Right? Taking the front end off a mini Cooper is pretty cool content to me.

And as long as people like you (and me) keep buying cars from people like that it will never change

@@duncandonovan5270 it will never change regardless of where we buy our cars, in my opinion. To some, a car is just a tool to be used. As long as they treat only their car like that, I'm fine with it.

Don't be critical and don't judge if you don't know the situation. Ninety nine percent of American motorists won't even touch a wrench, let alone change the oil. Most wouldn't even put fuel in it except under duress. We can't all be enthusiasts.

@@houseofno Most are scared shitless of touching their own car. My friend almost had a heart attack when I removed his engine cover!

I can guarantee they spend much more money. A coworker a couple weeks ago told me to take my truck to a shop when I said I had a vehicle repair to do on my day off. Out of curiosity I called a shop and asked for a quote. Part = 230 Diagnosis = 175 (they always have to diagnose themselves cant take the word of the customer) Labor = 450 (150 x 3 hour book time) So 855 plus tax for the job I needed to do, and not even everything I did myself. Ordered part from rockauto 115 delivered; took me 2 hours total with addition of oil change, air filter, tire rotation, fluid level check, MAF/MAP sensors cleaned (it’s a diesel) battery check and code scan (always done when I do anything). Spent ~200 and two hours of time to save 655. Thought of a different way, I paid myself 327.50 per hour to do the work myself which is many times my normal salary.

Mostly modern Euro, engineered for planned obsolescence. It's intentional to make post warranty repairs cost prohibitive. This 'basic' gasket repair being a perfect example. It's good for our boy Johnny though!

The fundamental problem is that most worldwide automotive engineers have never actually worked on a car, truck, bike, etc. Never having to fix something, they could care less how much work it will be to repair the car/truck and so long as it makes it out of warranty, everyone is satisfied. My company develops autonomous systems for the elderly, disabled, etc and working with the auto companies, I see that all the time.

And not lose the fasteners-I’d love to hear Ninja’s philosophy on not losing the fasteners. I am hopeless.

"Anybody can tear something apart" Hah, not me. Putting things back together is the easy part. It's removing the seized on stuff, snapped bolts and all that other stuff I have an issue with. Took me a few hours to hammer off a brake caliper recently after I managed to get it well and truly stuck. The new one went on no problem at all!

Sucks cause they are nice cars to drive when they work lol

I mean it's very easy to pull the bumper and put it into the service position in the Gen1 minis. Probably 10min tops. Then you can reach basically everything on the front of the engine. Gen>=2 has a different engine and front clip setup apparently.

In the last 4 months I had to change the crankshaft seal, tension wheel, belt, thermostat housing, Thermostat to Water pump pipe, (I broke it while removing the thermostat housing), and crankshaft breather hose (I broke that while removing the thermostat to water pump pipe.) I agree. There's also a lot of plastic parts that seem go to bad at the same time. I really wish there was someone like Johnny around to work on this car. Last time I had someone beside the dealer working on the car, they replaced the crankshaft seal and it still leaked. A good Indie shop is priceless.

Agreed, but it takes longer on this engine because the oil filter is underneath the coolant expansion tank. So that has to be moved aside, which is not so easy when it's full of hot coolant.

Good eye. You'll have to keep watching.

It's like that one commercial from years ago. The guy in the commercial is talking. He's a mechanic and he was talking about paying him now for doing the minor maintenance things or pay him later for bigger problems due to negligence. Sooner or later you'll have to pay.

And if that thing just had a spin on oil filter there would have been no need to disassemble the entire front of the car to replace that oil filter housing gasket because the gasket is part of the filter and gets replaced every time the oil is changed. German engineering at its best.

This is a BMW..with a different badge on it ...

@@JamesSterling The oil filter housing gasket does NOT get replaced during oil changes.

Sierra Cosworth.

A mini Cooper is not a luxury car....

@@billystpaul8907 they are priced like luxury cars.

Yep.. every 3,000 miles..

Try changing those gaskets on a BMW 650i !!!

In the UK, the recommended oil change interval is 15,000 miles or two years, whichever comes first, for the petrol engine on this generation of MINI.

England

Search for the big 🇦🇱flag on the wall.