Mini Cooper Coolant

[AKmoose]

If you were closer I'd let you have a partial jug of the factory blue stuff Ed (formerly of JC) gave me.
Do you have a manual? When you flush there are a couple of bleed screws hidden under there somewhere
that need to be bled otherwise you'll get air pockets and create hot spots. If you're ever in the city I'll let you borrow
my manual.

. Oh and the run flat tires suck. They don't last as long and ride like a lumber wagon.

OH YEAH those runflats do SUCK!

 

[vvvvvvv]

If you were closer I'd let you have a partial jug of the factory blue stuff Ed (formerly of JC) gave me.
Do you have a manual? When you flush there are a couple of bleed screws hidden under there somewhere
that need to be bled otherwise you'll get air pockets and create hot spots. If you're ever in the city I'll let you borrow
my manual.

Service manual or owner's manual? It's an '04, but the dealer gave my wife an '06 manual when she bought it.

OH YEAH those runflats do SUCK!

Yeah, I don't bother with buying runflats. I just run good tires, pay attention to them, pay attention to the driving, and pay an extra couple bucks on my car insurance for roadside assistance.

 

[spamby]

The only thing I do special for the Mini is the oil - full synthetic instead of blended. I do have a question, though... is a Mini supposed to come with a spare tire?



We don't have NAPA here.

No spare tire for the Mini. We had run flats and now we have road side service. No place for the spare.

 

[AKmoose]

Bentley's service manual. Covers from 02-06, everything to repair MINI's. There was a member here offering to do repairs who sounded like he knew MINIs pretty well, MINItech was his name. LMK if you want to borrow the manual and we could meet somewhere.

 

[vvvvvvv]

No spare tire for the Mini. We had run flats and now we have road side service. No place for the spare.

Thanks. The reason I asked was because the manual for the '06 (the one the dealer gave us for our '04... don't get me started on their "oil change" sticker or the cracked rim) refers to a donut type on page 132. There was Mini tunnel vision at the time of purchase and the buyer didn't notice some outstanding defects, so I wanted to make sure the buyer wasn't mislead when the dealer told them there was no spare tire.

As for Zerex, I was surprised. I had forgotten that Cannon's in Cordell is still a NAPA. Surprisingly, they had it... even more surprising - it was a few dollars cheaper than O'Reilly would have been.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Bentley's service manual. Covers from 02-06, everything to repair MINI's. There was a member here offering to do repairs who sounded like he knew MINIs pretty well, MINItech was his name. LMK if you want to borrow the manual and we could meet somewhere.

If I need to do some wholesale repairs, I'll let you know. Thanks!

 

[vvvvvvv]

...so... I lose about a half inch in the reservoir with it parked overnight.

No puddles or drops on the cardboard.

No foamy oil.

No oil in the coolant.

No noticeable loss of power.

I am about to pull the spark plugs to see if one is cleaner than the others. I noticed something pulling plug wires though: one wire's connection to the ignition coil is heavily corroded, while the others are pristine. Another wire doesn't seem to want to let go of the spark plug. Thoughts?

By the way, here's a background. For most of the winter, the check engine light was intermittently on. Each time it was on, it was the same code that the engine was running rich. It'd stay on about 20-30 miles, and then be off for a few days. All fluid levels seemed fine at the time.

Then last week, everything was normal when my wife dropped me off at Wal-Mart. She drove a couple of miles to the vet. When she drove back to Wal-Mart, the temp gauge shot to ~7/8's up and the fan stayed on after parking. I checked it over, nothing seemed amiss, coolant level was still good. I thought maybe the 75-25-75-25 weather fluctuations had maybe cause a minor issue with the thermostat and an air pocket had formed on her trip back. Decided to drive it home, but keep an eye on it. The gauge never moved above it's normal position just below the middle line, but the fan stayed on for about five minutes after parking and shutting down.

Since then, the CEL hasn't come on. The only issue is losing a bit of coolant. My gut keeps telling me head gasket, but I'm not seeing the tell-tale signs yet.

 

[HiredHand]

Can you pressure test the cooling system or put some leak detector dye in the fliud?

 

[Shadowrider]

...so... I lose about a half inch in the reservoir with it parked overnight.

No puddles or drops on the cardboard.

No foamy oil.

No oil in the coolant.

No noticeable loss of power.

I am about to pull the spark plugs to see if one is cleaner than the others. I noticed something pulling plug wires though: one wire's connection to the ignition coil is heavily corroded, while the others are pristine. Another wire doesn't seem to want to let go of the spark plug. Thoughts?

By the way, here's a background. For most of the winter, the check engine light was intermittently on. Each time it was on, it was the same code that the engine was running rich. It'd stay on about 20-30 miles, and then be off for a few days. All fluid levels seemed fine at the time.

Then last week, everything was normal when my wife dropped me off at Wal-Mart. She drove a couple of miles to the vet. When she drove back to Wal-Mart, the temp gauge shot to ~7/8's up and the fan stayed on after parking. I checked it over, nothing seemed amiss, coolant level was still good. I thought maybe the 75-25-75-25 weather fluctuations had maybe cause a minor issue with the thermostat and an air pocket had formed on her trip back. Decided to drive it home, but keep an eye on it. The gauge never moved above it's normal position just below the middle line, but the fan stayed on for about five minutes after parking and shutting down.

Since then, the CEL hasn't come on. The only issue is losing a bit of coolant. My gut keeps telling me head gasket, but I'm not seeing the tell-tale signs yet.

How low did the coolant get? Mini Coopers can get air in the system and it's a real biatch to get it bled out even with the multiple bleeders all over the place. I think this is your problem.

 

[MiniTech]

Bentley's service manual. Covers from 02-06, everything to repair MINI's. There was a member here offering to do repairs who sounded like he knew MINIs pretty well, MINItech was his name. LMK if you want to borrow the manual and we could meet somewhere.

That's me. I Gots oem fluids. Some of them anyway. And special tools and a couple spare parts.