I had a quick look at this 05 yesterday. The wife liked it very much. It has over 100k on it with a new cat, muffler and a new clutch. It drove nice at highway speeds. The only concernable defect that I found was a wear spot on the aluminum housing below the intercooler. A hose clamp was clocked wrong and had been rubbing. There is, what appears to be a freeze plug in this housing, that is located about 5 inches to the right of the worn area. Sorry, I did not take a picture of what I am talking about. I think it is an intake plenum. Are there any other things I should look at? I found this photo from one of the member here. This is the item that has wear from a hose clamp.
Welcome to MA and good luck with the potential purchase. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along before too long with some other good tidbits of what to look into, but I can pass along the one item I do know for sure about. One of the flaws in the '05 (and other 1st Gen MINIs) is the front strut tower housing - apparently the metal in the top of the tower is a little too thin for the stresses the suspension places on it. Many MINIs of this era end up with deformed strut tower tops, most often referred to as 'mushrooming'. The presence of a deformation like this isn't a reason to outright eliminate the purchase, but it is something to be aware of, since the mushrooming can affect your suspension. There are products available (companies like Craven and NM Engineering make strut tower reinforcements to either prevent the issue, or help the issue from worsening. Keep us updated on how things go!
That piece is a pretty thick casting. I'm not sure how thick it is. A picture would help. If the gouge is not too very deep I'd think you'd be OK. Turn the clamp once you buy the car. Sounds like a nice MINI you have lined up. Welcome to M/A.
Hello, my 2005 MCS is at 120k plus at the moment Great car Great Year 05 & 06. Yes please check the strut towers. Hopefully they are not damaged. If they are not damaged you are in luck. If you buy the car the first thing you should purchase are strut tower plates or braces. They are readily availabe from several MINI 3rd party vendors and will bolt on. Check torque specifications. If you do that you should also consider a combination Strut tower brace & plates to stiffen the front end and reduce some body roll. Look for oil leaks, specifically the pan and oil drain plug. If the car was maintained at Jiffy Lube the drain plug may be stripped. The Oil filter housing will leak if the canister "O" ring has not been replaced. Every oil change requires a filter change and comes with an "O" ring for the canister. If the Jiffy lube is clueless or lazy the canister "O" ring will not get replaced and will leak. You may get lucky once without the "O" ring not replaced, but it will flatten and leak eventually. If so you will know it is leaking from all the oil on the floor. You also risk the possibility of so much oil leaking that the engine will be damaged if not caught right away. Also, leaks at the front of the car. When looking straight on at the lower front right corner of the lower valance. If oil is dripping on the ground from the approximate area, there is a possibility that the "O" ring of the crank sensor is leaking and will have to be replaced. Check the coolant reservoir tank or container on the center of the firewall. It is beige in color an is made of plastic. It is a 2 peice container with a prominent seam in the middle. Look at it closely for signs of coolant leaks. This was a weak spot that can be easily fixed with a replacement. Check the windows make sure that they roll up and down smoothly and stop without making ANY king of noise as in grinding or skipping slipping. Window motors can be expensive. Same applies to the sun roof if it has one. If it has a sun roof check the Sun Shades. Also the glove box door release. They have been know to break. Interior door handel release, the cables stretch after time. Check both doors but primarily the driver side door. Make sure it has both keys and if you are lucky the emergency valet key. Original replacement keys are about $200.00 and you have to go to the dealer with your VIN to have it made and programmed. If you have both keys make sure they both work. Check each to make sure they lock and unlock the car. You should rotate the use of the keys in order to keep the batteries charged. Check the brake rotors and make sure that the rotors do not have a deep ridge or lip at the top of the rotor. Run your finger nail from the center hub up and out toward the edge of the rotor. If there is a ridge you will have to replace the pads and rotors. Every brake change should include the replacement of the rotors. MINI rotors cannot be machined because they are thin enough for normal wear but not thick enough to be resurfaced and used again. If you replace just the pads and not the rotors the new pads will wear twice as fast and wear the rotors even further. Good Luck! I hope this helps and the car passes muster. I'd be interested in your evaluation. Cheers Rob:fingerscrossed:
I bought the mini this morning. I will take some pictures this afternoon and post. I did not see any potential problems of items listed above. Thank you for listing them. The wife likes the mini very much and with your your help (Motoring Alliance), we will keep her happy. Thanks.
This is a rambling post, and invitation for comment/advice. My R52 (British Racing Green - loaded/leather) is my first sports-type car ever. I joined the PDX Mini club and have been slowly adding bolt-on mods, but am still reluctant to do major surgery - not wanting to mess up the OEM aspects of the car that perform perfectly. The car looks and sounds stock from the outside, but performs far better than when I first got it. I read comments on various mods. I want to maintain mileage - (averaging about 26 overall - Mostly suburban driving, and 29 freeway), while increasing performance. I know - tricky, so am taking it slow. Maybe it is time to stop before I go backwards. The DOS copper IC unit seems to make the car more responsive, especially in hot weather. So far, doesn't use any discernable oil - still full after 10K miles since last change. (Amsoil 0-W30) Everything done so far has improved the car - some more and some less. To me, this car is a really fine automobile now, after all the mods. On the other hand, you can't have too much HP, and I wouldn't mind about 20 more. I am thinking Borla STREET catback exhaust, (not too loud and no droning?) Helix13 380cc quad-cone injectors, (better spray pattern?) maybe the right street cam, DT BPV, and cowl mod (5.5" hole). Not sure I want to open things up for a cam. Some say Borla street cat-back is only slightly louder than stock, which would be good. I don't want loud. But if there is a little more power to be had without destroying the smooth linear power and other fine characteristics, I'm interested. I bought a DT BPV, but have heard it adversely affects driveability and mileage due to stiffer spring. My BPV seems OK, - smooth spring action, and the stop screw is at the same setting as the DT unit. Others have removed theirs because the stiff spring adversely affects drive-ability - inability to modulate the throttle smoothly in street or steady moderate throttle. Apparently creates an on-off effect. (But DT advertises one more pound of boost due to better closing.) My car is rated 21 city 29 Hwy after adjusting for new EPA. I keep fairly good track (miles driven divided by gas purchased) and actually got 29 on 5K trip to Indiana and back driving 75-85 MPH, and I average 26 all the time - living in town driving about 35-40 MPH. I do drive conservatively - low RPM - 2,000 - 3,000 except when I want to have some fun on back roads. So, over-all, I can't complain. Maybe the Cabrio design is less slippery and takes more gas at higher speed. So, it's hard to believe people who claim to get 35 MPG from heavily modded cars. --Russ 2006 R52 Mfg Date - Oct 2006. 36K miles. Mods: Mini-Madness Stage II package (except exhaust), ALTA (TB) Inlet tube, DOS copper IC, Koni FSD shocks/struts, Madness upper and lower bar/braces, Madness 22mm rear anti-sway, Power steering fan enclosed duct and bumper valence, Madness strut under-tower reinforcement plates, and longer strut plate studs.
Picture of the Mini. http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/member-garages/11219-little-donna-2005-mini-s.html