Mini problems
Andy bags himself a modern classic for his new commute
Some years ago, for a good ten years or so, I taught basic motor vehicle technology to school age kids for a local land-based college. Classic cars obviously featured quite a lot in my lessons as I drove one to work every day; we used to have them on site and even did some project restorations under my leadership (Austin A30 VSL 939, hello to you!).
Everyone knew me for my Morris Minors and my Austin 1300, which were my daily commuters. All of this is now history as I’ve moved on to other things career-wise.
Pleased to recently get a new job, but also accepting a 60-mile a day round trip to get there and back, I considered whether using my blue 1098cc Minor again would be in its best interests. I did use it for one job, covering 350 miles in a week for two years and, although it did marvellously, that was a decade ago now and the only problem with using old cars on busy fast roads is that everyone else isn’t.
In December and January, when it’s cold wet and dark and everyone is doing 70 or more to rush home, except you, is when using a 55-yearold car is a bit of a challenge. So, this time around, I thought I’d keep half an eye open for a cheap modern hack to take the pressure off the
Minors. Almost exactly a week later, I spotted a BMW MINI One for sale locally. A short test drive and a good prod and poke revealed nothing too scary apart from a few issues, although a short MOT was something to consider, but I reasoned that it might just be worth a punt. Just £500 saw it bought and I gave it a few miles to see what was what.
‘You’ve bought what?’
My ex-college workmate Tom’s reaction when I sent him a picture, was, ‘Hang on, that’s a new style number plate… are you feeling all right?’ Fair enough, it’s a surprise to many who know me that I bought this car. I’m not a fan of modern stuff, but this car makes sense for commuting. A 1.4-litre Toyota diesel engine, (a Yaris one, these MINIS were only built for three years), six-speed gearbox, 58mpg (allegedly) and road tax of £135 a year means a cheap drive to work. Plus, it calls itself a Mini and was built in the same factory as my Minors, so that makes me feel better and its less offensive looking than most new cars. Much, much less.
It did however have issues. The LH mirror was taped together where a previous owner had crunched it, the passenger seat recliner mechanism was stuffed, the oil was dirty, black, and horrid, and the car sped up and slowed down by itself sometimes… which was alarming. Changing the oil and filter was easy
enough, but while under there I discovered that the power steering pipes were incredibly rusty, so needed urgent replacement.
I also changed the diesel filter, which had BMW stamped on it, so it was a safe bet that it hadn’t been changed since David Tennant last flew the TARDIS. A new one was fitted, but this didn't cure the speeding up issue in the way that online forums had suggested it might.
Local to me is a business called Kernowparts, which breaks only post2001 BMW Minis. I popped along there and bought a passenger seat identical to my old one, a LH mirror and a pair of gas bonnet struts so I didn’t have to prop the bonnet up with my workshop broom to avoid it falling on my head again. All for £45. A few hours saw these parts swapped out and Luke from Kernowparts very kindly offered to plug my car into his diagnostic system to see what was afoot.
There were 25 fault codes showing, which he cleared and advised me to disconnect the ECUS, one under the bonnet and one in the drivers A-post, spray with contact cleaner and reassemble in order to have a bash at curing the random warning light. For several days the light did not come on and the car behaved itself perfectly but then, suddenly it was back again.
I managed to track down a set of the correct power steering pipes on ebay for £39 that were like new, (I do like a bargain) so I got the car up in the air to swap them out. These are a flow and return to a cooling element that sits atop the radiator and are plumbed into the power steering system underneath with quick release connectors. The difficult bit was extricating the old pipes and replacing
Fresh power steering pipes were fitted not a moment too soon.
them. After a bit of head scratching, I eventually worked out that
I could release the radiator top fixings, allowing me to ease the radiator forward enough for me to carefully wiggle the old pipes out down underneath and then get the new ones in. All connected up, I topped up with PS fluid and then took the car off the ramps, jacked up both front wheels and, with the engine running, slowly turned the steering from lock to lock to ensure correct operation. Job done.
I’m very pleased to report that the car also passed the MOT with flying colours. I took it to Martin, a tester I have known for years and whose professional opinion I can rely on. Martin’s opinion? ‘It’s alright, mate,’ so I came away with a fresh ticket.
So far, so good, but I still hadn’t cured the warning light issue. Nine times out of ten, and about five minutes into a journey, on it comes and then occasionally the car speeds up and then slows down, by itself. I’m going to try new ABS sensors, but anyone got any ideas?
■ practical.classics@bauermedia.co.uk
‘58mpg (allegedly) and £135 per year road tax means a cheap commute’