Hi forum, my 2005 MCS overheated yesterday. Caught it in time, parked it. This morning I found that the hose to the reservoir has snapped off right at the junction near the thermostat.

Would like to do a cooling system refresh. Including all hoses, thermostat and reservoir. Will probably keep the radiator, water pump, heater core, and fan in place for now.

Any good kits out there?

Any tips are much appreciated

(I will attach some pics of the broken hose)

 

 

No one familiar with this job?

I'm concerned that the hoses going to the heater core will be hard to replace? Am I overthinking this?

 

https://www.detroittuned.com/mini-co...lant-hose-kit/

Something like this would be easier. You'd still need the ones going to the heater, but if they're fine, it's really up to you if you want to change them.

 

That kit looks decent. I ordered everything from fcpeuro for the warranty.

im going for all the hoses while I’m at it.

also got a new t-stat and housing.

found this video, it looks like the heater core hoses are accessible with the air box removed.


I’m going to replace the oil cooler hoses as well if I can.

 

I'm also in the process of renewing hoses with fresh ones. I checked for silicone hoses, but refrained from doing so and went with rubber EPDM hoses. Tip: also renew the coolant neck + thermostat

https://motoiq.com/silicone-radiator...or-the-street/

 

Did not know this (about the silicone hoses), thank you

I got a new thermostat w/ housing and all the plastic connecting parts, as well as the reservoir. Is that what you mean by "coolant neck"?

Some of the parts / hoses are from Rein (aftermarket). All rubber tho. Could not resist the price savings. Hope I don't end up regretting that. Even with that, I'm over $600 in parts.

 

Yes that's what I meant hehe. I also bought aftermarket hoses (Gates etc)

Febi Bilstein housing and Calorstat thermostat

 

Yes sir, ok feeling better about this job...should have the parts soon. Will update!

 

You got this! We are all in this together

 

Got the new hoses in this weekend. All but the ones to the oil cooler. Going to save those for another weekend. They look like they could be a pain to reach.

the hoses at the firewall were harder to reach then I thought they would be.

it helps to move the power steering reservoir out of the way. Also bending the heat shielding out of the way helped. I was able to get one of the clamps off from underneath the car.

 

Question for the forum.

What running coolant temp is normal?

Bentley says 105 will trigger low speed fan and 112, high speed fan.

that correct? Guess I’m being extra cautious after the overheating...

 

Afaik, the engine operating temperature is 90 degrees celsius. The thermostat opens at 91 degrees celsius.

 

Idling with the heater on, temp stays at 90. If I turn off the heat it starts to climb. Normal?

i have not let it get to 105 yet. I’m guessing the fan will come on at 105?

While diving at speed it stays at 90. Stop and go it starts to climb

 

Is this common? I've only replaced the tank and thermostat on a 170k r50. Should I replace the other stuff as preventative?


Thanks!
Geo

 

For me it’s a high priority item. If the cooling system fails...

eventually the plastic and rubber give to the extreme heat

 

Ok looks like 105 C the low fan comes on. At 112 C the high speed comes on. All appears to be well.

still interested in hearing how temps behave in other mini’s.

You can monitor on the cluster via the hidden Obd menu...I will post a how to. I’m sure most know this already

 

Obd readout on cluster



1) Push and hold the 'trip' button on your instrument cluster while turning the key to the position just before the position where the engine starts.



2) As soon as you see some stuff on the odometer area, let go of the trip button and then start pushing the trip button over and over. It will cycle through some numbers ("1.x ... 2.x ... 3.x .........) in order. Once it gets to '19.0' let go of the button and watch the display. It will say 'off', then 'on', then 'off' over and over.... When it says 'off', push the trip button once. This will unlock the hidden mode.



3) Now repeatedly push the trip button again and again. Like before, it will scroll through the numbers. Stop at '7.0'. This is coolant temp.

 

To reset as it was before turn the key off.

 

I recently replaced my thermostat and my car stays at 90º and 91º C when driving, and sometimes goes up a bit in stop and go traffic. I haven't noticed anything above 93º C lately, but I have seen the coolant temp get as high as 110º when really driving the car hard on a track.

I think my previous thermostat had an issue, it was only a year or two old, but it had always let the car run cool. My car was usually staying at 85º C and only occasionally getting up to 87-88º C. I don't think that will cause a huge problem, but I'm glad to see it running a bit warmer as I think that may improve my mileage (slightly) and I'm not worried about it having any problems from running rich.

 

Might have had an wrong thermostat which opens faster? Its important that your engine reaches optimal temperature.

 

What outside temps do you have? if you sit and idle for 30 mins, would the temp go up to 112 C? R53? What year?

 

What temps do you see when you idle? At speed?

Trying to determine if I'm good now or if I need to maybe bleed the system again...

 

I need to wait for my new map sensor, then I need to bleed the cooling circuit (I performed the supercharger service). So unfortunately I cant answer your question right now :(

 

That's what I think. It was a wahler brand, and looked fine when I put it in, but it always ran cold.