Is your MINI in KC or Wichita?

 

Baron MINI in KC...You from Kansas?

 

He is a wise man. I have had countless engines out, transmissions pulled, etc. from all of the cars that I have owned and all I get is 'why are you wasting your time?' If you love the car now, wait for the moment where you can say, 'I fixed that'.

Don't be too paranoid about a cracked head... I've overheated 3 engines due to blown rads or hose clamps and none of them needed head gaskets and never overheated. You may need to check all of the coolant inlets and outlets to confirm o-ring/gasket integrity.

I've been down this road. Breathe. Do the tests (compression, cyl leakdown, coolant pressure leakdown) and go from there.

 

Oil doesn't get milky from a blown hose. There is no use pretending otherwise. The head, and/or gasket is bad. It isn't the oil cooler either.

From the posts I've read from Steffen, he loves his Mini, but has little knowledge of the mechanics of the car.

I always like to encourage people to work on their own cars but the damage to his Mini is way beyond what he can do. To me it's terrible advice to tell someone that hasn't really ever worked on a car that they can remove a head and fix it themselves.

I wish you the best of luck Steffen but the repairs are going to be very expensive. If you have someone there to help and guide you along the way that would be awesome. If your cousin can fix it for a good price that would be good too. If not you might want to look into cutting your loses.

 

I see potentially 2 people who could help him and with some luck, some forum members willing to help him.

check out these vids with whoever might be doing the work with you and see what they say about the job.

 

Seconded. Sounds like your cousin might have the experience necessary.

Here's a vid on head gasket replacement that might help you gauge the depth of this job.

EDIT - teutonik beat me to the punch on those videos!

 

Thanks for those videos I forwarded them over to my father, and he said it looks easy. My father was a ford mechanic for 10 years and my cousin/uncle have combined 30+ years at ford as well. I think the 4 of us and these videos can tackle it! Thanks for the encouragement.

My concern is we put all this work into getting it from Kansas to Massachusetts where I live and then the block is cracked or damaged. Then it was all useless...

 

Well...
You will learn...
When it's broke...
Stop...
You will be inconvenienced but your wallet will be happier....
Good luck with what you decide.

 

Wichita area. There is a great indie shop in Wichita call Bavarian Automotive that I have used since out of warranty that does great work at a great price compared to dealers.

 

Your automatic transmission has 136000 miles on it. That's the only thing that would make me reconsider putting a lot of money into it

 

Do you have pics of that rad hose ?

 

Steffen, where in MA are you?

 

And you've already posted it's also giving you trouble. After you inspect the damage, do the math and see what the cost difference would be to fix your engine and transmission or buy another MINI (manual if you're able to drive one), switch over your upgrades, and part out the rest of your original car.

 

Thanks for the advice, ill check it out if need be!

This is exactly why I am still weighing out the options, but before I even had this **** show happen I was looking into a valve body replacement on the tranny.

I am picking it up monday via uhaul and trailer so when I get it back to my house I will take some pics, thanks!

I am originally from south coast about 10min from Providence. You?

Still considering all the options, thanks all!

 

Quick update for all. I spoke with the dealer today and they will charge me nothing for the courtesy inspection, I think they feel bad for me and Barnaby lol..

I will be driving the loaner up monday and picking up a uhaul and trailer to transport it back to my house so I can park it and have a better look myself. They claim it still starts and can be driven onto the ramp if need be so thats a plus. I will post pics and description when I get it monday! Thanks all for the help so far!

 

You can do it.

 

I'm just outside of worcester. I'm guessing you're somewhere around the foxboro area?

 

Thanks!

And yea right outside of North Attleboro

 

Another thing I forgot to mention is that when I tried to do the old blast the heat trick to stop the overheating the heat was on full hot and no hot air what so ever was coming out. Does this mean the heater core is toast too?

 

Usually means you had no coolant, which is probably true.

 

When you get that bad boy up and running, we'll have to plan some sort of meet up!

 

Oh yea the coolant was long gone!

Sounds like a plan IF I get it running...

 

Here's a little update for all of those interested in this post..

I was able to drive up to KC to check my MINI out of the shop and get the keys (zero dollar charge). That was the cheapest trip to a MINI dealer I have ever experienced HAHA. Anyways I got the keys got into my car and it started right up. I was able to drive it down the street to a parking lot where I got an uber to the uhaul dealer to get a truck and trailer to haul him home. Made it safely, and started the car right up again and drove it to my driveway where it'll stay for a while.

I am beginning to think it is not as bad as I thought it was. Being that it started right up, drove fine, didn't overheat, and has no lights on the dash I am stumped. Anyways I was wondering what type of stuff I should check for now in order to start trouble shooting the issue. Thanks all!

 

Yes, we are very interested. I hope it is not as bad as you think. But you have resources with family and friends if memory serves.

Worst case about the head... Is there a cylinder head shop in town that can sell you a new head that was rebuilt? Or have them go through yours and get it back up to spec?

There is a reputable company here in Phx (doesn't help you tho) that sells rebuilt heads on exchange for $500-800. At least for the Honda scene. Just wondering on the worst case scenario for you. Anything less than that is gravy.

Agreed, the fact that he starts up and moves fine is good. Doesn't eliminate the issue at hand, but doesn't sound like the motor is dust.

Let us know what happens as you learn it.

 

Glad it still runs ok.

If it were my car and the oil was full of water, I would be pretty concerned about the bearings failing. The more you run it, the more chances your compromised oil will not protect the bearings.