NOOOOOO I dont want to go back to those days again ! Besides I just took a clay bar to it and waxed it ,cant have water spots now .

 

 

Todays #'s 4 mile spirited (legal ) drive .
before 75 F
after drive 140 F
after 3 min. 186 F
3more min. 195 F
popped the bonnet to keep it from suffering .

 

OK, it's time to reveal my Mini's name: Zhaan (say zan). She was a blue alien from the sci-fi show Farscape, played by actress Virginia Hey. If you're old enough, you will definetly remember her from from the Mad Max (Road Warrior) movie.

Back to the issue at hand...
Didn't drive Zhaan to work today, but took her for a 3 mile spin around the neighborhood after work. I kind of liked that Arnbut showed a pic of his temp readings.

Today I'm introducing a additional reading by inserting a temperature probe into one of the vent holes in the scoop.

So here are my readings:
The probe reads temps in Celsius -- 108 which converts to 228.2 Fahrenheit. The hottest spot on the bonnet today was only 180.2F.
180.2F is an all time low, but then again it was only 3 miles.



I'm taking Zhaan into the service department tomorrow and talking with the service manager, not a greeter, opps I mean service advisor. A tech at this dealer has contacted Mini once regarding the weeping washer jets, but never officially recorded the event as a service visit. I will insist this gets logged as a warranty problem. I'll even try to get them to admit that it's related to the scorching under bonnet temps. You know that's not happening.

Will post my results tomorrow. Motor on dudes (and dudets)

 

Cars ecu version is 26 for me. I find the bonnet hot too after short trips. I checked under hood . everything fine so far.. so may be the heat isn't that much.

Edit : When I say bonnet i mean the area just above scoop

 

chandler_vt -- Thanks for verifying the ECU version.

The hot spot on the bonnet usually starts in the 140's for mine. Within 5 to 10 minutes it has reached 235F. That was on a 98 degree day. I would put the average max temp at 210-215.

Arnbut has measured his turbo charger at 300+ after driving the car. When parked, it's radiating 300+ degrees of heat off of itself in multiple directions. As it heats the air, the air rises and spreads. Although, the spreading is restricted by the closed bonnet. That leaves the scoop and the gap between your windsheild and bonnet for the heat to naturally escape. Meanwhile all that heat building up under the bonnet is convecting to all the other components; the scoop, bonnet, plastic parts, rubber hoses.

That explains why scoops are melting/warping/deforming and washer jets are weeping. (i think there is a Xmas song in there... On the third month of Mini ownership, the turbo gave to me, hood scoops a melting, washer jets a weeping, and a thrid degree burn on my hannnnd)

All Mini has to do is adjust the ECU to run the fan and the turbo's water pump a little longer after the car is turned off.

Talk to you guys tomorrow.

 

fixed. =)

 

Yes, Yes, I forgot about the tail pipe a burning

This thing is practically writing itself!!

 

Arthur weeps if I use the washer --- during my 5500 mile trip out-west I only used the washers once. Then cleaned up.
I bought some windshield wash pop-up towel thingies and got into a routine of cleaning the windows thusly.

The runtime of Arthur's pump after shutdown is much longer than the old car. Bonnet temps have been 60-90 degrees cooler, depending on how I've run the car. I stopped carrying the infrared gun around as a result.

I don't really have anything new to add about matters. Everything there was to say about the Flying Squirrel had been posted previously and is now "historic data". BMW treated me with extreme kindness and I'm just trying to forget that car....

The problem dujuour will be how the heat management is addressed on cars with no other foibles. We might need ports of some kind in the fenders (a-la Viper vents) or other exotic measures. The electric recirculating pump's runtime is definately a factor in temperature mitigation and should be something that's adjusted via flash and under warranty or recall. It's obvious that parts of our cars are unhappy with a 325 degree radiant heat source near them.
The check valve solutions (either eliminate the existing one and allow the fluid to drain into the resevoir or add two valves inline before the outlets) might become "official" and heat shielding might need to be added.

 

Thanks Arnbut.

I just talked to the service manager on the phone regarding these issues. He receives daily tech reports from Mini-NJ (aka MiniUSA) and has not received any information regarding fixing extreme bonnet temps or weeping jets. He said Mini-NJ had confirmed they are aware of the issue and looking into it.

He also said that unless Mini specifies that an ECU flash is the required fix, that I can't just come in and get reflashed because there is a new version available. I would need to be in for valid warranty service for Mini-NJ to cover the flash. Which I responded with "my bonnet stripes need to be replaced because they are permanently stained by weeping washer fluild". He said that's a valid scenario.

I told him I would call back in a month to confirm if Mini has resolved these problems.

In the mean time, I would recommend that anyone that hasn't logged a complaint with NHTSA please do so.

Make sure you mention any of the items affecting your Mini:

• How HOT the bonnet gets, possible burn injury.
• Weeping washer jets causing stripe and finish damage
• Warping scoops
• Searing hot tail pipes sticking out too far.

As always, the NAM user MiniDivision has yet to reply to anything mentioned in this thread.

Daily temps to follow later this evening...

 

But I like that one...

 

The Mini Song:
Chestnuts roasting right above the scoop
Washer fluid weeping down the stripes
Arnbut points the laser gizmo at night
It's 325 degrees (in the shade).
or something like that.

 

Hi Everyone,

As expected nice and hot. Pointing into the scoop shows 211F in the parking lot with a nice breeze assisting the cool down process.

The Evening pics (first two...i know out of order) have the temps in the scoop reading a toasty 258F from the IRT and the probe's temp converts to 248F. The probe actually got as high as 266F (130C), but I didn't have the camera in the garage. The water pump was still running at that reading, by the time I got back with the camera the temps were dropping. It stayed in the 245 to 255 range for over ten minutes.

10/5/07
Morning Commute
Start bonnet temp: ----------- 68F
Dest. bonnet temp: ----------- 158F
Dest. b-temp +5 to 10 minutes: 198F

Evening Commute
Start bonnet temp: ------------ 82F
Dest. bonnet temp: ------------ 167F
Dest. b-temp +5 to 10 minutes: 201F




I'm going on a nice 100 mile round trip today. I'll try and capture the temps and post tonight.

 

Hi everyone,

Here are the temps I was able to pull after arriving home yesterday evening. The bonnet was as extremely hot as always coming in at 205F.

We did get an all time high of 137C inside the scoop, which translates to 278F.

Please fellow NAM'ers, if your bonnet (just above the scoop) is scorching hot, report the problem to NHTSA . Someone is going to suffer a serious burn injury if this isn't addressed!!






Repost from a different thread... (this happened to me yesterday)

I'm now up to needing the following issues resolved on my 2 month old Mini:

1. Washer Jets weeping
2. Bonnet temps reaching 235F when parked.
3. Under bonnet temps reaching 278F when parked
4. DMF knock/rattle :impatient
5. 3-2 squeal .

This is my daily driver!! 1, 2 & 3 should be an easy fix for Mini, yet they haven't done anything as of 10/5/07.

4 & 5 are either design flaws or QC issues. 4 was occurring is last years model as well! What are they (Mini Inc) doing???

 

Well after a 30 minute drive
I got:
at 5 min:150 degrees
at 10 min 165 degrees
at 15 min 163 degrees
at 20 min 155 degrees

These were the hottest temps taken on the bonnet. At each reading I moved the temp sensor around to find the hottest temp which was 2-3 inches above the scoop slightly to the drivers side.
Wolfgang

 

Try moving the probe closer to the seam where scoop and bonnet meet. Mine is always hottest 1/4 inch above the seam, about 1 inch right from the center. Scroll up thru prior posts; my pics show where I'm measuring.

The temps fall off rather quickly, but are still quite warm. Just like the readings you are getting.

When you use your washer jets, do they weep after the car is parked?

 

Check out the real Jinxy in my sig.

Red Alert! New all time high temp recorded Red Alert!!

Holy Moley, it just keeps getting worse.

Inside the scoop made it up to 138C tonight,
which converts to a blazing 280.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hmmm, I wonder why washer jets are weeping and bonnet scoops are warping/melting/deforming.

I know, let's install a check valve.
They need to install a check valve where ever that solution came from....sheez!

 

Those temps are rediculous. Jinxy, I'm guessing you drive your car pretty hard (don't blame you).

But don't complain to the NHSTA. That'll cause MINI to reduce the factory boost. At least wait until my wife gets her '08.

 

lhoboy,

The turbo gets just as hot, whether I'm keeping it under 3000 RPM or 5000 RPM. It doesn't matter. I can go for a 3-5 mile drive and get close to those temps. The last 10 minutes (3 miles) of my ride home are under 2500 RPM and/or 30 MPH. Changing boost isn't going to do anything to lower these temps.

They need to make the radiator's cooling fan & turbo's water pump run longer once the engine is turned off (and while it's running).

I have no idea why it's taking Mini so long to address the issue. All that is required is for them to release an ECU update for the fan and pump run times.

Fellow owners have stopped using their windshield washer for fear of their jets weeping all over their hood and staining their stripes. Another owner pops the bonnet when he parks in his garage. I put a desk fan in front of it, for an hour, when it's parked in my garage. People's bonnet scoops are warping/melting/deforming due to 280F heat trapped under their bonnet.

It's freak'in ridiculous!! (Am i allowed to say that ...yes)

With each passing day I get more and more disgusted by the lack of action taken by Mini to address this issue, let alone the QC issues they are continuing to have (eg. DMF knock, 3-2 squeal).

On the upside, I guess my garage will be considered heated this winter...
that is unless the Mini catches fire due to these temps.

I know... you were just pushing my buttons . I hope they do have this resolved for the '08s. You should definitely test drive an '08 MCSm first, then after you park it, wait 5 minutes and check bonnet 1/4 inch above the center of the scoop. Be carefull or you will get burned. If you don't, then maybe they did fix it.

Best of Luck with the '08

 

I felt the hood of my car after I drove home from school, so like a 15min drive...it wasn't hot at all, just a little warm.....it was like 75-80 degrees out.

 

scott48 -- Is yours an automatic or manual? Automatics appear to be programmed differently; and run cooler.

If it's manual, do you know what ECU version you are running?
Also, what's the build date of your Mini?

Thanks.

 

Those without hot bonnets you are making Jinxy's point , If yours can be cool why cant others ?

 

Mine is a manual. I don't know what ecu version, but I picked my car up in may, with build date being in march I believe. My turbo cooler that keeps circulating water through it always stays on after I turn off the engine, and the fan only comes on in addition to that if I've been driving it longer and harder.....oh, and my hood scoop came with everyother column opened up.

 

scott48 -- If you check immediately after turning it off, it won't feel too hot. Wait 5 minutes...then touch it (carefully). Let me know what your results are after waiting 5-10 minutes.

My pump continues after the engine if off too. I'd hate to see what temps I'd get if it didn't keep running.

No temps to post today folks. I took a break and drove the Nissan. My wife and I have owned 5 Nissans between us. Her '84 Sentra was the only one that ever had warranty work performed. The rest worked flawlessly.

 

D@mn, this sounds very serious. I predict some bonnet paint issues on the R56 a few years down the line. So tell me again why they added this non-functional warping hood scoop? I am loving my old skool supercharged mill that much more. I think I'll just go with a big-valve head and skip the whole turbo convection oven thing.