Today I was driving to work, and my battery light came on, noticed I wasn't getting heat, and walmart was up the road another 5 min. so I kept driving, smoke was coming out of the hood when I parked at walmart. I thought I could get what I needed at walmart, but when I popped the hood I saw the coolant boiling in the reservoir, and new it was probably the water pump so I shopped for about 1 hour, and went home afterwards which is about 15 min away, and took me 2 hours to get home. I stopped the car 3 times, but couldn't start it back up cause the belt snapped.

On the way home the car was shifting gears all over the place, I had the pedal down pretty far where I usually accellerate, quick, but I was going about 35mph steady. Then a little later after another jump I was going fast, but don't know how fast cause the speedometer said 0 and rpm's said 0, and car wasn't shifting. Going up a big hill I had the pedal to the floor, but was going about 5mph, and almost went down backwards.

Finally made it home, bought a new belt, and water pump, but waiting for the parts to come, and hope I don't need anything else. I know the head gasket is fine cause I didn't see any coolant on the oil dipstick or smell any coolant on the dipstick.

Today is about 50 degrees out, and a few months ago the car overheated, but it was about 30 degrees out, and I drove for a good 15-20 min. without stopping, and it didn't smoke or anything.

Mini's seem to be very well built. I replaced my belt tentioner a few months back, and drilled holes so I could use a socket wrench to tighten the bolts without using an open end wrench, and I also rigged the front end so its 4 clips that hold the front bumper, and radiator on the car, and 2 nuts, compared to all the bolts, and screws that held it together before.

Lots of folks drive it all the way to the end.

Best to calculate the odds. Even though money is tight everywhere, is the $150 (or whatever) tow money, or waiting for an hour or two for it to cool, then refill with water at least worth the $$$$$ rebuild. Once you kill an engine and deal with all that fun, most folks just park it and save the big bucks.

Water pumps on the S are driven by the supercharger, so a bad belt may be the supercharger seized and the waterpump is OK. I don't know how the justas are set up.

0 miles.

Across the intersection in my old R53.

Wow. Just wow.

Asking that question is like asking how far you have driven with the oil light on...
penny-wise, pound foolish is the old saying...
Save the $150 tow, do $1500 in damage, that may not turn up right away...

Honestly I have free towing through my insurance company. I'd hate having a tow truck tow a car that is still driveable. Not like I hurt anything. I just jumped it a little bit ago, and everything is back to normal, but need a new water pump, belt, and my brand new tentioner looks a little rough.

???

Hopefully that is it

I did check the oil, and sniffed the oil, and no sign of coolant so headgasket should be fine.

Heat cycles tends to cumulative....(alloy head, iron block...different rates of expansion/contraction)...
and the warping of the head or block is often what causes the gasket to fail...that is why many replacement ones are thicker...so you can get away replacing the gasket without machineing....
i hope for your sake you did manage to shut it down, then wait long enough between short jaunts....funny how ones persons definition of "drivable" is the same as others broke...

Its car owners like you that allow me to have nice things. Thanks, and merry X-mas.

Your local auto technician and parts salesman.

Hopefully I never buy a used car from you. Thats why there is AAA.

Note to self, quiz owner of used car on what they would do if their car overheats before buying.

There may not appear to be anything else wrong but that trip had to take life off the back end of your car.

I waited at walmart for a good 1 hour, went to advance auto for a belt which was right down the road, waited there for about 10 min, headed home, started smoking so I waited for about 10 min again, got jumped cause I was at the light in the turning lane infront of a bunch of traffic so I had to get moving, went up the road a little, waited about 15-20 min, drove up hill fast, shut the car off so I could go down hill, and crest the next hill, waited on that hill for about 15-20 min, and drove all the way home. I was only about 30 min from home, but took 2 hours to get home.

It keeps getting better...
Just did not drive his car till the overheat light went on...
But till "the car started smoking".
Ouch...

He needed proof.

Didn't hurt anything? Really? You do realize that you could have, as others have pointed out, cause massive damage to your engine. They didn't put that little light on your dash for nothing. Cracked block, warped head are two big ones that come to mind.

Just to add to this, if you blew the head gasket then you could have pumped coolant into your cylinders causing the engine to seize.

So, yeah, if you don't think that buying a new engine is a big deal then I guess driving it as the car is over heating is fine.

I think the OP gets it. Most people would not do what he chose to do. His question is "how far have you driven your mini while overheating?" It looks like for everyone who has responded so far the answer is 0.0 miles. Can we stop beating a dead horse?

Tis a forum and open for response. He also responded opening it up for more comments. You the new forum cop?

I agree. OP is the winner of this contest, hands down. Not only because he drove the farthest, but did NOT do so out of necessity, and even spent longer overall, than if he had called the tow that is supposedly free. My thought is that this didn't actually happen.

Next topic: Who has driven the longest on a fully deflated tire (non runflat)?
I'll start with 0.0 miles.

This is wild! I can't actually believe this is discussion... I'm happy it is, I guess: I always could use another example of stupid things one could do with a fine automobile. Shoot, I wouldn't do this with a monkey-poop brown Buick Super had for $12 at a police auction.

Nope, wouldn't want the job. Just stating my opinion, just like you are, but also providing a direct answer to the OP's question.

I would suggest you put a can of Blue Devil in the car when you put it back together!!!!! Then Trade it in!!!!!

really? you're telling him to take the car he most likely messed up pretty bad and just offload it onto some unsuspecting person who would like to own a MINI? what on earth makes you think that is okay?