It has been a while but now our cars are back home.
Lauries car spent around 3 weeks at the dealers body shop and my car was in Townes shop for a two week vacation.
With the body warranty getting near the end Laurie and I thought it would be a good idea to get some of Smileees small rust issues taken care of.
The lift gate was showing some orange around the inside seam and there was a couple of small rust bubbles near the outside handle.
The bonnet had some small rust spot around the grill and head lamps.
After an inspection by a MINI area rep it was determined that the rust issues on the bonnet were due to stone chips and would not be covered. A $500.00 est. was given and approved to repair the bonnet.
The lift gate would be repaired under the body warranty.
When work started it was found that the lift gate was totally rotted on the inside and would need to be replaced. The source of the rust was traced to a bad gasket on the lift gate handle. Moisture seeped in and never dried. Due to the extent of the damage the entire lift gate was replaced under warranty.
I would recommend that as the body warranty is running out on 02 and 03 cars that you give your cars a good looking over before the warranty runs out.
My car was in for a service engine soon lamp problem. The error code said that there was a problem with evap. System.
To find the problem the service tech had to remove the fuel system from the gas cap to the engine and pressure test each part.
The problem was traced to a small crack in a charcoal canister located above the gas tank.
It looks like the problem had been there from day one. The tabs that hold it in place were over tightened at the factory and cracked the container.
