The folloing is an email I recently recieved about the dreaded hood-rub issue that was uncovered this past spring on this site:
I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful service your web site provides for MINI owners. I have a 2003 Cooper S (Indi Blue, 'natch) and had the same issue you did with the underside of the hood rubbing the paint off where it came into contact with the radiator surround on the extreme left and right of the underside.
After reading about your experience, I wiped off the rubber every time I washed the car to keep the area from getting any worse; when I went to the dealership to have it repaired this week along with a regular service, they responded that they couldn't find any service bulletins or advisories for the problem and I ended up bringing my car home without the fix. Rechecking your site, I found the actual service measure number and part numbers and after confirming them with MINIUSA, was able to provide that info to the dealership and lo and behold they actually had the parts in stock.
So, after two trips to the dealer, thanks to your web site, it's finally fixed. The initial stumbling block that the dealership ran into was that my VIN number was not in the range specified by the service measure, hence they didn't think it applied to my vehicle (perhaps MINIUSA needs to allow the measure to apply to any MINI regardless of VIN #). Just thought I pass along my thanks for all your efforts,
Shawn
I'm posting Shawn's letter for the world to see so that others like him, who may not currently know about this issue, can check it out for themselves and potentially avoid some rusty surprises later in the lifetime of their car. To fully understand how this issue became an issue check out these links in the following order:
<p>I'm afraid that this is what i'm going to have to do for my dealer also… Last time they had it in the fall, I told them about the problem, and that MINI had released a service bulletin, but the 'fix' that they called protective tape looked more like scotch tape to me. Of course, they couldn't find any evidence of the leak in my boot window either, and I've been too busy to deal with either problem. MINIUSA: Some of your repair centers are more intrested in BMW customers than MINI customers (I've had to wait over a month to get a new headlight bulb before).</p>
<p>Speaking of problems here's one that I'm having.</p>
<p>I keep getting a smell that kinda smells like a burnt tortilla. I know it's coolant and have told the dealer about it. They changed the cap and the coolant overflow bottle and that fixed for a while but now it's back. It doesn't appear to be leaking or does the level of coolant seem to be going down but it is getting, the smell, much stronger. My wife, back in the '80's, had the same thing with a '89 Honda. It turned out to be a head gasket. Has anybody heard of a head gasket problem with the MCS's?</p>
<p>is this an issue for 2004 models?</p>
<p>No -it shoud be fixed for the latter half of 03 and all of 04.</p>