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Mini Cooper DIY maintenance help sites, manuals, groups?

We have an older model Mini that we recently purchased for a good price. It seems the dealer knew it may be difficult for us to find reasonably priced maintenance which could have motivated the low sales price.

We took it back to the dealer for an oil change and checkup, at 15k additional miles since we bought it.

Many maintenance items were suggested, but three appear important: contaminated brake fluid needs replacing, failing coolant needs system flush, air filter/cleaner needs cleaning or replacing.

Almost $1,000 for these three services!

I'm a retiree, and have the time and desire to do these services, as well as DIY skills in car maintenance accumulated since the 60s.

Are there any Mini Cooper DIY maintenance help sites, manuals, groups I can get assistance from?

Reply to
Registered User
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The first thing you want to do is get yourself the *soon to be release* Bentley Manual:

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In fact, there is a pre-order discount if you get one now! Good Luck!

Reply to
bfd

I'd suggest a s/hand Haynes w/shop manual from Amazon.com for $34.51 will give you all the infomation you need to service and maintain the car yourself. Bentley manuals are very good, but very expensive if all you want to do is more or less routine servicing and maintenance jobs like those you mention.. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Hopefully the Haynes manual is better for Minis than BMWs. I have one for my 90 E34 535i and it is terrible! I paid way less than $34.51, but it was a total waste. The Bentley, while more expensive, goes into way more detail.

Further, if the OP goes to the Bentley website, there's a technical forum where you can ask questions and get pretty immediate responses from their experts. Good Luck!

Reply to
bfd

E34 535i and it is terrible! I paid way less than $34.51, but it was a total waste. The Bentley, while more expensive, goes into way more detail.

you can ask questions and get pretty immediate responses from their experts. Good Luck!

THank you both for the information!

Reply to
Registered User

If one wants to do serious work on a car, like engine and gearbox rebuilds, sorting out electrical, and electronic problems etc, a Bentley manual is worth buying. OTOH if the OP only wants to do routine maintenance like fluid changes, fitting brake discs pads or shoes etc.. The sort of jobs that don't need more than a simple set of tools, a Haynes manual is good enough. The details a Bentley manual gives are not needed.

I have Bentley manuals for both an E34 and an E39, as well a a manufacturers w/shop manual for a Rover SD1 Vitesse, but then my maintenance goes a little further than just servicing. Mike...

Reply to
Mike G

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Fair enough, I agree that if the OP is just doing routine maintenance, he m= ay not need a Bentley, especially when the soon to be release version will = retail over $130! I too do basic repairs like tuneups, fluid changes, brak= e jobs and my E34 Bentley only cost about $50, so I thought it was a bargai= n. However, we recently tackled replacing my water pump and the Bentley was= very helpful. It ended up being a 1 hour job! So YMMV.....Good Luck!

Reply to
bfd

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