Discussion
Now one of my R56's is going I've got room on the driveway and a need for something I can use rather than fiddle with/break.
Had a sit in one today, older F54 with chili pack and a few other bits. Nice and comfortable with a more load space than an R56 (and my old diesel F56).
Any gotchas on the B38? Walked away as first DTC to come up was chain related and it had just done over 100K and still on its original clutch so a non starter.
I'm guessing aim for <70K with the best history you can find, maybe an auto petrol cooper/S?
Had a sit in one today, older F54 with chili pack and a few other bits. Nice and comfortable with a more load space than an R56 (and my old diesel F56).
Any gotchas on the B38? Walked away as first DTC to come up was chain related and it had just done over 100K and still on its original clutch so a non starter.
I'm guessing aim for <70K with the best history you can find, maybe an auto petrol cooper/S?
Hi - we’ve had a 2016 F54 Cooper Clubman for the last couple of years.
Be wary of low coolant / overheating with the B38. Known weak points of the car as they get to 8 - 9 years is plastic oil filter housing, thermostat and water pump, coolant hoses / connectors deteriorate with age and can result in a slow coolant leak.
This results in the car overheating and head gasket / warped cylinder head developing (worse case) resulting in potentially catastrophic engine damage.
We’ve just experienced this over the summer as the mini doesn’t have a temp gauge (it’s one of the sub displays on the MFD) so it’s hard to know when this happening. Experienced power loss / no acceleration when overtaking / getting up to speed during the hot summer. Was trying to diagnose so experimented with it accelerating with AC on / off etc. and finally got a message on the central display saying ‘`Engine temp - power limited’ and checked coolant which was very low and diagnosed as a slow leak.
Got the oil filter housing replaced and all well for a couple of months and passed MOT last week with no advisories.
Got panicked call from wife on Friday to say steam coming out from engine bay / car won’t start and then coolant dumped when it got recovered. Now waiting on diagnosis from local garage but am expecting the worst that coolant has gotten into engine and hydro locked it and may have damaged engine.
Even if it’s just the thermostat / water pump deteriorate/ head gasket won’t be a cheap repair and risk that we have other issues in the future and we’ll likely end up scraping it.
We may had been unlucky and bought a lemon as research I did suggested the B38 engine is very reliable.
Currently looking for a replacement Mini as wife wants a ‘fun’ car and nothing else on the market.
If we do get one will be keeping an eye on engine temps and checking coolant regularly.
They’re great cats with loads of character and nothing else really on the market but buyer aware!
Be wary of low coolant / overheating with the B38. Known weak points of the car as they get to 8 - 9 years is plastic oil filter housing, thermostat and water pump, coolant hoses / connectors deteriorate with age and can result in a slow coolant leak.
This results in the car overheating and head gasket / warped cylinder head developing (worse case) resulting in potentially catastrophic engine damage.
We’ve just experienced this over the summer as the mini doesn’t have a temp gauge (it’s one of the sub displays on the MFD) so it’s hard to know when this happening. Experienced power loss / no acceleration when overtaking / getting up to speed during the hot summer. Was trying to diagnose so experimented with it accelerating with AC on / off etc. and finally got a message on the central display saying ‘`Engine temp - power limited’ and checked coolant which was very low and diagnosed as a slow leak.
Got the oil filter housing replaced and all well for a couple of months and passed MOT last week with no advisories.
Got panicked call from wife on Friday to say steam coming out from engine bay / car won’t start and then coolant dumped when it got recovered. Now waiting on diagnosis from local garage but am expecting the worst that coolant has gotten into engine and hydro locked it and may have damaged engine.
Even if it’s just the thermostat / water pump deteriorate/ head gasket won’t be a cheap repair and risk that we have other issues in the future and we’ll likely end up scraping it.
We may had been unlucky and bought a lemon as research I did suggested the B38 engine is very reliable.
Currently looking for a replacement Mini as wife wants a ‘fun’ car and nothing else on the market.
If we do get one will be keeping an eye on engine temps and checking coolant regularly.
They’re great cats with loads of character and nothing else really on the market but buyer aware!
Hi - we’ve had a 2016 F54 Cooper Clubman for the last couple of years.
Be wary of low coolant / overheating with the B38. Known weak points of the car as they get to 8 - 9 years is plastic oil filter housing, thermostat and water pump, coolant hoses / connectors deteriorate with age and can result in a slow coolant leak.
This results in the car overheating and head gasket / warped cylinder head developing (worse case) resulting in potentially catastrophic engine damage.
We’ve just experienced this over the summer as the mini doesn’t have a temp gauge (it’s one of the sub displays on the MFD) so it’s hard to know when this happening. Experienced power loss / no acceleration when overtaking / getting up to speed during the hot summer. Was trying to diagnose so experimented with it accelerating with AC on / off etc. and finally got a message on the central display saying ‘`Engine temp - power limited’ and checked coolant which was very low and diagnosed as a slow leak.
Got the oil filter housing replaced and all well for a couple of months and passed MOT last week with no advisories.
Got panicked call from wife on Friday to say steam coming out from engine bay / car won’t start and then coolant dumped when it got recovered. Now waiting on diagnosis from local garage but am expecting the worst that coolant has gotten into engine and hydro locked it and may have damaged engine.
Even if it’s just the thermostat / water pump deteriorate/ head gasket won’t be a cheap repair and risk that we have other issues in the future and we’ll likely end up scraping it.
We may had been unlucky and bought a lemon as research I did suggested the B38 engine is very reliable.
Currently looking for a replacement Mini as wife wants a ‘fun’ car and nothing else on the market.
If we do get one will be keeping an eye on engine temps and checking coolant regularly.
They’re great cats with loads of character and nothing else really on the market but buyer aware!
Be wary of low coolant / overheating with the B38. Known weak points of the car as they get to 8 - 9 years is plastic oil filter housing, thermostat and water pump, coolant hoses / connectors deteriorate with age and can result in a slow coolant leak.
This results in the car overheating and head gasket / warped cylinder head developing (worse case) resulting in potentially catastrophic engine damage.
We’ve just experienced this over the summer as the mini doesn’t have a temp gauge (it’s one of the sub displays on the MFD) so it’s hard to know when this happening. Experienced power loss / no acceleration when overtaking / getting up to speed during the hot summer. Was trying to diagnose so experimented with it accelerating with AC on / off etc. and finally got a message on the central display saying ‘`Engine temp - power limited’ and checked coolant which was very low and diagnosed as a slow leak.
Got the oil filter housing replaced and all well for a couple of months and passed MOT last week with no advisories.
Got panicked call from wife on Friday to say steam coming out from engine bay / car won’t start and then coolant dumped when it got recovered. Now waiting on diagnosis from local garage but am expecting the worst that coolant has gotten into engine and hydro locked it and may have damaged engine.
Even if it’s just the thermostat / water pump deteriorate/ head gasket won’t be a cheap repair and risk that we have other issues in the future and we’ll likely end up scraping it.
We may had been unlucky and bought a lemon as research I did suggested the B38 engine is very reliable.
Currently looking for a replacement Mini as wife wants a ‘fun’ car and nothing else on the market.
If we do get one will be keeping an eye on engine temps and checking coolant regularly.
They’re great cats with loads of character and nothing else really on the market but buyer aware!
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