensor
Cam Posistion sensor
Oil Pan Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket
Spark Plug Guide Tube Gaskets
Oil Dipstick gasket
crank seal behind crank damper
rear main Seal
oil pump plate gasket
Thermostat housing gasket
rad exp tank(check hoses for defoliation)
check radiator and heater hoses for leaks and defoliation
power steering pump reservoir
power steering hoses
clutch slave
drain all fluids and replace(trans/engine/brakes/clutch/rad/power steering)