My r53 was overheating because of the coolant tank was leaking. Got a new one. Couple weeks later started overheating again. Took to mechanic he said there are no leaks. He bled the air out of the system and put in half a gallon of coolant. Couple weeks later. Overheating again. Took to dealership because of the power steering pump recall. He bled the air out, put coolant in, drove it around and repeated. Couple weeks later and it's overheating again...

Is it possible that there is still air in the system? Could it be a different problem that both mechanics have missed? They said the water pump and thermostat seem to be working fine

 

What makes you say it's overheating? Is it steaming? Or is the gauge going up into the red? Or something else?

 

Hi SmurfNInaja! I don't recall if you had flushed or replaced the radiator. In the meantime, here are a couple articles on cooling and the cooling tank.

http://new.minimania.com/Search_Results/coolant/All

 

The flashing temp sign on one of my gauges. I don't have a temp gauge so I can't see the exact tempted but it tells me when it's overheating.

 

I flushed when I got a new tank

 

Does is it overheat just when you idle, or does it overheat while driving?

If it's only when you idle too long it's most likely the fan not working.

If its doing it while driving it might still have air somehow, or the water pump or radiator isn't working correctly. Could still be the thermostat too. If you haven't put a new one in yet that's the easiest place to start. Well not really easy, but the cheapest place to start.

I don't think a leaking coolant tank will make your car overheat, unless it runs out of coolant of course. It won't have optimal pressure, but if everything is working right the water is still going to be flowing through the radiator and cooling the engine.

 

Hmmm, the weird thing to me is that you seem to be losing coolant. I would check your temperature sending unit. It's the sensor that tells the gauge what temp the coolant is. I also think it's possible that your head gasket is bad. If you actually are losing coolant and it's not leaking out of a hose/motor/rad/thermostat housing then I would tend to think that it's leaking into your cyclinders and going out your exhaust pipe.

 

It overheats when idle. The fan kicks on when I turn the car off.

 

Low speed fan probably isnt working then. You can see it move when the car starts to get too hot. The high speed kicks in when it gets really hot. Takes my car about 5 minutes of idling for the low speed to kick in.

A bad ps fan will make it not work, but since the dealer put a new ps pump in the ps fan is also new.

One quick easy thing to check are the fuses. Under the hood to the right of the engine check f5, f7 , and f8. Possibly one is blown and you'll have an easy fix.

Could need a new fan maybe too. Depending on the year of your car you might be able to do the resistor fix.

Let's hope racinguy isn't right, but all the overheating is bad for the head and the gasket.

 

Slightly differances in the details are what points one to the fix....
So far we know the car is overheating....
It has a new coolant tank, and it was bleed....
We know the fan can be heard running....yes, a failed lowspeed fan is nearly silent... And not having a low speed fan will NOT cause the car to overheat....
So time too look at a few things...is the coolant low again....just like last time...
It is not uncommon to have multiple leaks on some cars....a leaking, radiator, or thermostat is not uncommon....
Next...any different sounds? And every bit of info you can think of...
Honestly, if you can't troubleshoot a coolaning system, maybe you need the help of a mechanic...
It's just about ruling stuff out...
Car ran good for a bit when it was filled and bleed right? New tank seemed to fix it right?
Fill it back up...look for a second leak....
If the thermostat and radiator is good, then time to start looking at the water pump/gears...that's why I ask about sounds...

 

Sorry zip, a non working low speed fan Will make your car overheat. I know this for a fact. My car did it last week. I Replaced the fan, fixed the bad fuse and it no longer overheats.

This might not be his problem but it only takes a few minutes to verify if its working.

 

When it was bled and filled it ran great. Hard to explain but it for sure feels better. I don't notice any change in sound the new tank seems to be working.

I do plan on taking it to a mechanic on Wednesday but this will be the fourth or fifth time I have will the same issue and every time they say it should be solved now. It would be nice to have a list of things to tell him to check

 

So is the tank still full of fluid?

 

I just put a whole water bottle in to get it back to correct amount

 

So it is going through fluid.

Has to be going somewhere and that's why you are overheating.

Not the fan but like they said, head, thermostat housing, somewhere else. You have a puddle on the ground?

 

No puddles. Haven't noticed any ever.
Both mechanics said all my hoses look fine and said they couldn't find any leaks

 

Is your oil ok? Any white spots on the dipstick?

Whats a whole water bottle? A gallon, quart, or liter ? There's only one place for the water to go if it's not leaking unfortunately. Especially with a new tank.

Just tell your mechanic it overheated again, you had to add coolant, and you don't see any antifreeze on the ground.

 

500ml or 16.9 fl oz. just check dipstick had a Buncha white ish globs on it

 

What is the one place you are referring to

 

Ouch, sorry man but the head is going to need to come off :(

Super slight chance it's the oil cooler.

 

can you explain what the head is? And how much money am I looking at throwing on this thing

 

It's going to depend on your mechanic and the condition of the head.

Best case it's just the gasket, or the head might possibly need work, or replacement.

The head is on top of the engine. Its the part under the valve cover. If your car overheats it can wreck the gasket or warp the aluminum head. It might also have a crack. Not to say the overheating wrecked it, maybe it did and maybe it didn't, but it doesn't to really matter now. The only way to see what the problem is, is to remove it.

Others maybe have a better idea of cost. I would imagine at least $1000 for a simple gasket change, but your mechanic might be double that. Problems with the head itself will add to the cost.

 

Is this job something I should leave to a mini specialist? I have a buddy who is a mechanic but doesn't normally work on minis would he be able to do this job?

 

I never worked on a Mini before and did my own gasket.

Depends on how much you trust your buddy. It's pretty hard to screw up the timing but people have. There's one special tool that isn't necessarily required, but makes the job easier. Otherwise it's just a normal head. There's a great video on youtube on how to do it if your friend isnt sure about it. After it's off, depending on what happened, someone else might need to fix the head. Many choices for that, but worry about it after it's off.

 

Thanks for all of your help. I'll try to post what happens when I go to the mechanic on Wednesday