Not seen it...car's been the shop for over a week.

 

Hey man,

Ask them if they check the water pump internally... There is a good thread on here I found about the gear's in back of the SC going bad from lack of oil and busting off all the teeth!! It's easy to check, well if your experienced with your car, the WP unbolts from the SC via 3 10mm bolts and than you can pull 4 more 10mm bolts to reveal the gears.... And inspect or change out your SC oil....

Also you can visually look to see if the plastic impeller in the WP is broken or not spinning....
One of those 2 item's would be my guess!!!

 

Update: Day 20 and still counting...

Wasn't the water pump or the fan (both checked good), or the driving lights (overheated withothem removed).

The MINI RTE (field engineer) arrived today and they tested the car for exhaust gasses. Found some. So the head was pulled and is at a machinist to be evaluated as I type, I suspect for warpage or cracks. If it is bad, it probably happened during one of the first overheats (the first part they replaced was a thermostat after "Thermal Event" #3).

8 more days and I set the local dealer record for a rental car...a dubious honor at best.

 

Wow, at least you have a free loaner.

 

If it is the head will you try to go aftermarket or just take the OEM?
I'm sure it would take some fast talking on your part to get them to cover or even install an aftermarket head, but worth thinking about.

 

I hadn't even considered that...never looked into them. I may be able to talk them into it, but I doubt it. I suspect I would need to get one ASAP...cuz if the head is the problem It will likely be fixed by Friday

What would an aftermarket head alone buy me? What else would I have to do to make it worth the effort?

I like the way you're thinking...

 

Aftermarket head would give you better flow. I am not an expert but I have read the MINI head is the bottle neck for better flow and higher HP.

Which head is a big question. Based on reading I would tend to the RMW head just because Jan seems to be doing great things with his work.
Of course this would demand bigger injectors but with a custom tune you could be looking a very good HP.

The real trick will be talking the dealer into working with you.

 

Yup...not to mention that ordering a head and getting it delivered will take time...I don't know how long it will take them to fix mine.

 

Update: day 21

Head came back from BMW but no one could explain what the results meant, so it went to a real machine shop today to check for warpage. Seems when they pulled the head they found scorch marks (my words) to the side of the two end cylinder heads. Gasket was good, but something was definitely blowing into the coolant lines.

The mechanic then insisted that the driving lights be removed, that they were blocking a lot of air. I reminded him that (1) the first 3 overheats occurred before they were installed and (2) they were able to create an overheat at idle, when there is no airflow and (3) they already removed the lights and got an overheat to happen. He wasn't impressed with logic. Sounds like they still want to pull them but I think I may have talked them out of it.

Here's the funny part. I replaced my stock grill with an aero grill...to make it fit I had to remove the slats behind the grill, which exposed the aluminium bumper, which I covered with blackout tape instead of painting. The mechanic was concerned about the holes in the bumper being covered by tape, wanted to know if I minded if they pulled the tape and painted it.

I can't believe he thinks that may actually be a factor in the overheats. I'm beginning to understand why this is taking so long...

 

Wow, sorry to hear about these problems. Maybe you should take it to an independent--though you'll have to pay for the repair--you'll probably get resolution to your problem faster and with less headache or stress.

Danny at Minicorsa has been my mechanic since January of this year--prior to that, I did things myself or took it to the dealer which was always a crap shoot wondering if anything was actually even done. Danny does things better than I ever could and for an extremely reasonable rate---I realize that Nevada isn't exactly close to Van Nuys--but a drive down to LA and a flight back shouldn't be a dealbreaker for someone that knows his stuff.

My '05 was leaking coolant--so after much self troubleshooting, Danny fixed the problem (thermostat) until a new problem erupted--pulley belt broke thanks to a faulty tensioner, and car overheated.

Thanks to my ScanGauge II, I could read the actual coolant temperature and get the car moving off the freeway sooner than the idiot needle would tell me. I highly recommend one if you don't own an OBD reader/reset tool or if you do--like I did, the Scan Gauge II proved superior to my hand held unit since it gives me realtime feedback.

Anyways, my water pump needed to be replaced to solve the last coolant leak issue---I'm at 89,000 miles with a 16% pulley for most of those miles, and it's been running great.

I'm adding an RMW cam and JCW injectors and a retune for a bit more power and Danny is doing the work in a couple of weeks.

Richard

 

Call me cheap, but I hate to pay for something I should get for free. That said, if free means poorly done, then I may take my car to a better shop once this is "fixed" have somebody give it the once over.

I have another thread where I'm soliciting opinions as to whether I sell this or try to hang with it a little longer. On one hand I've done a lot with this car and want to start over. On the other hand, the idea of starting fresh with the lessons I learned from this one appeals to me. If I can talk MINIUSA to swinging me a sweet deal to get me out of this lemon and into an '09 I'll probably go for it.

 

Hopefully this will be my last update: The head was found warped and was machined .006". While I have concerns over the long term health of my car, I'm just gonna drive it a while and see what happens.

Does anybody know what .006" will do to my compression ration?

 

Never ceases to amaze me....That's not the right way to do it. If a standard head gasket is used then you have gained compression...If a thicker head gasket is used(which is the right one to use and made for specifically this reason), it's extra thickness is to make up for the amount that is machined from the head. I always instruct my machine shop that if they must machine a head to cut off .011" which is the thickness of the replacement head gasket.


Unless your designing around this thinner head gasket for performance reasons(where clearances should be checked), then you should stay with the known. It's gamble, and while that little probably won't cause valves to go smashing into the pistons, it's not the correct way to do it.

 

8 months later...and I'm starting to see overheats again, but they're different this time (or maybe by being paranoid I'm catching them earlier). Before they tended to happen on the highway. High speed, lots of airflow, medium RPM so low water flow but not a lot of heat being generated either.

Now, they all happen when I'm basically stuck in traffic and barely moving (which means the driving lights aren't the cause because the air isn't moving so there's nothing to block).

First one happened during the AMVIV strip cruise. It was at night and cool outside (so ambient temp shouldn't be a factor) and we were barely moving. Saw the light come on and I immediately shut down the engine. Traffic light changed and I had to move so I started it up and needle quickly dropped back to normal. Fine after that.

Last weekend I was stuck in Hoover Dam traffic and it happened again. I shut the car down and fortunately I was going downhill so I was able to coast for 10+ minutes. When I started it back up everything was normal again.

Today I was in the drive-through at my favorite burger joint when it happened again. Starting and stopping the motor I limped through the line and then parked it while I ate. When I finished and restarted the motor, it was normal...again.

Just before AMVIV (and the first event) a friend put in an Alta CAI. Can't imagine that being related but thought I'd mention it.

Is it possible that this could just be a sticky thermostat? I'm gonna call MINI and get the car in but I wanted to ask folks here for opinions before I do so I know the right questions to ask and right things to say.

Thanks

 

When the evil ones fixed the head, were they clever enough to replace the thermostat? When a thermostat is taken to the limits (or close to it) too many times, its thermal characteristic will alter. However, this might not be your problem as a stuck thermostat (in the closed position) blocks the circulation of coolant and cause overheating regardless of car speed.

Your recent scenarios have one common denominator - the car is not moving fast (or little to minimal airflow through the radiator), so I suspect it's the fan that might be the problem... as it's the only tool to keep the coolant temp in the proper range when there's not enough airflow.

The fan unit is a weak design in how the speeds (stages 1 and 2) are managed. Stage 1 (slow) is triggered by a relay in the fuse box (engine compartment) via temp reading sent by a thermo sensor. It's also activated when the A/C is on. (Something you can test yourself.) Stage 2 (fast) is triggered by a relay built into the fan assembly. I've read of a few stories where Stage 1 failed w/o a warning light or DTC (trouble code). If this is the problem, your fan is kicking in later than it should. Btw, there's only ONE radiator fan, so be careful if it's not working properly.

I would point out the possibility of a faulty radiator fan to MINI. They can hook up their diagnostic tool to see if it's working properly.

 

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

Any Updates? This sounds similar to an issue I'm having (see "Another Overheating Case"). I know my fan runs at least on high, and I'm not losing any coolant and the system is full.

 

I scheduled an appt but then discovered my coolant was low. Had not checked it cuz whenever I thought about it the engine would be warm. It wasn't very low because the reservoir showed half full when warm. Iwent by the dealer and the service dude gave me a jug of coolant and looked it over. At that time it was running fine and we couldn't find anything amiss. So I let it cool and put some coolant in and now I'm watching it.

 

I'd be screaming lemon by now and would have had a lawyer get involved. I've read this entire thread and just the fact that your head had to be machined to resolve the problem would have put me over. This is certainly not satisfactory by any means. I also agree with the idea of a bad thermostat due to the previous overheats. A thermostat is just a spring actuated plate, and just like any other spring they wear out. This is especially true when they are compressed beyond load capacity.

 

Don't think I didn't look into it. However Nevada lemon law did not apply in my case so it was between me and MINI USA. I suspect they may have worked a deal had they not found the warped head. Oh well.