The coolant light came on the other day, and the reservoir was near empty. I filled it back up, and 24 hours later it was basically empty again.

This happened recently, and I kept filling it up versus addressing the problem. So when I was 5 miles into a 3-hour trip to go pick up my new labradoodle puppy my car made a crazy noise, smoke started blowing out from under the hood and I took to the side of the road in a terrible construction zone lol.

MINI said they had to replace my Thermostat. Well now that this problem is happening again, I'm hoping to perhaps get some more insights as to what is going on and how I can fix it before I'm at the mercy of their prices while on a car trip.

My '09 JCW is a little over 80K miles.

Current known issues:

• P2177 System Too Lean Off Idle
• P1497 - DTC definition not found
• P113B - DTC definition not found

The P2177 code popped up back when my car wouldn't start (thread here). The HPFP ended up being the issue, and I created the first DIY thread for HPFP replacement here, since MINI decided their extended warranty "promotion" didn't extend to people who paid extra for the JCW version.

Way back when, MINI told me I had a cracked valve cover (for the life of me can't see where) and a problem with the water pump.

After the HPFP replacement things were going great until the Thermostat decided to blow up in the aforementioned car trip. One of the members on here noted in a personal message on this forum that he did the HPFP replacement and also had some Thermostat issues.

I can't for the life of me believe this is a problematic fuel pump again. On another site the P2177 indicated that the code could be a problem with coolant temp sensor.

As a total noob to auto mechanics, I can't imagine that the fact that my heater takes forever to warm up has anything to do with it, but between that and the fact that my radio doesn't power on any more, those are all the other known issues I have with the MINI.

I'm going to start taking things apart to look for any obvious clues. I've been going through my Bentley manual and reading a bunch of different threads related to the general topics.

I just want to know if there are any obvious reasons why coolant would drain so quickly.

I have thought about going with something like the kit ECS offers to just replace the cooling system components altogether.

But money still doesn't grow on trees last I checked, and it just seems too unlikely that this is something like a gasket in the thermostat (which was just replaced).

Any help would be appreciated. About to go start taking things apart, and I'll update if I find anything obvious.

 

I had strange overheating issues this week as well. It would overhead on short trips, but long 2 hour trips would be fine. I also noticed a wet spot in the driveway. Turns out to be a bad oil filter housing gasket. I got lucky and my car was CPO so I only ended up OTD $50. This also fixed my slow heater issue.

 

Well this is interesting. This is the first time I've been under the hood since MINI of Louisville replaced my Thermostat.

It appears they didn't screw the airbox back in place. First thing I noticed was that the hose feeding air to the turbo from the airbox was not connected. Pic below was the original condition:


This shows on the passenger side where the screw that holds everything in place was never even screwed back in:


The airbox was totally free floating. Perhaps that is what caused the hose to disconnect.

I noted some other conditions that seemed different, but they could have been from when my thermostat went haywire in November.

As for checking around to determine evidence of leaks, I found several locations. Please forgive me for not knowing what everything is on site. I know generally that I may have to change the thermostat and or the water pump. Not that I have worked out exactly where each are located yet.

On the driver's side, there is some sort of pipe or hose that has a decent amount of nastiness accumulated on it. It's located under what I think is the thermostat, which is under and slightly forward of the HPFP (know what that is by now .


I walked around to the passenger side to peek around and try and find any signs of leaking fluid, and I noticed a woven-shrouded hose of some kind just to the right of the flashlight's spotlight in this photo:


I pulled back the (freefloating) airbox to check behind it and noticed that there were some mechanical parts below with some fluid accumulation deep down towards the pavement. Down and to the left of the spotlight in this photo you can barely see the sheen on the surface:


I'm going to call MINI of Louisville to see if they can tell me anything, but at this point I'm very unconvinced of giving them my hard-earned money that doesn't grow on tree branches within easy reach.

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

Was this affecting coolant levels? May explain some of the leaking and the slow heater. I don't see how oil filter housing would affect coolant.

 

I talked to a guy at MINI of Louisville, and he was pretty nice and helpful. While I'm a little miffed about the airbox not being reattached properly, at least this is probably what is causing the P2177 error code for lean off idle.

There's a puddle forming on the passenger side. And there is some sort of liquid all inside the front passenger wheel.

So it's probably a fault with the water pump. I may try to fix it myself and see if that solves the problem. The thermostat is still covered under warranty if it continues to be an issue.

 

Look at the 'how to' article on thermostat replacement (in the modifications section) and learn how to bleed the thermostat. I can describe the location of the bleed valve, but a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in this case.

The oil filter housing has an oil cooler bolted to it, and coolant runs through both of these. There is a seal between the block and oil filter housing, and another gasket between the oil cooler and oil filter housing. These are a common failure point on older 2nd gen MINI's. If you see wetness down the front of the block dripping on the downpipe (where it turns under the oil pan), it is probably these seals.

The water pump is a DIY job, but it isn't much fun. The stock water pump has a plastic housing, there is now a metal housing replacement. If you have someone do it (or do it yourself), make sure that you get the metal one.

Another place to check is the coolant resevoir. look on the bottom of the tank for signs of leakage (chalky blue/green residue) or cracks.

Have fun,
Mike

 

If you're getting coolant in the passenger area the water pump is the first suspect.