Folks,

My little Mini Cooper 2007 R56 has developed a fault!!!!!

Please can somebody help me.

First the brake fluid service light came on but was serviced by BMW in April this year?? Any ideas? Its only done 3,000 miles since the service.

Secondly, the car is not blowing any hot air out of heaters. Once the car has been driven for 10 mins or so the hot air starts to blow but as soon as you are stationary the hot air turns to cold very quickly. So i have checked under the bonnet and found the coolant under the min level. It was right at the bottom. I topped it up to the max level and then drove it for 20 mins or so. This morning the level has dropped again to the bottom of the reservoir.

Apart from this the car runs well. I have read a few forums and posts that say its maybe a faulty thermostat or water pump.

I really appreciate any help.

Kind Regards

Kelly

 

You need to take a look under the car and see if you have a coolant leak and on which side of the car it is coming from. To be going through that much coolant the leak should be pretty obvious.

As for the heater working sporadically, due to the fact that you have lost so much coolant you may have air trapped in the system but it doesn't make much sense to fill and bleed the system without finding the cause of the leak first. You really need to do that before any serious damage may occur.

 

Hi.

It looks like the drivers side of the car. If you turn the wheels full lock you can see behind the offside front wheel?

 

Could be the thermostat housing...check out this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t-housing.html

You can also google MINI thermostat housing and locate the pictures to help you identify where to look for your leak.

 

Do you think the brake fluid service light is linked?

 

Do you think the brake fluid service light is linked to the cooling loss and heater fault?

 

Nope. Dealer probably just forgot to reset it when they did the brake service early.

 

Thanks for your help. I was worried it may be head gasket.
I have booked it in on monday.
So we think its thermostat and not water pump. If it's thermostat should I do the housing at the same time?
Kelly

 

It's all one component which is why it's so costly! See this:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=...stat&FORM=IGRE

 

The thermostat is located in a housing located on the driver's side of the engine block. The part is about $150 locally from the dealer and it include the coolant temperature sensor.

My sensor went bad last winter and the car was very sluggish, felt like it never warmed up and boost was limited by the ECU. The heater never blew cold air as the car never really got to warm up.

Bought the part, some OEM MINI coolant and spent about 1.5 hours changing it out. It doesn't take much. Just take off the intake, move some **** over to the right, drain the coolant by removing the coolant hose on the driver's side of the radiator, take all of the coolant hoses off the "heart" and bolt the new one on. Fill'er back up with coolant, bleed the system via the bleed valve on the thermostat housing and you're good to go.

 

Make sure the coolant doesn't get low.

 

Folks,

So i took the Mini to the local garage (who are generally very good and helpfull), and they diagnosed the water pump. They said that it was leaking badly. So new water pump fitted (at a reasonable £210) and the car seems to run much better.....

However i have checked the coolant reservoir today and when cool and it is around the min level already...

Any ideas?

IS this going to turn out to be a nightmare?

On a good note, my heaters are working again

Kelly

 

Methinks you may be from across the pond...yes?

That would explain the leak on the driver's side being caused by the water pump...i.e. this car is right hand drive isn't it?

At this point all you can do is top off and check for leaks again. It may be that there was a bit of an air pocket and it "self bled" itself and that is where your coolant went but I doubt it.

 

Hey,

Sorry yes I'm from across the water. You guys are much more than help than the British mini forum. So for that i thank you very much.

I will keep checking for leaks. Hopefully it will settle down.

Would the faulty water pump affect how the car runs? It seems to run much smoother now, and better fuel economy.

Thanks again

 

I suppose it's possible if the engine wasn't running at the proper temp or that a sensor was acting up but it's also possible that in the course of repairs your mechanic may have found other things like a loose vacuum line or clamp that was causing a air leak in the intake or crankcase breathing systems.

 

The mini cooling system is a huge pain to bleed so it's very possible there was just an air bubble in the system. Top it up and see if you keep losing coolant.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using NAMotoring