My coolant has been disappearing over time. The tank seems okay. Last Saturday morning, when I walked out, there was a nice puddle of coolant coming from under the car. I filled her back up, turned her on and bled the system. I then left her running until she came up to operating temperature. I then took her on a brisk drive. Came back and no leaks. Since then she's been fine. Since the supercharger and waterpump seem to running fine, I'm going for the easiest fix, the thermostat housing. Today I put her on the lift and was looking for a possible leak. I placed a rag right above the thermostat housing as a reference. I got back under and this is where it looks like coolant has run down. That area is actually quite rusty indicating to me that moisture has been there before. I have the new thermostat housing and thermostat. I'll be changing it out this Friday. I was wondering if the gasket I have the right one. It's white in color. And, since BMW decided that a drain valve on the radiator was too much of an inconvience, I'll be pulling the lower radiator hose to drain the coolant, but is the drain valve for the block easy access? Thanks!!

 

thats the right gasket, and luckily for use, they offer a 2 year warranty on them now! glad you found your problem and fix!

 

Thanks man!!! Didn't know about the warranty.

 

The intermittent blue fluid leak is almost certainly the thermostat. It's maddening - because sometimes it will go a long time between leaking, then one night out of the blue it will drop a few tablespoons again.

FWIW, often the only problem is the gasket - that was the issue in my case. The housing was fine. Had mine replaced about 40,000 miles ago and no leaks since then.

 

your gasket should be in the shape of an 8. the first thermostat I got (local parts store) had a gasket that was the shape of a 0. after taking all the stuff off to get to my thermostat and finding it was the wrong one I was a little upset (especially since my mini is my dailydriver) oh well it only took half the time to complete it the second time. If you have any questions let me know...

 

Anyone have a link to a how-to on doing this (coolant flush/bleed and thermostat & housing replacement? I had my thermostat housing replaced with a coolant flush a while back at 40k miles. I'd love to be able to do it myself next time.

 

You don't have to drain the coolant to replace the thermostat.

I went through this recently. Although I didn't do the work myself, I got to watch closely and I summarized the steps in Post 31 in the following thread. Hope it helps...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-straw-2.html

 

I was having this same issue. Puddle here and there. What bothered me most was the smell of evaporating coolant, hitting something hot on the engine. I highly recommend doing it yourself, if you like that sort of thing. I only needed to swap out the thermostat and gasket, now all is good.

Couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes to do. And honestly, don't bother removing a whole lot, aside from the airbox, once you get at the housing bolts, and get those out, you'll have more than enough room to swap out the gasket and thermostat.

Now on to my leaking oil gasket.

 

yup, whether your under warranty or not, the gasket/thermostat is under a 2 year warranty against anything, so if it fails or leaks, they will replace it for free. thats what the sales representative told me when i purchased mine, and i just made sure to keep the invoice just incase.

 

Yup, I get the occasional smell of burning coolant too. Oh, and my oil pan gasket is next. If it's not one thing, it's another.

 

It's been a few days since I last topped up on coolant. I have just a few drips here and now, but it's killing me how the time frame is. Hopefully after this, the leaks will stop. Since I paid for the housing, I'll go ahead and swap it out, but I'm willing to bet it's just the thermostat gasket.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to drain the coolant though. I'm due for a change now. Thanks for the link!!

 

Thanks!!

 

Will do, thanks man!!

 

When you replace the gasket, may want to consider an M7 180 deg thermostat - if you don't have one already

 

I wouldn't do that if you put a gun to my head...

There's a reason the OEM thermostat opens at the temp it does....

 

I considered an M7 thermostat, especially in this Florida heat. Since I just bought an OEM one, I'm going with that. As crappy as my car runs now, I'd be scared that 180 degrees would make it run even crappier.

 

I never had any issues with it. I didnt even see increased fuel consumption as I thought I would. I get a sense the SC creates so many freaquent engine heat spikes that sensors don't have time to react or catch up. With the M7 - water temps ran about 181-182* and a factory stat with Water Wetters gave me running temps of 189*-191*.

No codes ever popped up, and ran it during cold winter months as well. I had heat in the car half mile down the road with limited warm up time. I ran lower temp stats in many cars and SUV's before this one w/o issues as well....

What issues did you have Blimey ?

 

I haven't run it. But have heard too many stories of folks who did with (at best) no issue and no benefit and (at worst) issues they attributed to. Certainly many folks have run it with no issues.

For a car driven hard in high temps - maybe. For a track car - maybe. For a daily driver in average climate... I don't see the benefit. Cooler is NOT always better from an engine wear / longevity / oil performance perspective...

Why didn't the factory put a 180 degree thermostat in there, if that was the optimal operating temp? Would cost them nothing....

 

That is the question I pose with any mod. If it's so good for the car, why didnt MINI put it in there ? In this case probably for cleaner emissions reasons. Same reason why they put those huge ABS plastic covers and shields on top of engines manufactured today. Not for aesthetics, but to trap heat, to make them more "green efficient".

What issues did they have ? Since the M7 stat drops the running temp just 10 degrees, seems odd that would make so many issues. And since the viscosity of the synthetic oil is not like dino oil, again I dont see how a lower Tstat would in effect create more wear like heat from friction would do.

 

I heard some stories of cold start issues being exacerbated by them, and of some folks throwing codes in cold conditions. Definitely not universal problems.

As for wear... I'm not an expert. But I've read that optimal wear occurs within a specific temp range.

I just wouldn't put one on my car... unless I had a reason to. But it's a free country, and not something I'm gonna fight about.

 

No, agreed just curious as to what I should look for in days ahead. This is the first somewhat neg fb I have heard on these.

 

Well, tomorrow is the big day. The only problem I think I'll have is bleeding his thing on the second bleed port. How hard is it to get to the one closest to the housing?

 

As you probably already know, you have two. One up front and one by the Tstat ( not hard to get to ). Just loosen that one a little bit while adding as needed to the tank, and make sure to turn on the heat on while doing this too. If you have any overheating issues in coming days, repeat as necessary to remove any air pockets in the system.

 

Thanks Raven!!!