The Mrs finally passed her test but only on an auto license. It's been hard work trying to find a reasonable automatic for reasonable money. She decided she wanted a Mini so we've ended up with a 2002 cooper. The one with the CVT gearbox. Trouble is, i can't seem to shift it out of sport mode (SD on the dash). Want it in "D" for normal driving. Also, if push the selector over to the right and get it into manual mode, when i push it back to the left, it wont go back into Auto mode. Have to turn it off and back on again.

Could be a dodgy connector not registering the selector positions but i'm not sure. Hope i've not cocked up and bought a lemon. She'll go mad with me. Not told her yet!

Just thought i'd ask first before i go patrolling the mini forums.

Hey guys

Major issues.

Car won't start. I st turned it off 5 minutes ago and now nothing.

All lights come as normal but when you turn the key, nothing. Doesn't attempt to start. No warnings. No dimming lights.

Starter motor?

Currently blocking someone's drive with 3 passengers. Help!

Finally got rid of the kids so me and the wife can go to ikea. Didnt get far when i noticed the heater was blowing cold all of a sudden. Turned on the diagnostic spp and temp was 115oC. Then lpg went off. Pulled straight over to be greeted by a steaming cloud rom the bonnet.

Discovered this.

Massive hole in the hose. Recovery on the way. Is it fuse 11 to put the gearbox in neutral?

Im hoping i pulled over in time. Will it live??????

Looking through Marty's diagram for the audio wiring, i noticed that there's a road speed signal wire. Is the function of this to keep the volume more or less consistant whilst compensating for cabin noise at speed?

If so, mine might be dodgy. I find that my subwoofer springs into life more when i get to 50mph although the rest of the system volume doesn't change. Basically just makes the sub louder but then cuts off again.

What's the max speed for the low range box gears?

Owners manual and google don't reveal the secret

Get a whining/groaning noise every now and then on the rear passenger doorlock. Only when unlocking. sometimes lasts for up to 2 seconds.

Time to replace the actuator?

It never ends!!!!!!!!!!

The top one "Lambda 1" doesn't shift from 4.14v
The bottom on starts at 1.82v and then goes down to 1.75v

Doesn't look right to me. But then again I don't know so that's why i'm asking. :-)

Finally got the trailing arm off.

Had to cut the rear most bolt as it just wouldn't come out. Even with it off the car, plastered with penetrating oil, braying like mad and having heat on it, i still can't get it out. I'm up shit creek here cause clearly the car is now in dry dock until i can fix it. Any ideas how i can get it out please?????

Was rooting around in the kitchen drawer today for a cork for the other job and found my other car key.

Says key 2 on the back and lights up when you press the button.

Won't unlock or lock the car with the buttons but it'll start the engine.

Thought by sticking it in the ignition it would re-sync but no.

Do you know how to get it going again?

Yet another job to add to the list.

Heater isn't blowing all that hot. Had it set to "Hi" and although it's warm, it should be a lot warmer. Same both drivers and passenger side.

No book symbols.

Coolant level looks ok.

Any pointers?

Had new radius arm bushes and wot not fitted about 2 months ago.

Took car to be tracked. Seemed pretty good after but within a week or so, i'd decided that it drifted too much to the left. Holding the wheel straight, you can feel the slight tension of it wanting to go left.

I've had other problems to be getting on with since such as the EAS fiasco and working doesn't always give me the time to get over to the garage. It was on my to do list.

Then i found that my draglink ball joint had loads of play in it so i thought that i may had found the problem. Replaced it and although better, didn't cure it. Found the time to take it back to the garage who said that it drove straight when they test drove it. I told them that it's not in my interest to make things up and i insisted that they get it on the lift and investigate. When they did, they said that it had been tracked to just over+1. I told them that they had tracked it the wrong way as it should be 0.6-1.8 of toe out. They also pointed out that the balljoint on the other end of my draglink was split. This was news to me as it appeared to be in good nick when i did the other end. They said there was no point in adjusting the tracking until i'd sorted the draglink. Agreeing (i thought) with the manager that they would sort it out for me when i fixed it, I took it away and fitted a full new draglink.

Took the car back yesterday and was duly informed that as i'd had radius arm bushes done, that i was the cause of the poor tracking and not them. I explained that the radius arms were done before the tracking but they wouldn't have it and said i'd have to pay for it to be tracked. I argued that they'd done it wrong in the first place as it was tracked the wrong way. Getting nowhere, i said i'd just pay and for them to sort it. Up it went on the lift and sure enough, i was still tracked to just over +1. They adjusted it to -0.6 and off we went for a test drive. Still the same so i suggested that they take it to the limit and see what happens. Adjusted it to -1.8, took it for a drive and still no different.

Next the bloke asks me how i want to pay. Told him i couldn't pay for it as they hadn't tracked it. He said they'd adjusted it. We went round in circles for a while and all this time i had my 8 year old with me so had to concede to paying. Announcing that i'd be back with bells on to speak to the manager on Monday and haggle further for a refund.

So i'm feeling a little hard done by here and i'm still no further forward. From my point of view i'venot touched anything or fitted anything that can be attributed to cocking up the tracking. The garage tracked it wrong in the first instance so the adjustment should be free. However, now they've adjusted it to the outside limit and it's still no different perhaps points to something else other than tracking causing the problem which i can't blame them for. Although, since it's literally 5 minutes to get it up in the air and turn the bolt, i would have expected them to not charge me and just say, sorry we're unable to track it.

A point to note is that they only adjusted the trackrod bar. At no point did they touch the draglink. Is that right? I would have assumed it should all be slacked off to begin with.

Where can i go from here? I'm pretty sure my steering box is centred as i checked this a couple of months back when i first had it tracked.

I thought thete was a topic on speakers but i couldnt find it, so i'll post this.

Whilst waiting for my new airsprings to turn up, ive gotten round to fixing the subwoofer speakers. Like many, the foam rings were perished. I looked for ages on the web for some that might fit. Ebay came close but the measurements were a couple of mm off. I eventually found these and have fitted them. Fit perfectly and job done.
I was looking into replacement drivers but struggled to find (A) a drop in fit and (B) reasonably priced. Since my cones were in good nick, i decided to do em up.

Morning all.

Pulled the delay timer last night and measured the distances to begin tracking down why the compressor keeps cutting in and out.

FL 515mm
FR 515mm
RL 510mm
RR 525mm

This morning they are

FL 515mm
FR 485mm
RL 500mm
RR 480mm

Clearly I'm losing air from 3 corners. Am I unlucky enough to have 3 bust bags or where else on the circuit might I start looking?

Got me this in the post today.

Gonna go fit it now.

As like most people, I require a gas strut for the cubbybox/cup holder/centre console. I can only see 2 on ebay and they're horrendously priced at around £25. It's cheaper for 2 tailgate gas struts! Anyone know the part number or where may do them at a more sensible price?

There's 2 colour plugs.

Is the black one for up to 99 and the grey one from 99 onwards?

Out and about today, I got the guy at Halfords to check my battery.

Came back at 403 when it should be 600 he said. Reckons battery is on it's way out. I'm inclined to agree as it's relatively easy to drain if i'm working in it and have the doors open and wot not.

The guy offered me this or this. I happen to have a 10% off code too which is nice. However, eurocarparts have 30% off at the minute. Not sure what size will fit in. The one that's in now is a fairly small size Bosch one. The one in my last car was massive. Anyone know the maximum dimensions that'll fit and/or recommend a battery??

Ta much!

This weekends mission is cut and polish the rest of the car. Did the bonnet last week and it came out great. Used 5000 wet and dry to get rid of any deeper imperfections.

I've just masked the side up

Just turned the compressor on and it's died.

Great!!!

Doesn't do it all the time. Might be 4 or 5 times a week, but sometimes I get a surging like idle.

You can hear it surging a little and the rev counter is gently twitching up and then back down to normal. It seems to be adding about 30rpm. I thought lpg mix to start with but then I checked the petrol and it still seemed to do it. Might the IAC valve be the culprit?

Got myself a new headlining!!!

Before anyone says anything, i'm not responsible for that snakes wedding of wires. I inherited that and i'll sort it when I redo the rear entertainment. If anyone requires a vcr or a sat nav unit, you're very welcome to them.

There were a few dings in the board itself. Looked like someone had maybe rammed something in through the boot in a previous life. Bit of fibre glass and sanding did the job.

I'll put a picture of the finished article up later. Sunroof shade looks good though.