I have an '06 cooper s with a 15% pulley with 62,000 miles. The car has been driving amazing well and the power feels great. I randomly checked the oil this morning and noticed a very small amount of almost yellowish film towards the middle of my dipstick. I def. got worried when I saw this as I know this is not normal. The oil level however was fine. I then checked my coolant reservoir and the coolant level was low.

I should probably just go and get a compression leak down test to see what the deal is.

Has anyone seen a head gasket (with no over heating issues/ coolant issues) go as early as 60,000 miles?

Thanks for the input.

 

my head gasket just went i am at 130000 km (80k miles) but i did overheat. If i were you i would empty the oil and check for signs of water. Then remove the spark plugs and see if they are wet.
If you have all you need to do a compression test then by all means do one, it cant hurt.

As for the parts needed to do a head gasket job, i found everything i needed at WMW

Good luck

 

Get it checked out right away to be sure but dont freak out yet.
I recently found the mayo looking oil as well and it turned out to be condensation. I had flushed the oil twice to be sure and was totally freaked but it turned out to be a common issue this time of the year. There are lots of threads that mention the same thing.
AS for the coolant - it is possible you were just low but have it checked out ASAP to be sure.
Good Luck!!!

 

Also, check the bottom of the oil cap and look into the valve cover near the oil cap, to see how much contanimation you have. If your head gasket checks out ok, which I hope it is for you, I would look into the heat exchanger near the oil filter housing. They can sometimes leak through.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/11427509212/ES23999/


+1 compression leak down test first.


Good luck and hope things are not that bad.

 

Also if/when everything is OK, please put a coolant change on the list....THIS is THE MOST OVERLOOKED maintenance ITEM on a MINI..
GEN1 MINI's are IRON block cars, and MINI suggests changing the coolant every 3-4 years...THIS IS BASIC MAINTENANCE FOLKS,.....many folks forget, and corrosion can set in, causing failures...things like head-gaskets, oil coolers, and maybe worse!!
Remember, MINI's were NOT sold with LONGLIFE coolant in them....
sometime in the past couple of years BMW/MINI HAS reformulated the NEW blue coolant being sold in bottle to say it is LONGER life....saying to replace any coolant that is drained for repair with new, or to replace ALL coolant if any aluminum items are changed....but since gen1 cars are the ONLY cast-iron blocks that BMW has to my knowledge, I would still stick to the regular changing time-frame....cause WATER+IRON=RUST

 

Thanks to everyone for the input. Motoring FTW!!

I couldn't agree with you more ZippyNH. I bought the car last year with 40K on the clock and one of the first things I did was change the coolant.

I have a feeling it could just be condensation I am seeing in the oil and got a little paranoid when I saw the coolant was a little low.

I am going to do an oil change and compression test to see what the deal is this weekend.

I'll keep you posted.

 

The flush was actually on my list for this weekend. Are there any fluids available at the local auto part store that can be used in the minis? I don't have any dealerships anywhere near me to get their stuff?

Good luck quickslvr. Keep us posted!

 

Any "Good" coolant will do, just make sure that if you don't use pre-mix, to mix it with distilled water.

NEVER USE DEX-COOL

 

+1^

 

Good news.... it was just some condensation in the oil and the coolant was low due to cold temperatures.

I changed the oil and flushed the coolant system.

Motoring strong!

Thanks for the input.

 

 

That is great news.

When was the last time the oil was changed and what coolant did you use?

 

Changed the coolant over the summer with the Mini coolant/ distilled water at a 50/50 ratio. I changed the oil at the end of September 2012 which was about 7,500 miles ago. I did use Castrol Syntec Edge for the last oil change. I went to back to Amsoil for this change.