r/R53

▲ 0 r/R53

Finding a bad smell

Looking for suggestions on where to look to track down a very bad smell.

In the past, the AC condenser has had a wet dog smell, which I solved with foaming condenser cleaner. This is not that smell.

I suspect it may be a dead mouse, it's quite bad, but I'm running out of places to look.

So far, I have removed absolutely everything from the car, and run an endoscope camera down all of the vents, pulled the cabin filter, scoped the fresh air intake, removed both intake vents at the base of the windshield, looked all through the dash, the rear body cavity access panels, the under the boot tray, around the battery, through the shifter tunnel housing and the handbrake tunnel housing.

I've run it through a car wash, sniffed all the carpeting, looked under both front seats, pulled the rear bench.

So far, I can't see even a trace of rodent activity, and I'm second-guessing the smell. It may smell like bad milk, or perhaps garbage?

I tried using an ozone generator to shock it, and while it improved slightly, it's still present. I've left it outside with all the windows, door and hatch open, same temporary improvement, but I haven't found the source of the smell.

It's never had leak from the sunroof nor into the battery compartment. There's no mould on the carpet when I've removed trim and peaked under the edges.

At this point, I'm just open to other places to look?

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u/Digital_Ark — 19 hours ago
▲ 1 r/R53

Genuine top mounts in UK

Anyone know where to get these? I’ve read the Febi/Lemforder etc ones are not great and will quickly fail.

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u/The_Hatem_Bomb — 18 hours ago
▲ 2 r/R53+1 crossposts

R53 handbrake cables

Guys help! I picked up this 03 cooper s and found a couple cables in the back, desperately trying to identify them before spending money 😓😅

u/59xghost — 19 hours ago
▲ 3 r/R53

Weird noise

There is a weird noise that sounds almost like something is turning on. If I have my AC on the noise starts almost immediately after start up as you can hear if I have my AC off that noise turns on in about 40 minutes of no AC running, but the car running. Anyone got any clues or maybe heard this noise from their car before?

u/DurianEffective8119 — 1 day ago
▲ 1 r/R53

DIY battery replacement R53

My 05 S MT needs a battery. I've changed a number of batteries in the past without incident. Will my Mini need any specific procedures beyond the obvious? Modules need resetting or some such nonsense? I hope not. Thanks

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u/kyocerafan — 2 days ago
▲ 13 r/R53

Nav screen and power steering intermittent. Help!

Hey all, I was out running a HPDE event this past weekend and I noticed that at certain parts of the track my nav system would go out, and that would sometimes be followed with me intermittently losing power steering. The most prominent spot this happened was on the straights while holding higher rpm for long periods of time. It happened around the track in various locations as well but none were as consistent as the “straightaways”(more of a long left turn). This is all I could remember off the top of my head but pick my brain for more info if needed.

u/oggle_spice — 3 days ago
▲ 0 r/R53

Anyone here ever changed the expansion valve?

The Bentley manual makes it seem easy. Take out the battery box, the air intake housing and remove some of the dash. However, people who've actually done it say it is hell and worth paying for. Anyone here have experience with this?

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u/Front_Lab_6260 — 3 days ago
▲ 27 r/R53

Smash or pass?

Did the repair during the weekend. What do you guys think? I will have to use body filler to make it look better, the problem is that this has already been repaired once by the previous owner and it hasn’t beed done good enough so there was a big hole.

u/gas_guzzler7 — 4 days ago
▲ 0 r/R53

Front grille replacement

So my OEM grill is showing some wear and tear, looking to replace it with either something used/factory or something new, has anyone had any luck with the $50 eBay "aero" replacements?

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u/PaleontologistClear4 — 5 days ago
▲ 3 r/R53

Rod knock? 2006 GP

Long story short, parked the car a few years ago after motor made funky noises . Someone jammed the column. Just got it running.

No belt connected. Rod knock? Big oof.

u/Embarrassed_Lawyer_5 — 5 days ago
▲ 53 r/R53

R53 Awesomeness

Just got my first R53 a week and change ago and fall in love with it more and more everyday. Today I decided to open the Owners packet which previous owner kept immaculate and found these two cheeky gems that I found hilarious. So now aside from being a fun drive with its stage 2 mods from the previous owner I can get a laugh from the “Unauthorized owners manual” from Mini and “Idiosyncrasies of your new mini” card

Here is a link that has the full Unauthorized Owners Manual: https://www.reddit.com/r/MINI/s/8TcIaE5lTV

u/hirsch12v — 5 days ago
▲ 11 r/R53

R53 owners with aftermarket steering wheels/hubs

Installed the NRG quick release (200BK/SRK-MINH) today, but noticed there’s a slight wiggle from the steering wheel. I read somewhere that a fix is to add a M14 3mm thick washer to the bolt.
Has anyone else experienced this?

I also think the resistors didn’t sit right because my airbag light is on (disconnected battery before/during install). Tried clearing the code with my ANCEL but did not work. Also read I may have to double up the thin wires and then plug it into the airbag connectors. Horn works so I guess there’s that. 😅

I have not driven it other than backing it from the driveway & parking it.

Thoughts?

u/Level-Diamond-4181 — 5 days ago
▲ 12 r/R53

Need a spare key

Called mini they say I can only get a blade made w/out convenience buttons. Is this true? Secondly are these AliExpress fobs BS?

u/B00SKAH — 6 days ago
▲ 0 r/R53

AEM 30-0300 wideband canbus plugged into R53 canbus

anyone plugged a aem 30-0300 wideband canbus into the r53 canbus?

it's on a different ID but is 500kbps and the other modules should ignore it, but it does add ~2% more bus traffic

curious if any modules were unhappy with extra traffic on 29-bit 0x180–0x18F,

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u/mrblahhh — 5 days ago
▲ 27 r/R53

Overheating issues

Hi all,
Recently taken on this r53 in a hope to get it back running. Was off the road for a year after a failed water pump followed by head gasket failure. The water pump has been replaced along with the head gasket, head was skimmed aswell. Thermostat has been replaced too. However now the car will start and run absolutely fine but after about 10-15 minutes of running it overheats. Fans only blow lukewarm in the cabin and fans don’t kick in. The gauge rises very rapidly when it goes. The car was bled properly and had no air coming from either of the bleed screws. Has anyone ever experienced anything similar before? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

u/CommercialJob8907 — 7 days ago
▲ 19 r/R53

Recommended union jack tail lights?

I'm looking for union jack tail lights, and would like to buy just once. Are the SMPS ones the golden standard, or are the cheaper Killallchrome versions or ebay specials just as nice?

u/Happy_Ishtar — 6 days ago
▲ 2 r/R53

Ews out of sync with dme.

I have a 04 pre face lift that I recently got that needed a clutch. I replaced it and got it going and got to drive it 2 days before the key broke. Chip fell out and now it is locked up. No crank at all. I got a locksmith out to make a new key and he couldn’t get anything to sync. I’m leaning towards just doing the ews delete from the dme so I won’t ever have this issue again and I can get a spare key cheaply whenever I want. I was looking at rpm motorsports to maybe do it but I can’t find any reviews online for them, I don’t want to send it out and end up with a bricked ecu. Does anyone have recommendations for a tuner, I can mail it out or someone locally to Tampa or central florida.

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u/hagarran — 5 days ago
▲ 4 r/R53

Let's be honest, what's your oil consumption?

Title

Let's go with Liters per 1000km. Or whatever freedom units you use 😅

(Not an R53 owner yet, about to check out some nearby this weekend. But to contribute to the discussion - my ex Mx-5 NB took about 1.3l / 1000km)

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u/Jake_3h — 8 days ago
▲ 0 r/R53

what goes where?

i did a suspension job and now i’m a little confused where the wheel speed sensor goes

u/tommy_merc — 6 days ago