Good Morning. I am new to the Mini world, I was Grandfathered in(lol), because my Grandson bought a 2009 Cooper "S" R56, Hatchback, about two years ago. Thank goodness I have a good background in mechanics, because since then I have had to #1. change the clutch #2. r&r the water pump and r&r the thermostat. Now he has motor oil, "belching" out of the coolant reservoir! The car was running fine, and does not have any coolant in the oil! This is very confusing to me, and reading many forums, I found the only one that made sense, with these symptoms, was one about the oil/coolant heat exchanger, possibly leaking internally. I did put the car in "service mode", and removed the unit, cleaned it, and after doing a makeshift leak test, couldn't see any internal leakage. So now, I guess, I have to assume it is either the head gasket, or worse. I have to admit, I am a little afraid, this thing is SO OVER ENGINEERED, I don't have a repair manual or the "timing tool". From what I have read, I should get both, or just take it to a shop. Undecided, Don

 

The Bentley Repair Manual here is a good investment if you plan to do a lot of DIY work on your MINI. So, are you saying there is oil in the coolant reservoir? If so, check out this thread here as it could be a head gasket, oil cooler and/or oil filter housing gaskets.

 

Good Afternoon. Thank you Pelican Parts, I had already read those posts before I posted. Still not being able to get my head around a diagnosis of a head gasket, so to just try and eliminate what I can myself, I removed the oil/water heat exchanger, cleaned and pressure tested it, but did not find any internal leaks. Next, I removed the oil filter housing and couldn't see anything "obvious" on that either. Well now I guess I have no choice but to bring it to a "repair shop". We are running out of warm weather so, no heat in the shop, and I am not going to invest $200 in tools and a manual for this one job. I have cleaned the parts I removed, sorted and labeled (in baggies) all the bolts, now the "shop" can re-install everything while doing the head gasket, and we will be hoping they don't find anything else wrong!! Don

 

Hope you researched your "repair shop". Changing a head gasket requires the timing tool set and a lot of specialized familiarity --- torque sequence / settings and which bolts shouldn't be re-used --- all spelled out in the Bentley manual.

Another thought --- the turbo has both coolant and oil flowing in it. A cracked housing could be causing this leak. Kinda awkward to pressure test, but a lot easier than head gasket work. And, the turbo's gotta come off before removing the head anyhow ---

 

These Mini are over-engineered to where there difficult to work on when compared to other imports and domestic cars. There are no timing marks on the cam gears or on the timing chain and the cams/cam gears aren't even keyed. Not a lot of thought went into the design of these engines to begin with, never seen a plastic valve cover, water pump or thermostat housing before. Never seen so much oil get sucked down into an engine in my life, it's one thing to burn oil, it's quite another to binge drink oil into the intake system past the intake valves! Operating temperature is an insane 226 degrees Fahrenheit!

 

I also bought the Bently Repair Manual.

http://amzn.to/1MV2THv

shot me an email I can send you some scans of the pages you may need.

wsisti (at) gmail.com

 

You can always get the Bentley here: We are better priced then amazon ( new ) and have free ship. Also ours is the newest version BM13 which goes up to 2013, not just 2011


https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/ES2777802/





Its good to write notes in or mark things off with.

 

Thank you OBW...It is a shop that does do work on the Mini's. Don

 

Thanks SL...I have, in the last 12 months done on this car, r&r clutch, r&r the water pump, and also did the thermostat. I started my mechanical career in the mid '60s, at the only Jaguar dealer in the state of Maine(we also sold Saab and Lotus) and serviced any car, but I think I have reached my limit, this thing is just too over-engineered for me. I called a wrecker this morning and it is now waiting to be repaired at the "shop". Thank you all for your help and advice...Don

 

Thank you, that is very generous, but I sent the car to a repair shop. Don

 

Thank you, but I won't be needing one. Don

 

Welcome,

If you need anything else let me know. Question do you have old Lotus ?

 

Good evening. No, I do not. I came up with that Avatar because of my past experience with Lotus (mid '60s-mid '70s), and am presently scratch building a replica of a Lotus Super 7. Don

 

Ok, cool, lotus replica Super 7 sounds fun. I have seen those run at the Vintage grand prix.

 

Hi ECSTuning, I am in france, so shipping would be a pain.
Is the 07 to 13 available on CD???
Thanks
John

 

Just the paper / hardback book version.

 

I see it at Amazon France.
https://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_sb_no...cooper+service

 

Thanks RKW, there was one there for 101 euros vs 132!

 

Best if you dont want to ship international , yes would be local. The nice thing in the Paper Book , you can make notes and write in things or use it to check things off.

 

PS: Who's injection system do they use?

 

For the S / JCW models there direct inject. If i remember right its a Bosch system. For the non S , its not direct inject.