1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Today's Job

Today's Job #5

Installing Madness poly front control arm bushings in a Cabrio was the main purpose of today's job. Along the way a few other things needing attention came to light. The power steering hoses were leaking quite a bit, the reservoir could be turned easily in either direction because the clamps weren't secure. The quick & easy fix is to tweak the crimp a little more.





The Cabrio owner stopped by to drop off a new lower engine mount and noticed the left front strut body had oil on it. Instead of oil weeping above the spring perch it was coming out the bottom.





After removing the strut and disassembling, there was no damping remaining, pulling and pushing the shaft created sounds like a washing machine. Now we know the cause of the clunk he was experiencing on turns to the left.



A reminder that the bolt securing the control arm bushing bracket to the body is torque to yield, 42 lb-ft + 90 degrees torque angle. It should be replaced with new rather than reused.

 

Another one bites the dust.

I installed one, but if wouldn't function correctly; the BPV piston would stick preventing boost from building.

A few tips for you when you get around to installing yours. A T-25 and 3mm Allen will also be needed, plus a short M6 bolt to mount the relay bracket. The instructions illustrate positioning the BPV when used in conjunction with their optional spacer with vent, without the spacer the vacuum nipple has to be placed just right to avoid contact with a coolant tube on one side, or the turbo inlet duct (not shown in the photo below) on the other, it also must be out of the way of the Allen bolt to allow assess with an Allen wrench.




Also, if the directions are followed to the letter, a relay mount bolt will press against the turbo inlet duct.




It's not enough to only shim the bolt, the bracket needs to be bent downward to both provide clearance for the bracket, and prevent the horizontal vacuum hose from becoming pinched against the inlet duct.

 

Today's Job #6

This MINI is going to be a source for many posts over the next week. The poor thing was screeching and rattling as it drove in.

I've seen hydraulic engine mounts collapsed further than this one at much fewer miles. The first example is at 158,000 miles, the more normal mount below it has 60,000 miles of use, and a perky new one at the bottom.







Note the dust cap is peaking above the tower opening in the first photo. The strut guide bushing is extremely stretched, it's surprising there is no cracking up top also. Below it is the other side at normal height.

 

There was less than half the normal amount of coolant I usually collect from a first generation drain. In this case it no longer resembled coolant.





The expansion tank is split, and the hoses are wasted. Evidence of overheating is present, but the owner has never seen a dash lamp. Amazingly the water pump is just fine. There was no loss of fluid in the supercharger's gear cases either, and the lobes have most of their coating remaining.

I know where some of the screeching came from, the idler pulley bearing is bone dry. I told the owner his crankshaft vibration damper was failing about 50,000 miles ago, it somehow made it this far without tearing, it's much too wobbly, but no separation externally.

 

The radiator was clogged with mineral scale, it took a very long flush before flow was strong, clear, and flake free.

 

The other engine vibration/pitch control bushings are in need of replacement also.





The only thing I dread more than putting the steering column boot & dust cover back in place is replacing the AC expansion valve. It appears innocuous enough, but this task is very frustrating.

 

After 50,000 miles, the poly bushings no longer had lube. The control arms would hold any position they were placed at. The busings weren't squeaking, they made a noise more like a groan when the arm was moved up & down.




Fresh lube and they're ready to go.




The bottom side of the bushing with the bearing peeking through shown earlier. The bushing on the right is torn top side, yet the bearing didn't press through like the one on the left.




An odd discovery, one of the caliper guide pin bushings was missing.




The gear box fluid drained from this car was almost like water; it had a little bit of amber color remaining, but not much else resembling lubrication.

 

The polyurethane Powerflex bushings had been on for 50,000 miles. The transmission fluid was in for 158,000 miles; based on the appearance of the fluid, I think it was close to useless for film strength, probably adhesion too.

The condition of the clutch and release bearing is predictable; with the three main failure symptoms present, pulsating pedal, slipping going uphill, screeching with the pedal down, I expect to see a mess.

 

There was no significant amount of oil in the coolant.

Coolant always flows through the heater core and I'm sure it is not clean.

As bad as this appears, I've seen a large amount of silica material come from a low mileage radiator with almost clear colored fluid, and flow was just about as limited. Not much sandy precipitate was present in this drain.

 

A common issue I see are rub areas on the upper radiator hose. The upper rub is caused by an edge on the radiator fan shroud. The fix is to cut or grind the corner away.








The lower rub is caused by a hose clamp, be sure to rotate clamp ears to avoid contact with hoses.

 

The bell housing bolts, including the starter, were way over tightened on this car. I broke a socket trying to remove the hardest to access bolt on the gear box.





I knew the clutch release bearing was going to be bad when I split the transmission bell housing from the block and a ball bearing dropped out.

 

Surprisingly the disk was OK, glazed, but OK. The pressure plate and flywheel heat ring only had one high side, and wear was normal. The flywheel had no spring action remaining, but no rocking of the secondary mass, which I usually see on a high mileage or failed flywheel.




I don't know that color tells a story when it comes to transmission fluid health. It shouldn't be dark since there's no exposure to combustion byproducts, but I do see it sometimes, and in the case of Gene's transmission fluid his was multi-colored swirls. The fluid in the first photo is unknown, and only a year old, it came from a MINI with a seized clutch and failed 2/3 gear synchro. The second photo has 30,000 miles with a Quaife differential, it was a cocktail mix of Silkolene Syn 5 and OEM MTF-94.