newbie so go easy

[peter2704]

Just bought my daughter her first car,a 2003 cooper,lovely thing.Now I know its too late but any issues with these,I know p/s pumps(this one whines a bit) ,g/box 5 speed (although the box seems fine) and it will need a clutch soon(any idea of cost??) Need to know the basics really ,oil type grade? coolant pink or blue? best g/box oil so I can hopefully do these myself and ave some cash.Hoping its not a money pit as my daughter has fallen in love with it.Any specialists recommended in the yorkshire area.Many thanks peter

[softtop]

pink coolant

[mike9009]

It originally would have had the flaky midland gearbox, so keep an eye on that. We had a MINI one from new in 2002 and did not have an issue with it though (same gearbox). Owned for seven years.

Only issue we had was the airbag light periodically came on. This was related to the passenger seat.

Other than that, it was fine.

Enjoy.


Mike

[stevemcs]

Clutch around £600, gearbox on an exchange basis from minitec around £225, oil 5w30 C3.

Watch out for front arm bushes, corroded brake lines, sticking calipers, window regulators, overheating and the exhaust falling off.

[peter2704]

Cheers guys
So not much goes wrong then Steve 🤣
I was Hoping to get s clutch cheaper than 600

[stevemcs]

The clutches are cheap, around £80, its just 6-8 hours in labour and wheel geo that make up the difference

[rabbitstew]

I did the clutch on my Cooper S last year myself. New 3 piece LUK OEM clutch kit is about £60 if you shop about. On the S its a pain of a job as you have to drop the front subframe, but on the Cooper I believe you dont need to do this. Its easy enough to do yourself, but quite time consuming as theres a lot of bits you have to take off, hence the labour costs alone tend to add up.