Happy new year guys !!

i have been driving my 03 cooper S for a few months after major upgrades. lately i notice the water temperature is very high. when engine first starts, it seems normal at level 3 . but it gets to level 4 when driving in highway doing 80~100 km. it slowly comes down to level 3 when entering in traffic again.

i just remapped the ECU yesterday and reset the meter (the mechanic said he found 3 fault codes in the meter). he was saying that maybe the car wasn't overheating, just some error with the showing the actual temperature. obviously i can't wait to rev the engine. the water overheating problem seems remained.

is it time to replace the water pump or sensor ? is it easy and how much pls ?

 

Is the system full of coolant? Bled properly? If your overheating at high engine speeds, it usually indicates some sort of water pump issue.

 

well i checked the water. it looks fine and the fan works. i heard there is electronic water pump out there. is it pricey and how it installs ?

 

Water pump is mechanically driven. It is the power steering pump that is electric (and is responsible for that weird robotic whine you hear when turning the wheel in the parking lot).

It still sounds like you need more diagnostics before replacing expensive parts. . . .

 

Yes there is an electric water pump out there, however it is used in turbo only setups or if you would use a different supercharger other than the m45. It is very pricey, as the pump is not cheap and then you need to plumb it in and install the relay and wiring for setup. Figure anywhere around ~$500 for parts then install...really not a viable option. You can find a used water pump pretty easily around here for not a lot if it does in fact turn out to be your water pump. What gauge are you using to view your water temps? I ask this, as the stock gauge is a dummy gauge and doesnt represent tempatures accordingly. The quickest way would be to put your car into test mode and actually read the temps off the OBDII but then again, if your temp sensor is on the way out, that wont read accurate as well. How many km's on the vehicle?

 

There is another way through the hidden features in the trip computer. Do a search on MINI2 for the full instructions but here they are in a nutshell:

Put the key into the ignition but don't turn it. Press and hold the odometer reset button and turn the key to position 1. Press the button again to scroll through the numbers until 19. After a second on 19, the words "i-logoff...i-logon..." will be repeated. When it says i-logoff, press the button again. You're now in to the hidden features. Scroll through to 7.0 and that's your actual coolant temp in celsius. The odometer display will return to normal after you turn the car off.

 

the temperature show ard 99 celsius when stationed. cannot read the temps off the OBDII when driving. my car did about 35000km.

Kapps, very interesting trick indeed.

i really dun wanna open up the engine bay and check everything which will cost me a lot. and worst thing is maybe the pump is just clogged up.

 

You said you had done some major modifications. What are they? It could be related to those.

 

pretty much everything. 19% pulley, ported head, cam, air filter, header and exhaust, ECU (tms-tuning), intercooler, oil cooler