MINI coolant help
Discussion
Evening.
A friend of mine owns a cooper, and has a lot of problems with coolant loss and some nasty engine noises. Tonight I took my first look at the engine. First things first, he was about 3cm below the dipstick min mark. Car was serviced four months ago, but apparently he has never topped oil up himself!!! So oil bought and topped up to max mark, engine sounded happier straight away. Not sure how he's survived.
Anyway, I checked over the engine, he had a new head gasket recently, and to my eyes there is no sign of HGF. Had a quick read on MINI coolant issues, and briefly saw issue with coolant expansion cap having a poor seal?
I have asked him to check the oil level weekly so we have a good idea on oil use.
Aside from that I plan to do a full coolant drain and flush and refill with proper 50-50 and ensure it is correctly filled with no air in the system. He has been topping up with 100% tap water as the coolant loss has been so frequent.
My question is does anyone have any experience and tips for this. Having looked at the expansion cap it had obvious signs of water past the seal, I will add a second rubber seal to improve the closing hoping it helps.
Any ideas much appreciated. I'm hoping I can sort it, saw somewhere else mention replacing the header tank as these may be a weak link?
Thanks
A friend of mine owns a cooper, and has a lot of problems with coolant loss and some nasty engine noises. Tonight I took my first look at the engine. First things first, he was about 3cm below the dipstick min mark. Car was serviced four months ago, but apparently he has never topped oil up himself!!! So oil bought and topped up to max mark, engine sounded happier straight away. Not sure how he's survived.
Anyway, I checked over the engine, he had a new head gasket recently, and to my eyes there is no sign of HGF. Had a quick read on MINI coolant issues, and briefly saw issue with coolant expansion cap having a poor seal?
I have asked him to check the oil level weekly so we have a good idea on oil use.
Aside from that I plan to do a full coolant drain and flush and refill with proper 50-50 and ensure it is correctly filled with no air in the system. He has been topping up with 100% tap water as the coolant loss has been so frequent.
My question is does anyone have any experience and tips for this. Having looked at the expansion cap it had obvious signs of water past the seal, I will add a second rubber seal to improve the closing hoping it helps.
Any ideas much appreciated. I'm hoping I can sort it, saw somewhere else mention replacing the header tank as these may be a weak link?
Thanks
My previous car, an R56 MCS was great, yet as you say the coolant was an issue. At about the 50K miles mark, the temperature of the car was big, the fan was staying on for a very long time and after a long drive, the fan would stay on so long that the battery was a little drained of power. Does the service or warning light come on for anything to do with the engine at present?
The issue was the pressure of the coolant pump, not so much the seals and this whole unit got changed user the warranty of the car. An afternoon in the shop and it was good to go. No further issues although at the same time they changed the fuel pump as this had something to do with the idling of the engine but by what you say you do not have this issue.
The issue was the pressure of the coolant pump, not so much the seals and this whole unit got changed user the warranty of the car. An afternoon in the shop and it was good to go. No further issues although at the same time they changed the fuel pump as this had something to do with the idling of the engine but by what you say you do not have this issue.
AndyM31 said:
My previous car, an R56 MCS was great, yet as you say the coolant was an issue. At about the 50K miles mark, the temperature of the car was big, the fan was staying on for a very long time and after a long drive, the fan would stay on so long that the battery was a little drained of power. Does the service or warning light come on for anything to do with the engine at present?
The issue was the pressure of the coolant pump, not so much the seals and this whole unit got changed user the warranty of the car. An afternoon in the shop and it was good to go. No further issues although at the same time they changed the fuel pump as this had something to do with the idling of the engine but by what you say you do not have this issue.
Unsure on EML and he's gone now (will check). I had a look in his user manual and there was a note he'd written to the mechanic mentioning the warning light being on and being unable to reset it, but no idea what it was for. Assume car had died again and he'd got it to the garage. It is over heating massively. Says his drive from Brighton to Crawley seems ok in the morning, but generally the issue happens on the way home.The issue was the pressure of the coolant pump, not so much the seals and this whole unit got changed user the warranty of the car. An afternoon in the shop and it was good to go. No further issues although at the same time they changed the fuel pump as this had something to do with the idling of the engine but by what you say you do not have this issue.
No doubt the lack of oil was a factor in it's worsening recently, but the issue has been present for a long time, and apparently two different garages have been unable to diagnose.
I will have a further look when back from my hols in a couple of weeks. Hopefully before I go we'll put the proper coolant in.
My company did a fair bit of development on the JCW so hopefully I can find a mech dev guy who worked on it. I will also be able to get a vacuum coolant filler so this should eliminate any air in the system.
I don't think he's under warranty any more, so will have a look for replacement pumps.
I also saw mention that the stats bleed valve can be a bit suspect as it's on a bit of an angle. I might open up the restriction slightly. Other than that at the moment I'm hoping proper coolant fill ensuring properly bled, and see how it goes. if that doesn't help look to changing the pump.
Thanks for your reply.
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