What should I do with my car?

June 23, 2015 9:26 AM

I was going to sell my mini cooper, but then I spun a bearing. Now what?

I have a 2005 Yellow Mini Cooper that I absolutely love. I have taken good care of it, and it looks brand new. I bought it when I moved to California in 2007, and it was so good to me there. Amazing memories with my "Sunshine."

I moved to Chicago a few years ago, and quickly found that although it's a great car for living in the city because I can park basically anywhere, it is not a super practical car for the winter. So, I made the decision to sell Sunshine in the fall of this year.

That was, until last weekend, when I'm pretty sure I spun a bearing. From what I've been reading on the Internet, this probably means I need a new engine, which would cost more than the car is worth.

I'm paralyzed by what to do next. I'm afraid I'll make it worse if I drive it, so I'm going to have it towed to a mechanic, but then what? I don't want to put 5k into a 10 year old car (though it only has 80,000 miles on it) that I was planning to sell anyway, but now what should I do? I know there are salvage auctions where damaged mini coopers are sold for 4k or so, but I can't imagine those companies will pay me that much for my car.

Does anyone have any advice/experience/insight into what I should do?

posted by RUPure to Work & Money (7 answers total)

I sold a Ford Ranger with body damage and a shot (barely drivable) transmission to Carmax for the blue book price of a good-condition Ranger. I know there is at least one in the Chicago area (I bought that Ranger there years prior, actually) and that's what I'd suggest.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:31 AM on June 23, 2015

I had a similar situation with a BMW. I took it to a small garage that focused on BMW repair. He looked it over and told me how much it was to fix. He also complimented me on the condition of the car and said if I did not want to spend the money to fix it, he would give me x dollars for it. It was about the value of the car fixed less the cost of repair. He said his plan was to fix it and sell it to one of his customers. I ended up fixing it and then selling it 3 months later for the price he said he was going to sell so I probably should have sold it to him..

I do not know if there is such a mechanic or garage in the Chicagoland area, but I suspect there is. I would take it there.
posted by AugustWest at 9:35 AM on June 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

It would be very unlikely that an 80k mile car that's been well maintained has spun a bearing. What are the symptoms? Low oil pressure?
posted by hwyengr at 11:22 AM on June 23, 2015

Response by poster: hwyengr, I was merging onto a highway and shifting into 4th gear but the car wouldn't really shift. Then, I heard a tick tick KNOCK and the engine revved all the way to 8 (sounded like the car was screaming). I could not shift at all. I was able to pull over on the shoulder and turn off the car. When I turned it back on, in neutral it revved to 8 again. About 10 minutes later, I heard another knock sound, and when I turned the car on then it seemed okay. I got off the highway and drove it straight home. So, it's not really a symptom, but more like an incident.

What do you think?
posted by RUPure at 11:55 AM on June 23, 2015

Nothing about that says a spun bearing to me. I think you are getting way ahead of yourself, here. Get the car diagnosed and THEN panic about whether to throw it away or fixed.

If the car wouldn't shift, it is more likely a clutch or transmission issue than a spun (crank) bearing. When you say it revved to 8,000 rpm, are you saying without your foot on the throttle? Or it revved to 8,000 after you put your foot down and the car wouldn't go?

'a knock' could mean anything. Get it to a garage of good repute and tell them to check it out. It could be anything from a broken shift cable/linkage to a stuck throttle to ... quite a lot of things from your description. Your conclusion of spun bearing is... baffling, frankly.
posted by Brockles at 12:06 PM on June 23, 2015 [10 favorites]

Mechanic-wise, I've heard good things about European American Motors on Lincoln, just south of Addison. Never been, but the tire shop I trust swears by them.
posted by hwyengr at 2:16 PM on June 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

As a data point — I used to have a 2002 Mini Cooper (also yellow), and in 2012, I sold it after 150,000 miles to a friend who's a mechanic. Being a mechanic, he is not bothered by weird noises and odd sounds and intermittent check engine lights. Whereas I tend to take to my bed with the vapors when even minor things go wrong with my car.

He is still driving the car, and the engine didn't go until about 210,000 miles, but he replaced that and it's carried on just fine. Now I wish I'd kept the car, as it's doing wonderfully three years later.

My 2002 Cooper did the same thing yours did, at about 38,000 miles; it wound up being an issue with the shifter cable, which affected the clutch, and it took out the transmission with it. Call MINI USA and see if your car is subject to any recalls, because that's a known defect with a few years of models. I can't remember if the 2005s are included in the shift-cable-linkage-thingummy recall, but mine was repaired for free.

If you decide to keep it, you can also see about getting the winter options package installed on it. My 2002 Cooper strangely came with it (someone from Minnesota custom ordered it, then didn't want it), and the heated seats and super-heating heater and other heating things were kinda nice in January, even here in LA.

I wound up buying a 2013 Mini Cooper, though, which I also love. But I don't love the car payments so much. My monthly payment would buy a hell of a lot of repairs, that's for damn sure. I'll probably keep this one and once it's paid off, just put the money I'd been spending into a savings account for repairs and maintenance.
posted by culfinglin at 1:24 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]