Enfield boy
pfm Member
I always found the girls alone always cost more than a fiver
That's a very expensive alternative. For the price you can have waxotl twice a year and probably pay someone to do it for you. It's only half an hour on the ramp. In fact I DIY, I don't bothef with a ramp for a simple blow round underneath.
That sounds like it may be dry solder issues in the dash George. An auto electrician may be able to rectify that quite cheaply.The Mini is close to its death rattle. Computer rot has started. It still goes, but the dash lights are now a Christmas tree light set and the speedometer is intermittent, and apparently the car engine is boiling after eight hours of quietude!
OBD diagnosis this afternoon stated a fault as simple as the Engine Computer has lost contact with the instrument panel computer ... To replace the dash computer is £180 plus VAT and then fitting and co-ordination with BMW to allow the new parts to access the ECU ... etc. £400 only to diagnose that it either is the dash computer or a faulty wire! ...
The car still works, but it is only a matter of time before the thing shuts down the engine without warning of the actual death.
So I have to get a new to me car pronto.
I wish I could afford a non-corroded 2CV or Morris Minor pick-up or van. But these things are now boutique fashion accessories ...
I am currently on the trail of a Renault Clio. ...
Best wishes from George
That sounds like it may be dry solder issues in the dash George. An auto electrician may be able to rectify that quite cheaply.
I had similar multiple erroneous faults on my Focus. Fixed without any involvement with Ford.
This is good advice. I was quoted 4 figures for ecu replacement, testing and repair was cheap.@George J
Try typing, oh: 2004 Mini ECU repair specialist UK into google as I just did - and then read-around some of the best-recommended, maybe call a couple to discuss.
It is clearly a known 'thing' - and the repair from such a specialist will be very, very much cheaper than ... scrap & find a replacement car (esp one you obviously enjoy).
Computers in cars can visit the Foreign Office as far as I am concerned.
Lovely motor George. That first series still had an aesthetic nod to the original unlike the current Frankenstein monsters using the brand…“mini” they are not.
Not mine, but ...
I now have this model and colour legally on the road as of today!
I bought the car last November, but kept it parked while I ran my Toyota Aygo into the ground. The Aygo was officially scrapped and de-registered yesterday. Scrapping got me £145, which I find remarkable - nice of course, but more than I expected.
I put some petrol in the Mini and fitted a new three year guarantee battery - guaranteed to fail one week after being three years old! I am a real skin-flint. It was the cheapest I could buy, from Halford as it goes.
Anyhow, I drove over to my favourite local car garage to show them my latest vehicle. They have been servicing my various cars since 1979, so there is trust for sure.
Then I did a fifteen mile test run, and the Mini is actually rather nice, though the steering is alarming in its directness after the Aygo, and the exact opposite of my favourite car the Volvo 240 which I ran an example of from 2000 to 2011. That was made in 1989. Steering that car was interesting. You had to move the steering a long way before any perceived change of direction became apparent. The first reaction of the Volvo - long before any obvious actual change of direction was that the car leaned! But it was terribly stable and did not require fussy adjustments to direction ... It understeered for Sweden, or Great Britain or other old national stereo-types. The point was "never to go into a bend too fast."
But the Mini is like my Carlton bike. The steering is electrifyingly responsive. Sneeze and you could be over the hedge!
The engine is good, also the clutch. Brakes rather reticent, just like the Volvo, you have to shove, and the serious braking then kicks in. I like that. Not over-boosted. The clutch is also every bit as weighty as the Volvo. I like that.
I only paid £400 for mine, but it seems likely to be good for a few more years yet!
Best wishes from George
I am already a member of that forum! Never posted, but have read a good deal. I had never given the idea of getting another Volvo a moment's serious consideration beyond dreaming of it!George, I'd take Martin Clarke's advice above about googling for a specialist, in the first instance. It's clear the car suits your needs and if this fault is rectified at modest cost, could well serve you a while longer yet.
But if you're set on changing it, and knowing your fondness for old Volvos (one I can agree with) I might suggest you start looking at https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/index.php
There's lots on there about older Volvos like the 740/760, 940 etc, or even your beloved 240, and quite often cars are advertised for sale. These are usually enthusiast cars and have been well looked-after. If I were looking for an old Volvo, it's where I'd start.
A lot of them are driven like barges no matter the weatherWhy do people think an "suv" doubles as a boat!?
There are oceans of poverty spec 1.2 Clios out there. Nothing is cheap right now. As for a radio, you won't find one without, though they are easy to remove it you want to. If not, they do come so an off switch.Today, I inspected [and briefly drove round the block] a 2010 Clio. It was the turbo diesel four door version in high specification, including built in Satnav. Had low profile alloys where the tyres would be horrendously expensive!
Nice car that dove well, but over-priced and over-specs'd for me. Also generation three that was filled with far more gimmicks than the second variant.
I want the 1.2 litre [non-turbo] petrol version, preferably in poverty spec and hopefully two door [more accurately three door if you count the hatch], and I'd prefer not to have a radio! Generation two were far less well equipped than gen three.
The search continues. A lack of rust is far more important than a lack of extras!
Best wishes from George