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Hey Everyone. I am attempting to replace the thermostat housing on my 2015 Mini Countryman S All4 (R60). 105k miles seems reasonable for this to have failed. I have followed a bunch of different videos and guides and have exposed the thermostat housing. The last piece is the wiring harness that sits on top of it. I don't want to break the mounts like I did on some of the other zip tie mounts (though I have replacements for those). There are 2 mount points on top of the thermostat housing that this harness attaches to. I am looking guidance on how to pull this off without breaking it. Attached is a picture of the harness, looks a bit different from some of the video I have been referencing (no plastic sheathing).
I was able to get the clip off intact with a trim removal tool. After wrestling with the crossover pipe for a half hour I got the housing out (pictured). It looks like the mating gasket may have failed with some of the crud caked between the gasket and the exterior of the housing in the top right near the sensor connector. It seems like the crossover pipe would be a real pain to replace given the wiring harness mounts on it and the tendency to leave shards of plastic behind on the pump mount. Any recommendations? Obviously it would be much easier while I have everything already apart, but it has already been 2 weeks since I started the disassembly.
It's almost impossible to get that water pipe out of there without removing the intake.
That said, it's not super hard to remove the intake. The biggest pita is there is a 10mm bolt on the bottom that is difficult as your sort of blind. Otherwise it's not bad.
I'm in the camp you should change the thermostat and the water pipe at the same time. They are the same plastic, so if your thermostat failed, your water pipe is not far behind. Also, it's impossible to remove the thermostat without putting some stress on the water pipe.
Yeah, that's a great point. I think this all started after my water pump started to make a noise. I had it replaced then the thermostat started leaking. I think the gasket couldn't take the newly restored pressure.
I will take a look at the intake. I already took off the air box to get the thermostat housing out.
