Every year since the original factory 4-year/48,000 mile warranty expired sometime in mid 2008 (hit the mileage before the years), the mini has averaged $1300 in unscheduled maintenance costs:

So....the mini is having issues. Again. Last week, it was kind of hot in Sac, so naturally, it would be normal for the mini to be running a little hotter than usual. But on the weekend, when it wasn’t hot anymore, it was still running hot. So I pop the hood and I see that there was an explosion of coolant that came from the top radiator hose. I had seen this same exact thing back in September 2009, and it was a cracked freakin’ radiator. Some design genius at BMW had the brilliant idea of idea of connecting the aluminum radiator core to plastic inlet & outlet hose ends. If either of those hose ends cracks or breaks, you have can’t repair it, you have to replace the ENTIRE radiator.

What made it worse was that this occurred on a Friday night and absolutely needed my car fixed asap (the reason escapes me, but I know it was important), and my normal shop, Edge Motorworks in Dublin, is closed on weekends, so I had to take it in to the stealership, which totally lived up to it’s name. Damn their high labor rates!

Without even thinking twice about it, I had it replaced with the same exact oem radiator, thinking it was just some kind of fluke accident and wouldn’t happen again. Well, fast forward 3.5+ years later, and it appears to have happened again. It looks exactly the same. But this time, I’m bringing it into Edge. When I called to make the appointment, they said they’ve never even heard of radiators cracking, that they’ve never seen one crack. I was kind of surprised, but I trust them, and it made me wonder if the freakin’ stealership pulled a fast one on me. I do have coolant leaking from somewhere, cause I have to add water every time I drive it, and it totally looks like it’s coming from the top radiator inlet hose end. I guess I’ll find out for sure when I take it in on Friday.

To be safe, I ordered an aftermarket, all aluminum radiator. It costs about the same as the stock radiator, it has no plastic parts to crack or break, and if it does somewhere crack or leak somewhere, it comes with a “no questions asked” lifetime warranty. Worse-case scenario, I have another cracked radiator, that’ll be replaced with a better one. Best-case, it’s some kind of repairable leak and I have to pay for the return shipping cost of the aluminum radiator. I’m fine either way, I just want my car running normally again.

Here’s a list of parts, not part of normal wear & tear like spark plugs or tires, that I’ve replaced on the mini after 159,300 miles:

front windshield (x2) - due to its sharp angle & bad luck
thermostat & housing (x2) - bad gasket
power steering pump & fan - fan failed, causing pump to overheat & fail
radiator (x2) - bad luck?

Next major maintenance is the clutch, since I’m still on the factory original. How long they last depends on the driver. Since a bulk of my miles were from my Fresno commute, all highway, I should be good. But I’m still kind of scared to floor it or anything cause once the clutch is gone, it’s gone. There’s no more “go”, can’t move the car, and you’re stuck wherever you are. I’m dreading the day that it goes, cause it’ll cost an arm & a leg, even at my shop, but at least I’m kind of prepared for it. The sucky part is not knowing exactly when it’ll go.

And I’ll also have to get new tires soon. Tires for the mini are not cheap, as with everything else. But I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth on my current set. I think they were only supposed like between 50-60,000 miles and I have almost 70,000 miles on them. To extend the life, I had the tires flipped. But with so little tread left, I will not drive in the rain, won’t risk it. That right there should be enough to get new tires, but it hasn’t rained all that much lately, so I’m not that worried about. I’m hoping to squeeze at least another month out of them.

I'm here at my favorite Starbucks in the 925, patiently waiting for the mini's overheating/cooling issues to be diagnosed and fixed. So I'm sitting on the cushy bench against a wall, facing the rest of the store. Perpendicular to me, there are a set of 4 chairs. A mom sat down with her young son, maybe 2 years old, and of course he's doing 2 year old things, like hopping in & out of the chair, touching just about everything, and noticing everything in sight. Me, I'm listening to a couple of new songs on Grooveshark, cause I haven't downloaded them yet , and I currently have T.O.R.N.A.D.O. by The Go! Team, Don't Stop Me Now by M-Flo, and She's So Outta Control! by M-Flo featuring 2NE1, on loop. They're all pretty high tempo songs, so I ended up kinda nodding my head and tapping my foot to the beat. And the kid, whenever he looks over in my direction, he'll notice and kinda start imitating me. Cute. But since he's 2 and has an attention span appropriate for his age, he's notice something else and stops to attend to that.

Lol....so as I'm typing this, trying to get to my point, my point gets up and walks to a different table further away from me, no longer in my direct line of view. She moved because another mom & young daughter came and sat with the mom & son already sitting next to her. Don't blame her for moving, but I can't help but laugh....Now back to my story.

So then this japanese girl sits down in the chair directly in front of me, across from the little kid. She's pretty cute, and......dammit, I kinda lost my chain of thought when she moved. I was going to write about how there's an opportunity literally right in front of me, and how I was going to do my "yoozsh" (which is absolutely nothing) and blow it. So now I guess I won't get to that point, or I've reached that point in a manner of not my own doing.

So now I'm kind of observing from afar. She keeps on checking her flip phone, probably checking the time, and it seems like she's waiting for someone maybe. And she's re-touched up her makeup a couple of times now. Oh god, I sound like creepy stalker status.

Lol again.....as soon as I typed that last sentence, she got up & left, as if she knew what I was typing/observing. WTF

So now with nothing to focus on, I'm just sitting here kind of bored. I'm not telecommuting today, I forgot to bring my hard drive of tv shows, and I forget to bring any books, so other than browse the web, I gots nothing to do. I guess the guy to my left noticed, and just tried to sell me on an "easy money" scheme. (I guess I forgot to put on my "not having it" face this morning. I've kind of been working on that, and it worked to my detriment today. Lesson learned.) I listened, and he was nice, and it actually sounded really, really simple, but I know better, and I politely declined.

That's all for now, I guess....until something interesting comes up or I get the call that my car's done.