GPMINI is generally serviced at MINI of Peabody by Chris, Gary, and the gang … but she’s 1300 miles from home, left sitting for months at a time, and (almost) due her 30K service.
So while down here, I booked her in at MINI of Orlando.
The booking process was wierd; seems they contract it out to some other operation; the guy I spoke with on the phone didn’t appear to know much at all about MINIs! Still, on arrival today, things were smooth and friendly … I’d planned just to pay for a “half way” oil & filter change, and get GPMINI checked over – but they said they could do the 30K service early, so why not! Saves me money, and gets everything checked, including changing the a/c filter.
During work, they discovered a small leak around the thermostat housing, so replaced the gasket and thermostat and did a coolant flush too …
When all was done, GPMINI got washed too (and we almost made it home before it started to rain!); however, heading home I heard an annoying “whistle” once GPMINI passed 70mph! It sounded like a window was cracked open slightly, but all were closed. I found that it went away if I turned on recirculation, so suspected the a/c filter since they changed it …
Back at 8002, I removed the a/c filter cover, and decided the tech had probably caught the amplifier “turn-on” wire in the cover when he re-fitted it after changing the filter, so I sorted that and put the cover on again – but I have yet to get out to somewhere I can do >70mph, to check that the whistle has gone.
Overall, pretty good service. Friendly, and communicative … but I don’t know anyone there, and they don’t know me 😉
M&I / GBMINI 