I had the radiator flushed and new coolant added at the Sacramento Mini dealer while visiting family. I drove around Sacramento for a week without incident. It was cold, mid forties daytime and high twenties to low thirties at night. I drove 600 miles back to San Diego without overheating. (My car has a Helix intercooler so perhaps the high speeds kept the engine cool.) The next day I went to the grocery store a few miles away. Returning to my house the yellow radiator light came on followed immediately by the red. The oil was low by a quart and a half so I remedied that. The coolant reservoir was low showing just in the tube so I added distilled water. There were several spots of green coolant on the driveway and also some on the parts directly below the reservoir. Spots on nearby hoses. What is the problem? No coolant has ever leaked before this. Any help would be appreciated as I need to make a decision on where to take the car: Mini dealer, Mini independent, or the guy down the street from my work that all of use to do basic maintenance on our cars?

 

The intercooler won't do anything for engine temperatures, it only decreases intake air charge temperatures.

Sounds like you have a coolant leak, take it to a Euro specialist who can properly diagnose what your issue is.

 

Thanks!

 

BMW and MINI coolant is blue NOT green. If a MINI dealer did the service work then they didn't use the correct fluid. There are numerous hoses on the cars and plenty of places to leak not to mention the water hose under the intake manifold, the turbo cooling and return hoses and oil filter housing. Was the oil changed recently because you have to move the coolant reservoir out of the way to get to the oil filter and the hose to the bottom of the reservoir will leak if it's moved to far. Good luck finding the leak.

 

Hi sagscomps,
No, the oil was not changed recently. Only the coolant-; I was wondering about the green color of the coolant too. Could that be the "lifetime" coolant? Here's hoping it is a hose or something simple and not a head gasket.

 

The easiest way to drain the coolant is to disconnect the hose that runs under the front of the car. Start there.

 

The only green coolant I've seen is Prestone, not sure why a MINI dealer would use non-oem coolant in your car. No fluid is "lifetime", the anti-freeze should be flushed at least every 4 years, the brake fluid every 2 years. I wouldn't go over 75K on the transmission fluid without changing it. I change my oil every 5,000 miles even full synthetic, MINI's 12,000 mile change is way too long in most peoples opinion. Normally if your head gasket is leaking your oil will have a tan looking color to it not the normal dark brown. You may even see steam from your exhaust due to the water/anti-freeze in the oil. Another place to check is the hoses from the thermostat around the top of the transmission near the cables/linkage if you have a manual transmission. I've heard of leaking hoses under pressure in this area before.

 

I decided to have my Mini towed to Mini of San Diego. The good news is they say that the bleeder hose on the reservoir is broken. They will replace the reservoir at no charge. I will ask them if the Sac dealer used non-oem coolant.

The bad news is they recommend $3,700 in repairs connected with oil leaks. It's always something..........

 

Thanks for the update,.. " bleeder hose on the reservoir is broken " is this a Cooper ( NON S ) . The dealer will use the MINI blue coolant. Whats going on with the oil leaks ?

 

Well, the only oil leak on that car that costs $3700 to fix is the oil volume control solenoid leak, which if goes on long enough will cause oil ingress into the DME and can cause failure. Some of our customers were able to have the fix done under warranty, others not so much.

Quick way of telling if the leak is going to be expensive is to disconnect the connectors to the DME and see if they have oil in them, if not then just buy the volume control solenoid repair kit and have an idie shop fix it.

Updated volume control solenoid harness: 11-42-8-609-973
Repair harness: 12-51-8-626-764
Crimp connector:61-13-8-353-747
Shrink tubing: 61-13-1-379-833

We have all of these on hand if you need them, we've done quite a few of these repairs already, and only one of the cars had oil just starting to make its way into the DME connector.

Nick
Detroit Tuned
586-792-6464

 

Definitely check on that coolant. Can't tell you how many cars we had that came into our shop that had repairs done at facilities that didn't use the corrct coolant. Surprised though if a dealer didn't. Let me know if you need anything for the repairs. We are in Cali so the parts should get to you quickly and will be less than the dealer.

 

The coolant is definitely green guys. I have now googled this extensively and have seen it described as blue/green or "froggy" blue. Kermit is green:-) He IS rather blue/green as opposed to yellow/green.....

While checking out and resolving the coolant leak issue the dealer found the following oil leaks:
Valve cover leaking - replace
Intake tube saturated & cracking - replace
Vacuum pump leaking from gasket - replace valve pump
And
Replace engine oil filter housing gasket $$$
Replace oil pan gasket $$

There is not any oil hitting the driveway. I spoke to the indie guy who last worked on the car (it is a 07 Cooper S) and he characterized these issues as seepage, not leaks. Not yet. He recommended that I keep an eye on it looking for signs of oil on the driveway and being diligent about checking the oil level. I am going back to the dealer to have them show me where the leaks are so I can see for myself.

What do you think? Do you agree that I can delay spending $3,800 with tax for now? Or at least break up the repairs to spread the financial burden over time?

Thanks for the feedback,

Michele

 

Hi! I will definitely ask about the coolant when I go to the dealer to see where the oil is leaking today. Thank you. My work-mate, who is a my Mini guru, brings up the Pelican website all the time to show me the technical articles and non-dealer pricing for parts.

 

Dealer would have used Blueish coolant, unless someone flushed and mixed green.

Find and indy of DIY place , some nice people on the forums that own MINI out in SD that would do it for you.

Valve cover leaking - replace https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...placement.html

Intake tube saturated & cracking - replace https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...id-needed.html

MCS N14 R56 below

Vacuum pump leaking from gasket - replace valve pump https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-oil-leak.html

And
Replace engine oil filter housing gasket $$$ https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-oil-leak.html

Replace oil pan gasket $$ https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...an-gasket.html


Done all these before.


Thanks

 

That's how we categorized them for individuals that came into the dealer. The seep/leak sounds about right as we'd recommend keeping on eye on seeps until they acquired into a "drip." I'd break them up and do what is most urgent now to less urgent. haha your MINI guru is right! We can definitely help with your MINI. You can check out our pricing for those repair items. Vacuum pump o-ring here but if it's the inner o-ring on the pump itself you may need to replace the whole thing (here). Is the valve cover leaking or the valve cover gaskets? The cover itself is not uncommon to have an oil leak. Have the updated one from MINI here, otherwise just the gasket here. Oil filter housing gasket here, oil pan gasket here. Intake tube here. If you have any questions or ever need anything just shoot me a PM and I'll be happy to help.

 

Dealers don't fix leaks, they replace parts. I can see $1,800 if not more of that falling off just by finding a competent Indy shop. The vacuum pump doesn't need replaced, you can fix the leaks yourself with some time and RTV.

Does the valve cover need replaced due to the PCV leaking or the gasket leaking? The valve cover gasket is cheap and easy to replace.

The intake tube runs about $143 and is 2 clamps and a PCV line, that would be a 2 minute install.

As for the oil pan gasket, they don't leak all too often there is usually another leak that is migrated and imitates an oil pan leak. Even if you do need an oil pan resealed (there is no physical gasket, but a layer of RTV) a local Indy shop should be able to do it for under $500.

 

I would definitely work on my Mini if I had a mentor. And tools. Maybe I should sign up for Match.com and specify a handy guy who can teach? I am teachable and like machines.

Thank you nkfry for the breakdown on costs and difficulty level when repairing/replacing parts. That is a big help to me. It is the valve cover that is leaking not the gasket per the dealer. Too bad. I had them show me all the locations where they identified leaks so now I have an in person visual.

Next stop for me is an indie shop for a quote. Most people I have consulted agree that the repairs are not critical and can wait a bit while I save some money.

Update: the fresh coolant in my newly replaced reservoir is more blue than green. So that issue is taken care of.