I live in Phoenix and am anticipating our 110 summer temps with 140 comming from the roads. I was thinking about changing out my Mini S thermostat to 180 however have been advised against it by two mechanics. One said the car may throw codes and the other talked about the car being designed to run at higher temps. Phoenix already runs at higher temps---any thoughts on this??

 

I think you would be fine changeing thermostat.
There were 2 different thermo's sold by Mini.
How is ECU going to know what thermo is installed?
Do it!
We have same issue here in FL.

 

It is very possible to throw codes, but if this is an R56 you can't replace the thermostat. The only one avail is from MINI and is the whole housing assembly.

 

Well my Mini is a R56 (2007). Motorad is advertising a 180 thermostst on ebay and a Stant tech cross reffed their 195 Mini stat to a 180 that will fit my car, Oriely stocks the 195. I also had two shops quote me $250 to change it out, ouch!! So im new to the Mini but from what I have learned im thinking that "yes" the thermostats are available and "yes" they can be changed out. But I am a newbie and am all eyes & ears to an education.

 

I read on a forum somewhere that the thermostat in our MINIs is elctronically controlled. So if you had a tune from someone like RMW, they could set it to run at whatever temp., within a reasonable amount, that you choose. Don't know for sure about this or if it can be done without some kind of flash tool.

 

Run distilled water, w the correct amount of watter wetter depending on how much liquid the system holds. you will get a very nice drop in temp. I run watter wetter + distilled water in my race bikes during the season

 

per others of the responses, on the current Mini it is electronically controlled. It intentionally runs hot at low loads and modest outside ambient temps, which supposedly improves overall efficiency. On high loads, it can rapidly dump to full open and then reduce temps. Don't know the Mini specs, but one of my Audi's with a whole lot more motor than my S has this, and the monitoring and response rates are measured in fractions of a second.

 

I too live in phoenix...have you ever monitored coolant temps?

You'll notice that when its that hot, it is going to run around the 170 deg range most of the time. Especially with the a/c on max (which its always on max during the summer), it has the thermostat always open.

Don't worry about coolant temps, you're much better off worrying about the crazy high inlet temps you'll see during the summer (combined with our crap 91 octane). When ambient air temp is 115-120, you need every bit of inlet air cooling you can get. Start with an intercooler, and also think about getting a water/methonal injection system. The above two will be much more beneficial safety and performance wise, than a 180 deg thermostat (which you do not even need)

 

What is the normal water temp in the R-56?

 

Using ScanGauge, my coolant temp is typically at 220-225*F under normal operation.

 

I wouldn't change the thermostat, that's an old school trick for non-computerized cars. I used to do that on late 60's V8's that I drove. I ran 195 in the Winter and a 180/185 in the Summer. The MINI is designed and expects a certain temp and can maintain it pretty well on it's own.
As for coolant, I thought we were always supposed to use distilled water!

 

Thanks. I just bought the Craven gauge kit and was seeing 220-230 deg. and not use to seeing this high of temp. I even called my local MINI dealership and they couldn't say what the temp was suppose to be.

 

YEAH, Ebay is WRONG. The thermostat is part of the housing and not replaceable seperate, it is an electronic thermostat. These listings you have found are for thermostats for the R53 body style, which isn't a good idea on them unless it's a full blown track car. The normal coolant temp on an R56 MINI is 220-225 deg. and thats where it needs to be for the ECU to run the correct timing and fuel maps.

Here is a pic of the thermostat for an R56

 

To the OP and all the others in this thread.

Way of Way Motor Works is one the best Non Dealer people to work on a MINI and he knows his stuff. Not only does he do any mod to a street car but he also does track exclusive cars as well. BYW i am not saying that dealer techs are better in fact Way is much better than any dealer tech I have ever met.

If I did not live 1500 miles away from his shop he would be the guy working on my car.

And remember that much of what you read on e-bay is incorrect when it come to items fitting cars.

And if you look at the Motorad listing it is calling a 2008 Cooper S a "Supercharged" car which it is NOT.