I had the M7 16% + 2% pulley installed this week along w/ the DDM intake. Went to pick up my car this afternoon. The car ran fine for a while but when I was on the freeway heading home, the engine stalled twice. Then the check engine light came on, EML light came on, and the engine temp went to max. I got off the freeway and turned off my car to let it cool. I waited 20 minutes and the car wouldn't even start. When I popped the hood, the engine was covered with coolant...

So the question is: how can the 16% + 2% pulley mod blow the head gasket THIS fast? And how much is it to replace the head gasket?

 

To answer your question, it will cost you between $50 and $100 if you do it yourself.

Now for some questions for you that may help answer your other question(s):
1) how many miles are on the engine?
2) was the coolant level correct when the new parts were installed?

Sometimes gaskets just blow, especially if the mating surfaces are not quite right. The added stress from the new parts may have exposed this kind of problem. You need to make sure the mating surfaces are even before simply laying a new gasket in place.

 

I can barely install a light bulb, so doing it myself is very out of the question. The engine has 28,000 miles on it and it just got a service last week at the Mini dealer so the coolant level should be good.

 

Are you sure it was a head gasket? How did you come to this conclusion?

Possibly it is just a loose hose clamp, or a blown hose? I'm guessing you observed more clues than you may have put in your email.
Just asking.

I'm sure you realize that when you add a pulley of whatever size, when you make it work, you are cramming more air and fuel into the cylinders (duh, that is the reason for the pulley) and this creates more combustion pressure than you had before. If the extra pressure is more than the gasket can hold, it blows. This is one of many reasons that the engine should be thoroughly warmed up before being run hard. I'm not saying you did this, just making a comment.

YD

 

You could have a broken recovery tank. This is an issue with the early cars, not sure about the later built - 03 & later

 

Given the covered in coolant initial description, I would tend to look for a coolant leak of some sort. Hopefully, you haven't suffered any engine damage as a result of the coolant leak.... If MINI gets involved (via the PUMA regional technical team), you are going to have a fight on your hands.

 

I had 1 tank blow up pretty bad right at the seam. Coolant was everywhere.
Just a thought.....

 

The installer sent out a mechanic to try to fix the car on the spot and the mechanic said it was a blown head gasket.

It was my wife who picked up the car. She rarely shift above 3000 rpm, so I'm sure she didn't run it hard.

I do understand the pulley adds more boost, but to blow a head gasket within 20 minutes?

 

Sounds to me like the mechanic made a hasty diagnosis without looking at all the facts. It's unlikely the head gasket just "Blew", the 3-4 PSI of additional boost isn't going to put THAT much additional stress on the gasket. Pulley installation has nothing to do with the head at all, so it can't be faulty install.

Cost of a head gasket, if your mechanic knows what he is doing he can swap out the head gasket in 2-3 hours, so figure between 150 and 225 in labor, and between 50 and 100 for the actual gasket.

If your car is an 02 or 03 my vote is the coolant expansion tank.

What year is your car, and how many miles are on the engine?

 

My car's a 04 and it has 28,000 miles.

 

wow... only 225 bucks to pull the head... let me know who pulls the head on a MINI for 225 bucks... i have about 15 cars for him to do... hell ill pay him 300...

 

Is the belt still in place.

After a pully install if not ligned up corectly or belt can come off. then the SC doesnt spin and the WATER PUMP will not spin !
It has a "O" ring at one of the places it seals that or the WP could be bad.

DONT just jump in and do a headgasket.

I would remove the SC and intake and do a pressure test

The water pump is in "top of at one end" of the SC

when those go they look VERY MUCH like a headgasket issue ..

If the belt is OK ... the coolent issue probably doesn't have much to do with the pully install.


Were are you located ??

 

speaking of water pumps... the gaskets on the water pumps on cooper s are pretty bad... and if you have never replaced them (many peoples were replaced underwarranty without knowledge) this could be the culprit...

Check your oil... does it look like mayonaise or chocolate milk?

 

Thanks guy for all the advice and suggestions. The car's in the installer's shop for the weekend and I'll find out what the real problem is on Monday. I hope it's not a blown head gasket...

I'll keep you guys updated.

 

I'm in Irvine, CA.

 

Hmmm Let's make sure we are applying terminology correctly. The compression ratio in our engines is 8.3:1. This is independent of boost and other factors, and is determined by bore, stroke and chamber volume. "Combustion pressure" I think is not a real term. If you are refering to the actual pressure inside the cyclinder at mixture ignition, this is enormous compared to a punny 12-14 lbs/in-in of boost. Boost pressure, which is affected by changing a pulley from say stock to 15% reduction is a measure of resistence to flow inside the head and is absolutely affected by pulley size. This in turn increases pressure on the intake manifold and intake manifold gasket, but I don't think it directly affects the head gasket.

Just wanting to make sure terminology is applied correctly. Where's the Dr. (okay, the other Dr., Dr. O) on this? I feel I am channeling him.

 

I've never done a head gasket, so I don't know, I just know it's less work than a full head install, and my head was installed in 4.5 hours with me standing over him the whole time , the installer (Danny from Mini Corsa) says he's done heads in a little over 3 hours.

 

Huh? It should be the exact same amount of work. You need to pull the head, replace the gasket, and re-install the head. Less in parts $, but the labor should be the same.


Back on topic,
Coolant all over the engine definitely does not sound like a head gasket.
Guess we'll find out tomorrow...

 

Many cars suffer from inoperative radiator fans due to problems with the power steering cooling fan going bad. If you found yourself sitting idle in traffic or barely moving, the engine will overheat, and the coolant tank cap will 'vent' the boiling coolant all over the engine and engine bay. Even if the engine does not boil over, cars with failed cooling fans will allow the engine to run hot in slow traffic, then cool down once under way. This cycling will stress a head gasket into failure as well as cause other engine problems.

There is nothing about installing a pulley on a 'healthy' engine that would cause such catastrophic failure in such a short time. There have been issues with water pump drives failing in some superchargers due to bad seals and/or lack of oil, but these are factory defects and not caused by pulley installs. There have been cases where the installer overstresses the supercharger shaft while removing the stock pulley (hammers on it, uses improper tools, etc). This can cause a disengagement of the water pump drive and an overheating engine in very, very rare circumstances.

 

Don't assume that just because you were in for servicing that they checked your coolant level. The MINI dealerships really provide subpar servicing. Once after a servicing I told my SA that my coolant level was a bit low, he told me that they didn't check the coolant & never would because the car is too hot during the time they have it to check the coolant level. Basically all they did was change the oil. They didn't check fluid levels, brakes, etc... like every other brand auto dealership I have ever been to does on a scheduled servicing as a courtesy

 

I was under the impression that it was less work, if it isn't, I stand corrected. I've never blown a head gasket so I don't know what the level of work involved is. If it is indeed the same in labor, you'd be looking at anywhere from 400 on the low end to upwards of 1k with some companies (DMH, )

 

New updates today:

The head is warped. The cooling fan and water pump are both fine, as is the SC belt.

So the blown head gasket is because the car overheated. Yet the cooling fan and water pump are both fine. I didn't check my coolant level recently but the temp gauge never went past the half way mark. Can anyone guess what could have caused the overheating?

 

I don't have any insights as to what could have caused this... I will tell you though but the time that temp guage even moves 1/16th of an inch it's far to late to actually save anything... that guage might as well be just there for looks.

I'm sorry about your problems. Seems like there are outisde circumstances involved.

 

It depends...if you're putting on a new head, chances are you'll need to swap out the rockers and cam...if you're just pulling the head, then those parts stay in place...

 

Some people have had issues with the head gasket itself. Others have had issues after overheating. The gauge that comes in non-Nav cars might as well be a light. It's pinned to the middle of the scale at temps from roughly 180 to 230 degrees. Since the engine temp varies 20 degrees or more during normal, warmed up operation, the wise engineers at BMW decided to make the gauge stay still at mid scale throughout the wide excursions in temperature so as to not 'alarm' the driver. Sitting in traffic, for example, the temp gauge would slowly rise and fall from about 200 degrees to about 220 as the fan cycles on and off. Instead, it's fixed at 'normal'. Once that gauge reads more than mid-scale, there is a problem brewing.