About 2 hrs ago was driving my mini s and all of sudden car starts sputtering and checkengine starts flashing look in my rear view to see a cloud of smoke and extreme power loss. pull over to smell of coolant no oil at all , coolant bubble was completly empty and leaking coolant on the ground coolant coming out of the exhaust also. Im guess head gasket just got it into the garage any other possiblites that anyone head issues with. I had no overheating ever no misfire codes, car has 60k alta intake,dtt bypass valve, megamynes headers , one ball exhaust stock boost, it is currently cold out here about 20 degree idk if it could be cause of the more dense air or not. any ideas would be great not very happy right now, i think im just going to get cometic and arp studs. thanks

 

any special tools required to do this,

 

You have to dig pretty deep, but I think if you feel up to it you can manage with tools you have around. I used a screwdriver in the brake rotor with the car in gear to get the camshaft bolt out. Torx sets are needed for minis. There are a lot of tutorials around that should get you prepared for the task.


Just for general info...not saying it has to do with your situation.
It takes a long time for the oil to heat up in the cold. My guess is at least about 10 mins after the water temp gauge shows warm. Before that oil pressure is very high (like 80 lbs at startup, at idle) When the temp warms up, it is still 75lbs at 3k rpms for about 10 minutes. If you get on it before that time (I am at work before oil temp gets up) the head gasket can see really high pressures.

 

yea id say the car was running for a good half hr wasnt beating on it b4 then, its not knocking or anything and still running to hoping its just head gasket.

 

I just finally did my head gasket in 30-40 degree weather last week after doing hours upon hours of research, reading and trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with my 02 MCS. So I hope all this information does help you out a bit. If it's justacoop, it's similar but some steps are different. I had a blown HG that leaked into the coolant system and everything was a mess. Did lots of testing with distilled water, scanguage, fan, etc...

If you have a Bentley manual, it really does help but some key things that they don't tell you or offer good pictures of.

I would probably find a compression tester and check out your compression across the cylinders. That'll definitely tell you if your head gasket is blown, or if it's something else like rings or valves (dry vs wet compression test). If you can get your hands on a pressure tester, I'd check the coolant system too, see if there's any leaks.

I'd check the oil dipstick to see if it's milky in color or if there's any sludge, along with the inside of the oil cap - which'll mean that coolant's getting into your oil system.

A list of parts that you'd need would probably help when working on the gaskets. I don't know about you but my car was purchased used so there are a few things you'd definitely want to check out before you start and realize that you might be missing parts or something along the lines. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...questions.html has a good listing of parts and numbers that people have recommended.

I bought the intake, exhaust, valve cover, head gaskets, BMW bolts, and thermo from Atlantic British (minicarparts.net) all Victor Reinz stuff. I would probably buy the valve cover bolts because mine had a lot of rust and crap on them, and snapping one of those bad boys would just ruin you day.

A second pair of hands would be useful for locking the camshaft. I went to the 6th gear and hold the brake method, outlined in https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...king-tool.html but tons of people went down different routes to hold down the camshaft.

Also, when you get down to the cam tensioner plug, the 19mm bolt is buried in the back passenger side right in front of the oil cooler, easiest way I found is if you get an offset 19mm socket (ratcheting would make it easier) and reach down from above. A good allen key set for the two plugs to remove the cam guide bolts (numbered 1 & 2). A steady jack or something to support the engine since you have to remove the passenger mount. I used bungee cords to hold up the timing belt.

Lots of compressed air if indeed your head gasket went because there would be crap all over the place. Be sure you do a very thorough job in cleaning all mating surfaces. I borrowed air tools so it made it a bit easier.

Took me and a few people probably about 10 hours or so, lots of stuck bolts and cleaning so pb blaster and brake cleaner are your friends along with some way to keep your hands and feet warm.

There's tons more of stuff, I just can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

Hope this helps.

 

wow man great reply thanks alot im gonna start tearing into it tonight from what i saw there didnt appear to be coolant in the oil, but the coolant tank had sludge , i do have all the tools i think tons or air tools cuz i frequently buy cars for flippers so hopefully this will work out well cuz i see alotta mcs with head gasket issues for cheap. And my car is an mcs since you were asking. When checking compression whats the head gasket diagnoses wet or dry. i do also have a bently

 

The bentley has the values that a compression test should come back with. Each cylinder doesn't have to come back with the exact same psi, but they should be within 10% of each other. Any more variance than that means something's up. For me, I had something like 140,130,145,95 when I found out it was a bad head gasket.

Wet compression test is just to see what else is going on. From what I remember, the wet compression numbers should be higher than the dry numbers. But the lower the difference, the better condition your rings, valves etc since oil does provide a better seal.

Also just so you don't freak out, it will sometimes throw a cel after you run a compression test since the coilpack was disconnected.

 

surprised at how easy this was so far got it down to just the head last night gonna head to the garage to finish getting it apart tonight checked the compression dry had between 145 to 150psi on cylinders 1,3,4 couldnt get my compression tester to screw in hole 2 but cyl 2 plug was covered in sludge and had coolant on the cylinder so i guess the jacket blew near there .

 

so the guy i baught the car from stripped the number 2 plug and resized it cracking the edge of the chamber, melted an exhaust valve and head gasket blown i think the head is shot in my opinion

 

Yeah if there is a crack near the threading for the spark plug that reached one of the valves I would consider the head done. I had enough detonation to burn a spark plug and a valve. Luckily the head itself was not damaged more than some cosmetic scratches.

 

yea not very happy.

 

wow. sorry to hear that. There were a few people selling heads on the marketplace over the last month or so... maybe pick up a used on? or go big!

 

yeah gonna go used and cars gonna have to go bye bye. i love the car and i have taken great care of it i have put maybe 8k miles on it in 2 years and it always give me trouble and im just tired of it giving me problems all the time its a great car and i love driving it but im unfortunatly not satisfied.

 

Just found some water in the oil on my car.

Put 12,000 miles on it in 8 months, bought it at 76,000 and immediately had trouble with it. Had a grocery list of things that needed done but I think the list is too long now, time to make it somebody else's problem. Fun car but I just can't afford to keep it.