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2004 Mini One

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.
 
I bought a load of waxoyl from Halfords really cheap a few weeks back, I will donate a tin to you George as it spreads easily enough even for a 250g tin.


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Dear AV8,

That is an idea. Quite happy to pay for it when we meet up at the end of June.

The real point is that I have replace the other dodgy tyre, still legal just, but too close to borderline for me, so now I have four tyres with deep tread! No spare in the modern fashion ...

Dear Steve 67,

The reason I like cars that most would consider utter rubbish today or at the time, is because I can fix them myself. I do not have any computer abilities, but fitting a set of points, or cleaning and adjusting a carburettor is mother's milk to me. Setting the ignition timing with a Lucas set is the simplest job on the planet! To change the oil on the Mini requires it be on a ramp, and a special wrench to remove the oil filter, but at least the engine does not have a tray under it, and has a plain sump plug, but two many cars now require a huge amount of work even to get near the sump plug!

As for performance, for me it is all a question of being an easy starter [and most engines with SU carbs are], and easy access for when a master cylinder of slave cylinder needs to be changed. Zero to sixty is of absolutely no interest to mean speedy-Gonzales cornering capacity is irrelevant when the sight lines make high speed corner dangerous in any case. That was the beauty of my two Volvo 240s. Very easy to work on, though now they worth five figures just about, so out of price range. And handling that did not justify hooning about in any case!!

My favourite modern [ish!] car is the 3 litre straight six [engine by Porsche] Volvo 960 with the manual gearbox, in estate form form. A hearse, but at least it would save money at my funeral!

Best wishes from George
 
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
 
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.
 
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.

You may well be absolutely correct. However, I don't know such a clever solderer, and though my Local Motor Garage, whom I have patronised [hence the gratis OBD diagnosis] since 1979, can fix BMWs and many other exotic cars, but they are not going to start soldering dry joints. They are old school correct in their approach ...

I am no enthusiast for motor cars, but drive them with total sympathy for the mechanical machine. I have never broken a car. Cars have rusted away under me, but the mechanical side was still good.

I cannot deal with motor computers, and would be really happy to have a vehicle where the only semi-conductors were in the charging voltage regulator and the across the points of a mechanical timed ignition! Otherwise give me relays and fuses and strong dash-board switches!

I can sort all of those out ...

Computers in cars can visit the Foreign Office as far as I am concerned.

Best wishes from George
 
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@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).
 
@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).
This is good advice. I was quoted 4 figures for ecu replacement, testing and repair was cheap.
 
images


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
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.
 
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.
 
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.
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!

I'll search the adds there, and see ...

Stuck at home today, quite apart from it not being suitable weather for gardening or even being outside. I tried to get to Upper Sapey, so went the high lying road, which itself was flooded on the high end of the Bromyard Downes. A foot deep. I have never seen that before in all my sixty years plus! I also witnessed a fool tackle it at twenty miles an hour in a large BMW suv. He got though and then the engine hydro-locked. Ouch! That will be five or ten thousand to replace the engine. Black smoke pouring out of the exhaust and then white as the steam came out, and then it stopped completely. So I went down to Bromyard itself to catch the Stourport Road at its start. Eighteen inches of water on the low place by the bridge of the River Frome! And another BMW suv completely blocking the road with water over the bottom of the radiator grill!

Why do people think an "suv" doubles as a boat!?

So I am in for the rest of the day!

Though the Mini is basically toast, because I don't want to put money into a car that will need a new rear subframe and sill welding next June, I do need it to struggle on till I find a more economical replacement. I would pop over to Malvern to see a Clio, which I have tracked down, but it can wait till tomorrow or Monday! That road is also flooded.

Best wishes from George

PS: Also impossible to get to Hereford or Worcester, or even Ledbury!
 
Here's an eBay ad for what seems like a decent one from a VOC forum member with a refreshingly open approach to describing the car. £1250 'Buy it now' price.

 
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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
 
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
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.
I bought a base model Astra for a whole £275 with a broken radio. A friend had a spare, so that fixed it. I sold it for £300 18 months later, by which time it was a better car. Sadly the new owner didn't do the necessary work for the next MoT and that was the end.
 


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