Engine Drivetrain 1st Gen Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: My Aggressive Maintenance Plan - Discussion Thread

I change my plugs out at about 40,000 miles. They look worn, but serviceable at the mileage. At that mileage I also change out the ignition wires.

As far as lifetime fluids, trans fluid is changed on my MINI at 50,000 miles. Fluid is cheaper that gearboxes.

These are just what I do. Doing these things more often will not hurt a thing.

 

DAMN!

Here I thought I've been doing a pretty good job of checking oils, fluids, etc. and somehow I seemed to have overlooked the turn signal fluid!

Where is the reservoir?























































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I've been thinking about this and will read you plan with great interest. I only wish you had a 2nd Gen car, but I'm sure it will give me food for thought.

Jim

 

Good stuff

Mark

 

Looks like a reasonable schedule for fluid/filter changes for a car that sees track time.
Surprisingly, I have never needed to change a car battery in 25 years of driving. I made up for that with my garden tractor though - 4 batteries in 7 years.
Windshield wipers twice a year for me - the winter salt is hard on them and maybe I'm fussy too.

 

You might want to consider getting the Silblade wipers. They have a five year warranty. I have had a set on my car for a bit over 5 years now and they still perform like new.

 

Good article. I like where you're going with this.

Some thoughts:

What's an intercooler oil swap?
30k on belts is aggressive. I think 60k is fine on a modern ribbed belt.
I don't plan on changing my O2 sensors till 150k.
Water pump? (100k or failure) Supercharger oil? (40k if DIY) Supercharger rebuild? (100k or failure) <- high labor costs, tough to recommend prior to failure for non-DIYers
I change my cabin air filter when the maintenance interval counts down to 0.
Is there a different MINI-recommended interval on the JCW spark plugs?
Coolant hoses? I suggest 150k, inspect yearly
Also inspect yearly for leaks/tears/failure: oil pan gasket, crank sensor gasket, crankshaft seal (behind pulley), lower engine mount, power steering fan, power steering rack, shocks, front strut upper mounting plates

 

I would only change spark plugs after they failed a visual inspection, not after a set number of miles.

With every oil change seems like way too much to me!

Dave

 

Found this on Motoringfile.

MotoringFile » Archive » Ask MF: R53 JCW Spark Plug Bulletin

"Every service interval" comes out to about 15,000 miles.

 

? Mini lifetime fluids how long do they consider lifetime?

 

About 100k or when the part fails. A good example is a clutch: you wouldn't replace a clutch until it fails because it's so much work and money to replace, even though you know it's going to wear out some day. So whenever they had a part that was difficult to replace (like a supercharger or automatic transmission), they just declared the fluid "lifetime." Most parts these days are designed for about 100k miles or 10 years.

 

16 year old daughter will be driving this car. I figure a clutch sooner than later
I figure I will do the trans fluid then. PS and Brakes now.
I've been noticing a top engine knock/ping at start up. I search this forum and found Service bulletin about carbon build up on cylinder walls. There was a picture of a tool that looked like a pipe with a chain attached in. 2 places. I gathered it was to slip down into the cylinder and spin it to break up the carbon while flushing with a cleaner. Craziest thing I ever saw. Have any of you had experience with such a thing.

 

I think it had 3 other bulletins that went with it couldn't find those. I am curious to know.
I'm afraid my knock may be poor oil distribution to the top. May have bad seals. It does have 190000 miles.
As far as maintenance goes its probably too late to get to aggressive.
Kind of looking foward to the rebuild actually. I am going to change out those life time fluids.
Nice write up by the way enjoyed the read.