Saturday, August 1, 2009

Sway Bar Bolt

So I finally got sick of hearing the rattling coming from under the Mini-E all the way to and from work every day and decided to bring the car over to Morristown Mini for a checkup. They said I would have to leave the car because any problem with any of the Mini-E cars requires a registration of he issue with Mini and the dispatch of one of their techs to review any issues. I told them I was convinced that this was non-"E" related, but they said their hands were tied. When I asked about a loaner, they said that the problem would have to be diagnosed before they could assign a loaner. I asked "so I am going to be without a car for a few days", "yes". I guess this is why in the questionnaire to get in the program they asked if we could be without the car for a few days. I believe it was something like "would you have other transportation".... To me this is an example of the fact that Mini does not know have the pedigree for an $850/month customer. That would not fly at an of my other dealerships. But I digress....

Upon arrival the mechanics said they would go for a test drive to see what I was hearing. We didn't make it out of the parking lot before hitting a drainage grate, "that is the noise", said. "I know what it is, you can back up". He proceeded to tell me that he had a car in for this same thing (a non-E) that rather than some kind of locking bolt at the end of the sway bar, Mini opted for a tapered bolt that upon tightening is meant to provide enough tension t hold the assembly together. Apparently not. I'm sure the extra 500+ pound of batteries we are all carrying isn't making the load on it any easier.

But to my surprise, the tech said he would take it i the back, jack it up, tightening it and if there was nothing else he would send me on my way now. I could not have been happier. I also only had about 35% charge as I was not expecting to get the car back, so they said they would throw it on heir 50A charger for a while as well to juice me up. and thy did all of that. I was having a pleasant conversation with one of the salesman who had come to pick me up from the train station in his Shelby Mustang on the day that I picked up my Mini-E, so I let the car sit for 30 mins on the charger. I had seen another Mini-E in the back (didn't catch the #), he said they were in "a lot". They called my name, said it was ready.

They said it was about 50% charged now. Not what I thought but might get me to NYC and back home, maybe. I figured I was going to be asking my parking garage for a top off while I was at work. I got about 10 miles from the dealership on the highway and the charge was down to 22%. Not sure what was happening exactly, but I made the decision that I was working from home and would charge on my power. No problems since, and I thank Morristown Mini for sending me on my way so easily.

Listen for that noise though.....

2 comments:

  1. Hi Michael

    First of all:Great blog! My name is Pascal Giberné, i'm a french jounalist based in New York, working for the french daily newspaper Le Parisien and i would like to write a story about you and your Mini E. My story is due for Sunday, would you agree to meet me for an interview? That would be very nice of you.

    Here is my email address :
    djibus@gmail.com

    and my cell number
    646 957 6267

    Merci and talk to you soon i hope
    Pascal Giberné

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike check out this website :
    http://www.darrylsiry.com/

    ReplyDelete