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Hey folks, I had my 2005 Mini Cooper in for it's Safety this week and was told something rather alarming.. I apparently need a new engine! I'm still in doubt and wondering about a second or even 3rd opinion, here's the poop:
Compression in way down in 2 cylinders and the plugs from said cylinders are fuel soaked. I ran this car a few weeks back and well it did seem to lack power I attributed it to the 116hp engine, I've been used to way more from previous car... but regardless it did run smooth and not like a car that is down 2 cylinders. The previous owner had replaced plugs, the coil pack and plug wires and I'm also wonder if he may have missed something which might explain the lack of spark.. but not the lack of compression.
I'm hoping someone knows what this problem could be, The car (engine aside) is mint and I want to do so much with it.
Tough luck. Not what any of us wants to hear. Take it to another Mini specialist for a 2nd opinion, if you don’t trust the first one. If he concurs, you must accept it. Since all else is mint, bite the bullet, and get a new engine. Then , enjoy!
When the previous owner replaced the plugs, did he/she replace with the correct ones? I've heard of the wrong plugs, maybe being too short or wrong temperature, causing misfire problems.
A bit of an update, The mechanic is going to go ahead and safety the car so needless to say I'm committed to this now even if it means replacing an engine... meanwhile it's going to a shop that can diagnose and fix this issue. Between these forums and a mint Mini cooper FB group I've gotten a lot of good advice on what to look for and how to resolve the problem so I really hope this works... this little Mini has grown on me a lot and that's coming from a former s13 owner!
Well ladies and Gents, bit of an update for you all.
My Cooper is safetied and running on all 4 cylinders. The shop said they did the compression leak down test and it's.. just as most of you said, Sticky valves so I'll take you advice and do what I can to clean them up without removing the head. I don't want to have to go that far into it unless completely necessary. I drove about 18kms and had coolant overheating issues. We flaltbedded it home from there and going to check a few things like the cooling fans, thermostat.. maybe even learn how to check the water pump as all this Cooper stuff is still quite new to me.
Any advice would be appreciated.
These little things can be a pain in the a$$! But they are just so much fun!
You are probably in line for, and it would be a good idea while you are fixing it to do it well. Just bite the bullet and replace the water pump, pulley, friction wheel, water pump, thermostat, and the pipe that the runs between the two, since they get brittle and it will likely break when you remove the thermostat.
The best way to clean the valves is to have them walnut blasted. But you can do it yourself with some CRC valve cleaner and a little elbow grease.
Make sure the valves you are cleaning are closed! And afterward remove the plugs and turn it over a few times to clear out anything that may have seeped into the cylinders, you do not want to hydro-lock the motor!
tjere are some good DIY’s out there and here on NAM.
Having a shop do repairs on these cars is a killer due to the labor charges. Lots of time to charge for. Save $$ and turn some wrenches!
Good luck
I did the thermostat and all the lines looked pretty good but doing this I also noticed a pretty constant leakage and bad whine from the power steering so.... now waiting on a water pump to show up and have been watching some walkthrough videos to prepare, can see how it can be a pricey dealer fix but totally possible to do it myself. ALSO.. Coolant fans are not turning on, wiring looksfine, relays and fuses are good so I'm stumped. In the past I've simply hard wired it to a toggle or accessories but I do understand other systems in the Cooper are all tied in as well.. the heater, the A/c, how they need low speed coolant fan to be passing air or something (still learning). Any advice would help.. trying to keep things as they should be.. not rigged.
Isn't the PS pump fan, for some reason, is also connected to the coolant fan circuit? I remember there being many issues with the high and low speed coolant fan having issues which caused issues with the PS pump fan, or maybe it was the other way around. I never had this issue with my R50 or the R53. I did have the PS pump fail, but not the coolant fan.
That is odd how one can take the other out, I did read something somewhere in these threads about that. I'll try to pull the PS fan and test it on 12v to see if it works as of right now there's nothing happening with it.
I suppose updating this thread would be a good idea, lol. I've replaced the water pump, coolant hoses were still pretty good so I've left them. The radiator was pretty bad too so I replaced it and the fan resistor into part. After a bit of bleeding the air out of the system Coolant is now flowing but still no fan. Next up is getting the new PS pump fan and then I can go from there but unsure of what to do should that not fix the rad fan issue, back in the day I'd have just wired it to the accessories and been done with it but these coopers deserve a bit more respect than that lol.
I've replaced that part.. now replaced the PS pump fan as the old one was seized up and couldnt be fixed. I've still got no fans.. even let it heat right up and still nada.. it's frustrating as all fuses and relays are good.. I just cannot track down the problem and I'm about ready to just hard wire it to accessories or a switch..
ANY HELP is appreciated if someone else has already solved this.
