Thursday, November 15, 2007

signing on

Hi.
I made it into the site, my first blog ever.

Nancy, any improvement with high octane?

Molly

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Check engine light back on

Again with the check engine light.
I filled it with high octane fuel, and made sure the gas cap "clicked" when I recapped. May need to check in with you Michael.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Michael Ciri motors in

Oh, we definitely need to find the occasions for our Mini's to play!

I forgot to suggest the gas cap thing... you are right -- that comes up (although, I've never had it).

Mendenhall Auto had mine in as a used car -- I got it straightaway. They are not an authorized Mini dealer and cannot do the fancy stuff (change programming, etc.). Too bad, because I would like to change some of the settings for my car, but Tacoma is a long way.

Are you on the North American Motoring Web Site? If not, you must -- it's been a lifesaver for me. http://www.northamericanmotoring.com

You will want to use premium gas... their engines are built to run at a higher compression and lower octane gas will combust too quickly -- causing timing issues. The car's computer will accomodate to keep the engine from knocking, but you should treat your baby nice. (do I sound like a gearhead? I actually know nothing about this stuff -- I just read web pages!)

I typically get my gas at the taku fuel place across from Costco (or just from DeHarts if I'm in a hurry.) I had never used premium before, and I wanted to find where I could get the recommended 91 octane or better in town. So, when I first got my car, I used this as an excuse to go "motoring"... here were my notes:

Juneau Gas
1/16/06
freds 90 $2.69
superbear 90 $2.89
fish bend 90.5 $2.79
safeway 91 $2.79
deharts 92 $2.79
mike's 92 $2.85
costco taku 92 $2.79
gas n go 92 $2.79

Since my "check engine" light came on right after I put cheap gas in, I have been superstitious and have only used the "good stuff." It's probably completely unrelated, but....

Happy Motoring....

Check Engine light

My check engine light came on and the helpful folks in Tacoma suggested I better bring the car in for service.

Molly and Jack offered this more practical info:
Dear Nancy,

I recommend you call George Mahalick. He runs his own Mini Cooper place and specializes in working on Minis for racing/competition. When my husband, Jack, got me my Cooper we were in Oregon; I took my Cooper to George (even though my Mini is not even an S model!) as well as to the Portland dealership, Rasmussen, for checking over, servicing, and stocking up on parts; and, although I was happy with the dealership, George is the mechanic of preference for me. He is honest, straightforward, runs a clean, cheerful shop, is easy to work with,and works with Coopers because he likes them so well. And, he will send you to the dealers when that makes the best sense. He's the man I thought of when someone in our e-mail group mentioned bringing up a mechanic to train someone here. I wonder if he'd be interested? Anyway, training one of our own Juneau mechanics makes perfect sense to me.
George Mahalick
MINI-Madness
2092 NW Aloclek DRive, Suite 509
Hillsboro, OR 97124

telephone #'s:
888-783-6294
503-466-6463

mini-madness.com
[After I wrote this I checked out his web site again. It looks like he's been exceptionally successful and may not have time for anything but his racing specialty. But perhaps he'll refer us to someone good. We may need a good independent machanic if we want someone up here to train one of our Juneau mechanics. If there are other independent mini cooper machanics out there, he may know them. And, he may know of another mini mechanic, or may be the one himself, that would love to come up to fish in our waters and breath our clean air, and would love us to bring him here to train one of our mechanics.)
When I was doing all of this stocking up on parts, I also bought a mini cooper machanics manual. Now I am having a pickle of a time finding it! Guess I'll have to pick up another next time I go south. Wish I had it at hand for you to look at.

Good luck.
Molly

Juneau Mini Cooper owners unite!


Hello Fellow Mini owners! Thought I'd set this up so we can talk amongst ourselves when we have mini-events (like my engine light on!) You can subscribe to this on your Google Reader.