Hey y’all my name is Keith and I’m quite new here..
I have a 09 mini clubman s
ive been having constant overheating problems with the car
what I’ve done so far:
• replace thermostat housing
• replace water pump
• replaced coolant hoses
• did about 4 coolant flushes


I brought it to a Mini Cooper repair shop and they were great people.. BUT they can’t seem to find the problem. They suggest it’s a blown head gasket but then they sent it to a bmw shop to inspect it. They did inspection for only an hour(not much can really come from that because it wasn’t enough time to fully dive into it IMO) I’m just wrought with anxiety over my baby not running. The bmw shop said to replace engine and I don’t feel that be necessary because the car runs with no noises but just over heats and blows a little bit of white smoke. Can anybody give me some pointers. I was thinking about going to sneed for speed and purchasing a new cylinder head, arp header bolts, and a head gasket. Is there some thought her on my plan of action??

 

welcome to forum brother...

Minis have MLS head gasket and IMO, they dont "blow" perse! recently, i bought a thermostat housing and it seemed to have a new temp sensor. my fan kept running and the temp wasnt moving. at any rate, few things to check:
1- coolant temp, live data
2- coolant pipes properly connected
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=17_0393
(manual transmission) https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=64_1555
(automatic transmission) https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=64_1593
3- does your fan run?

 

What temp do you call overheating? Normal is between 208 and 221 deg.

 

I had a shop replace all coolant hoses with mishimoto hoses and everything all tidied up. I’m at a loss of direction on where I should head. Also by over heating I mean that the red overheating warning comes on. Everything has been replace coolant wise.

 

my fan does run and how do you check live data?

 

Do you get any codes on the scanner?

The fan does run on two different velocities. When the resistor goes bad, one of the two velocities either change to move slower or won't move at all. Try to check if you hear the speed of the fan changing when it becomes hot. Also, if the thermostat is aftermarket, it might have a bad temperature sensor, happens all the time. Switch back to the old sensor just to rule it out.

 

i think my old housing was thrown out unfortunately should I buy another just in case? Also side not the repair shop said my oil seemed milky? But the engine never makes a noise. Should I try to replace the head gasket? Also the only codes the car sent was misfiring cylinder

 

Misfiring and milky oil are indications of blown head gasket. It shouldn't make noises. Blown head gaskets just make the car overheat unless you give it a long drive while overheating in which case the coolant will boil and the car will sputter and shut down.

 

my car hasn’t sputtered or shut down. And the bmw dealership say to replace engine. As you know those (stealer)ships wouldn’t put in time to fully look into the problem so I decided to take things into my own hands. I was also thinking about buying a replacement head after I replace head gasket if that doesn’t seem to be the cure

 

+1 Headgasket.

 

Has the system been bleed properly?

 

Yeah it has I just don’t know what else it could be other then a head gasket

 

run live data via a more advanced reader.

Do you get hot air inside the car when you turn on the heater?

did you check the hoses as i mentioned before?

are you loosing coolant?

where are you located?

 

I’m in Colorado Springs. I don’t have hot air coming in when I turn in hot but it does get hot here and there. This all started acting weird when it started overheating

 

Do some test to see if it's the head gasket.

You can check on YouTube.

 

Mini Cooper cylinder head replaced and head gasket. It seems to be eating oil but not a drop at all. Went through 5qts in 2 days

 

Bad turbo and or valve cover. Check turbo hot side for oil in the tubes.

 

Checked oil it’s fine. It says low oil pressure and it’s misfiring on all cylinders. Is there a connection? Maybe timing chain?

 

Mine was eating and burning oil. Although my valve cover was part of the problem the bearings in the turbo blew out and were dumping oil into the hot side of the intercooler.