So i was going through the usual monthly check of my mini and ive been noticing that my coolant keeps getting a little low and i also checked the oil and found this under the cap (see picture) is that where my coolant is going? im not sure and i dont know what to do please help!!

 

What year and how many miles?

 

Sorry completely spaced that its a 07 justa and it has a little over 70000

 

Do you smell coolant when you remove the cap? Any coolant smell in the exhaust?

It is possible that the cheese on the cap is from normal operation, and you simply haven't been getting the car warmed up enough to get the water out of the oil.

I believe you can test your oil for the presence of coolant.

Do you have cheese or anything else unpleasant in your coolant overflow bottle?

 

When you drive it, do you go enough miles to get the engine completely warmed up? I just read thread here about someone that only drove 10 min to work and got a lot of water build up in the engine..

 

Yep, you need to drive more.

 

My drive to work is less than 10 minutes. It does not smell like coolant that I have noticed but I'll check again tomorrow. Should I do anything about the "cheese" in the mean time?? I'm lost

 

Just some thoughts. First, you mentioned that you are losing coolant. The thermostat housing is famous for failing on these, could be a very slow leak. The water pump is another possible. You should get that checked out. Second, you should drive the car at least once a week or so at hiway speeds to get it up to operating temperature to get the moisture out of the oil. One last thought, if you haven't changed the oil in a while, you might want to get that done.

 

What he said, you need to get your Mini up to operating temperature to burn off all the contaminants in the crankcase! My work is only two miles away but I drive at least 15 minutes before I get to work or I don't drive at all.

 

This 1000X. with the super cold weather in NA this week, everyone has this issue.. its not just a Mini thing either.

Drive the car, warm it up, burn off the sludge.

 

Is there a simple way to tell where its leaking

 

I had the same mayo in the oil cap last winter when I didn't drive for any extended distances for a month or so. You can clean the cap out, then take the car out for a long drive as others have suggested.
Places to look for slowly leaking coolant would be around the cap on the coolant recovery tank, the tank itself around the seam, or the hose fitting that attaches to it. You are looking for whitish dried crud with a hint of blue.
If that looks OK then check out under the thermostat for the white deposits sitting on the flat top of the transmission. Then check for any moisture at the weep hole of the water pump on the rear passenger side of the engine.

 

I would start by changing the oil, then start letting the car warm up for 5min or so before you drive off. This will get the car up to temp and keep moisture from building up in the engine causing the sludge you see. Also you may want to get a scangauge or some kind of gauge to monitor the engine temp and know what is going on.
Also you could have a thermostat sticking open causing it to take longer. We've seen some fail like this, commonly you'll notice you don't get any heat.

 

It is normal, especially in the winter months. I have the same mayonnaise on my oil cap in my Saturn Daily Driver. I just get used to it being there for a while. Eventually it will go away in the spring, if not before.

Go motoring a little more and get that engine warmed up. With how hot these cars run it shouldn't take too long

 

Got under the hood today seems like it is the thermostat housing now to figure out how to change the seal

 

Places like ECS tuning sell the parts for pretty cheap to do the work. And it's not a hard thing to do if you are mechanically inclined.

 

Do a cooling system pressure check, That will tell you where its coming or going.

 

How can I do that?