My car's coolant leak path is the same as in this photo. The Mini dealership confirmed the thermostat housing is leaking and it will cost $300 plus to fix. I can see the coolant residue around the housing. I purchased the following from a Mini dealership today and plan on doing the job myself.

11 53 7 596 787 thermostat with gasket $49

82 14 0 031 133 antifreeze, one gallon $24

Thanks for the DIY instructions. I did remove the ECU as you said as I didn't want to twist the harness wires. If there is nothing wrong with the thermostat housing you can leave the larger coolant hose (front of housing) connected. There is enough flex in the hose to move the thermostat housing away from the engine mating surface to change the thermostat and clean & inspect the surfaces.

.

 

I'm curious to know how much time or expected labor this would normally take.

Including parts, I'm being quoted almost $400 for getting this kind of job done in the Bay Area. That seems a tad ridiculous to me. My guess from looking at the steps involved is about 1 to maybe 2 hours maximum. With parts estimated at about a maximum of $50 ... it's going to cost almost $350 in labor?

Wondering what folks think. Thanks for the thread and steps. Wish I had the time to do this myself.

 

The author did a nice job with these Do It Yourself instructions . Most Mini Cooper owners have not done this task themselves so the first time is the slowest. It takes many hours because you must remove several items that are blocking access to the thermostat housing and even then the access is tight for the hose clamps. In addition you are handling the liquid coolant change or replenishment tasks.

Most Mini dealers charge $100 plus an hour labor so it adds up quickly.

 

Thats what I thought. Thanks for confirming how I'm being ripped off.

 

Yowza. Come down to Santa Cruz and I'll do it for pizza & beer. The round trip would take longer than the wrenching.

 

Thanks for the write up! I just changed the thermostat and gasket on my 2007 MINI Cooper S Convertible. It took about and hour and a half and I did not disconnect either hose from the housing. I was able to pull out the old, clean it up some and slide in the new thermostat. My leak is fixed! I added a little dye and brought out the Black light to track down the source.

 

2007 Mini is second generation. I had hoped the new thermostat gasket was improved and would last. Maybe your gasket failure is just a rare occurrence.

 

My 2007 MINI Cooper S is a Convertible. So it's the same engine as the earlier ones. Convertibles didn't get updated at the same time.

 

here is my leak I am thinking from location and what I learned in this thread this is a T-stat leak. Oil on dipstick looks good oil cooler is clean and no leaks are visible.



A confirmation of my call would be appreciated :D

 

Can someone address why one would take out the ECU for this? It does not look in the way to me and seems fairly protected?


LOL this sounds brave. anyone else try this method with success?

Thanks

 

The ECU is in the way. Unbolt the airbox and swing it out of the way like I did.
No coolant will drain other than about half pint because the system is maintained in vacuum, provided you do NOT open any caps. By following my steps you are shaving considerable time on the procedure.

 

thanks fb sadly it is not the t-stat

with all the stuff out of the way can see coolant dribbling and continuously coming out of where i top is the seam between head and block. real bad would be block

ugh

 

Ok having read some more threads and seeing others with a leak that looks like a head gasket leak I have ordered a new T-stat from way motor works

this weekend we will see.

 

Wow a big +1 for WMW My T-stat arrived at my door yesterday at 50% the cost of the dealer. Same OEM T-stat - even saved me the drive

woot (now let's hope this solves the problem)

 

Dear BigF, fishbone, cristo, and Way motor works

Thank you for your help!! I did the replacement earlier today and have been driving about all afternoon. I pretty much followed the procedure leaving the ECU installed. I did not drain coolant, and did not even take the housing hoses off there was plenty of room to take out the old unit (white gasket) and replace it with the new unit from WMW. The tip on those clips was awesome. I went from hating them to loving them once I figured out how to operate.

took me about 2 hours all in all.

Here are my T-stats at the 1/2 way point

 

Thanks to this thread for making my T-stat install much quicker. Was just under 2 hours and I had it done. Once apart was able to notice a broken gasket that came out of the housing in 1/4 inch pieces, a little dry and needed to be replaced. Thanks again.

 

The OP is very comprehensive so it's hard to add much, but it was a great help to me so I'd like to make a small contribution. I see several comments about the difficulties of reattaching the clips on the air intake tubes. I tried the cutting pliers route and various other types of pliers but wasn't having much luck until I noticed my Belden wire stripping/crimping tool (the type with the straight bladed wire cutter at the tip). With that it was a piece of cake. The other thing I learned applies to a lot of other jobs too. If, after disconnecting the battery, you close the boot lid, you won't be able to open it again. You will have to pop out the rear seat cushion and pull the manual release. Hope these points help someone.

 

Did this today, somewhat of a pain in the ****. Took 3.5 hrs not counting beer and cussing breaks. This guide was helpfull though. If you are not handy DIY kinda person it may be worth it to pay someone to do it and save yourself some aggravation.

 

It was blustery as anything outside, but the 06 MCSa had been throwing a temp light (which of course now has me looking into installing a temp gauge) and it's my wife's daily driver, so after a stop at Otto's Mini in Exton for a reasonably priced thermostat ($40), and at the local auto shop for the appropriate Valvoline Zerex coolant ($13), I set about doing my first surgery on the Mini.

The most frustrating bits were getting those friggin' clamps off the hoses. Not fun. I did the "don't break the vacuum" style swap, where the only coolant I lost was from opening the thermostat housing. I didn't bother removing the ECU from the airbox - I detached the harnesses, then took the ECU & box out together.

While I had everything out in the open, I took the opportunity to clean the throttle body out. With 100,000 miles on it, it needed it.

Definitely took me a few hours. I don't know if it's because of the mileage, but pulling engine bits apart on this car is really, really exhausting. The short stature of the car wasn't helping my posture any either.

I'm thinking I may have had the original thermostat in there - the gasket came apart as I was pulling it out. Adventures in used car ownership! Next episode: getting two big mushrooms out from under my hood :p

 

Thank you " thebigf " for doing the best write up I have seen on NAM !

The photos included in the repair job made it so much easier to follow instead of just reading what to do.

The other additions by other members to your write up we're also helpful and this is how we all learn to help each other repair our Mini's.

If you do any additional repairs please follow the same format with photos included with your post.

Again, Thank You for taking the time to give us all so much detail on this repair ! ! !

We all owe you !

 

That was an excellent write up. I don't think I could have done it without your guidance! My contribution is I found the perfect tool to snap back those really pesky clamps!

It was already part of a pliers set I bought from Costco a number of years ago. Never really used it until now. Thank god I had it b/c it made snapping back those intake hoses a breeze.



Thanks again OP!

 

I've read thru the complete thread and I'm sure i now can replace the T-stat on a S and or JCW but as requested 3 times what about the standard Cooper which doesn't have a battery in the boot, and doesn't have a turbo/super charger, etc. Both engine bays look very different.
Therefore has anybody done a standard cooper (R50) T-stat change and if so what procedure should I follow. thebigf did a great write up but I'm inclined not to do a complete drainage and parts removal except the thermostat&housing.
So what should I follow.

 

Helpful write-up, did mine today. Never had a problem with those hose clamps, actually prefer that style.

Nik

 

Big thanks for this discussion.

Just did my 2006 r53 with 49k. Took about an hour and did not require me to disconnect coolant hoses and just moved the airbox out of the way. The old white gasket leaking on the head side. Local dealer charged me $60 for the thermostat/gasket.

 

I did do my 06 MC R50 and don't know what the fuzz is al about. Only disconnected the coolant hoses to the T-stat, do not drain anything. Caught the little leakage from the head in a drain pan. Kept the open hose ends above the engine or as high as possible. Moved some of the air hoses to the side and all in all a very easy fix (she doesn't leak anymore). Used waterpump plyers for the easy clamps and a needle-nose 'vise-grip' for the harder to reach ones. The battery box removal/installation was probably the most time consuming.
Total time 1 hour 30 minutes. Ordered from way motor works. Excellent price, fit, and service.