Hi guys,

My mini cooper S 2007 R56 had a major leak at the thermostat housing, I replaced it myself yesterday with the help of this forum.
This morning I turned the car on and coolant was dripping from the passenger side of the engine, about 20" from the front of the car...

When I was removing the thermostat housing had a hard time trying to remove it form the pipe that connects the thermostat to the water pump...

This pipe:

http://new.minimania.com/part/G2NME1...0-61-Cooper--S

Did I possibly disassembled the pipe from the water pump?
If so how do you recommend me to fix it?
What do you think?

This is my first post here, I have working with my car for the last months using this forum as a reference. Thanks for the help.

Pepe

 

Anybody? Any ideas would be highly appreciated!
Thanks!

 

It is unknown to me if you disturbed the connection to the water pump, but I suppose it is possible. If you have a coolant system pressure tester, you could use that to see where the leak is coming from. That is how I would approach it.

 

Thanks for the feedback Sonofmini!

From where would you try to see the if leak is coming from that pipe? From under the car?

Unfortunately I have not access to that a pressure tester, but once I fill up the expansion tank up to max it start leaking again drop by drop so it would be "easy" to see from where it comes from.

Thanks!

 

Sure. Put it on jack stands, and grab a flashlight.

 

I would check that location where the pipe inputs to the back of the water pump. Also when I did my thermostat and pressurized it I found a leak from the plastic version water pump down the road. The pumps are now metal on the outside. Check the connection at the back of the water pipe to that thermostat,when you shine light up there. If its the water pump it will leak at the seam between the pump housing plastic and the engine block metal, which is the other half of the water pump housing. Or a hairline crack on the plastic side.

You saw this already? The Water pipe / tube has o rings at both ends, one end going into the water pump housing backing on the tube, and the other on the thermostat itself , which is held in-place on the connection to the tube with that clip.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...html?styleid=7


&&


And here is the thread for the water pump / thermostat housing issues.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...8-no-heat.html

Once you find that source of the leak, you will know which is bad.

Thanks

 

Ok will look under the car to see if it comes from the pipe side or the water pump side.

I did not know that you could actually see it from under the car. I thought that this coolant pipe was hidden by the block at the water pump side!

Do I have to remove anything from under the car to see this connection? No plastic protections or anything?

Yes I have read both threads and your replies helped a lot to figure that I was possibly the water pipe!

Thanks guys!

 

So, I just replaced my thermostat housing and water pump a couple months ago, I would tend to think that it is going to be the seal on the pump itself rather than the actual pipe connecting the two. It makes sense to me that these seals would go about the same time. Did you find out whether it was the pipe or the pump?

 

Will find out this Sunday!
Did you replace the pump yourself? If so did you follow any DIY manual or something?

Thanks!

 

Yeah I did it myself. If memory serves, the pump cost around $110 from parts.com. I used the Bentley Service Manual (easily worth the $100 it cost) and referenced the write-up below. The write-up was pretty good, though it didn't really address placing the friction wheel in "service mode" which is a very simple, but very important step. Overall, it wasn't too bad, if you are reasonably competent I would say about 4-6 hours depending on your tools, experience etc. If you have any questions let me know!

http://www.juanjchong.com/2013/r56-c...p-replacement/

 

Thanks for that, yeah I saw this a while ago.
Did you do the whole lowering the engine down as he explains here??

It kinda scares me to be honest, hehe

 

Haha yeah, I know what you mean. The idea of taking the engine off the mounts and jacking it up made me a bit nervous as well, (I am rather averse to the idea of accidentally bending things and/or dropping heavy things on other things) but it worked just fine and I didn't run into any real problems doing it. For stuff like this, I just try to use my best judgement, make sure everything is properly supported, take my time and pay attention as things are being lifted and lowered (listening for metal straining, watching clearances etc.).

 

So did you lift it it up or did u lower it as he says in the point 10?

"#10 Once that piece is removed, the engine should now be supported only by the jack. SLOWLY lower the engine block until it’s supported by the frame. Don’t worry, it’s okay to do this!"

I have seen another post that actually lift it up instead lowering it. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...placement.html

 

I had to do a bit of both, my wheel was stuck on the hub and wouldn't come off after about 30 min of monkeying with it I just said "screw it" and worked around it. That required a bit more creativity with the angle of the engine and a great deal of proficiency with profane language, luckily for me, I am fluent.

 

Any update on the leak?

 

Yes, is still leaking hehe

I put the car on jackstands and went under the car to see from where it was leaking.
I touched everywhere and it was leaking from the side of the pipe…(see picture) I am not a mechanic so Im not 100% sure…

I went ahead and removed the thermostat, all the pipes and tighted up the pipe that connects to the water pump and reassembled everything and filled again the system.

1 hour later was leaking again… hehe do not know what to do now. I need to make a decision to either replace the whole pipe (in case that the end o-ring is bad) or replace the water pump (in case that is the water pump the issue)

What would you guys do?

 

Hmmm... It is kinda tough to get my bearings from your close-up picture, do you have a picture that is zoomed out about 50%? Looking at the puddle under your car, that was about where mine was when it was the water pump.

If I was reasonably confident it was the pipe I would start there. Though if the pipe went and the thermostat went the water pump is probably not far behind. could you reach anything up to feel the seal around the water pump for moisture?

Also, what kind of coolant are you using?

 

Sorry for the late update.

Two weekends ago I decided to replace the waterpump . When I had the old wp out I saw that the water pipe was broken! See images, it had a small crack at the end of it.

I patched with epoxy, waited for 24h to cure and assembled all back again, is working fine until now. I have ordered the tube to have it ready as soon as I see that the coolant is leaking again!

Thanks for the help to everybody on the forum without you I would never attempted to fix it by myself!

 

Congratulations are in order. That was a big job, and you tackled it!

 

Nice work!

 

The epoxy did the job, excellent fix!

 

Hi Guys, i have a Mini Cooper 2003 plate. After having a coolant leak for many months now, there does seem to be no cure! I took it to the local garage, and they said it was the thermostat housing which cost £120. A few days later and the leak still persists, enough to leave me with an empty tank each day! I took it back to the garage once already and he said it looks all fine and just to keep an eye on it. However problem still persists. I love my Mini Cooper, but I am really startign to loose all hope with it. after reading online coolant leaks seem to be a very common problem. Please can some one help me?

Nicole

 

Looks like you will just have to bite the bullet and get it repaired. Find a good local mechanic.

 

nickym - do you have a 2003 , that's a Gen 1 MINI, your in the Gen 2 MINI post. Maybe you mis-typed the year?

Thanks and let me know.

 

Replace the junk plastic water pump while you're in there. I would suspect that it's either this tube or the o-rings.

I thought that my new metal water pump was leaking (even after so much RTV silicone sealant). It wasn't it was this tube (http://new.minimania.com/part/G2NME1...0-61-Cooper--S) and/or the o-ring. Just inspect it while you have everything torn down.

Save yourself a lot of heartache. Still cheaper than the stealership.