2002 MCS, Have read many threads on this issue but don't know if this is different...long story...here goes. Had the overheat at parking lot waiting for my kid to get out of school. Started it again and drove away and it cooled off. Ckd coolant and added some, overheated again at stop light...drove away and cooled off. Upon inspection noticed a lot of snotty stuff in my valve cover and on valve cover cap. Went straight for head gasket (I know...why right), with the help of utube did it myself but took head in for inspection where they changed guides and installed bigger valves for same price as OEM also did SC pRevent maint and changed oil and changed SC pulley while everything was out. Started ok drives nice but still putting in coolant and snooty stuff in dipstick tube that I see when I pull out dip stick, oil appears ok. Read Way's web sight on oil cooler and how you should change that first lol, ok I'm slow so I changed it second. Started up everything sounds good, drives good, but still adding coolant (about a gallon in a month). Turned it over to the pros we press tested, bleed down tested and can not find a smoking gun. Changed overflow cap...lol. He spent four hours today trying to find a leak and nothing...agh. Snooty stuff still in dipstick tube and shows on dip stick when I pull it out. Got the blackstone vial to send in during oil change but anything you might suggest could be helpful. Love driving it and since it's a 2002 first year wanna keep er running.

 

Snotty stuff is normal during the colder months if the car doesn't run at operating temperatures for long periods of time. I would look into the thermostat housing and gasket. It will only leak a little at a time, and never enough to reach the ground. Check it right after you turn the car off. You will likely see a small amount of coolant in the indent at the top of the housing. Good luck,

Nik

 

Oops and I drive 70 miles a day to work, sorry wanted to mention that because of a few threads that talk about short distance driving

 

Oops and I changed tstat/seal but not housing because didn't have evidence of lking

 

Evidence is very minimal. At least it was on mine.

 

A gallon of coolant in a month type lk?

 

Using that much coolant and not leaving a trace of it?

Did the HG get installed properly? You can install it upside down which will cause overheating problems.

Was the head decked, pressure checked, vacuum tested?

We've only seen a couple cases of it, but the head can develop a crack around the top left head bolt, causing a coolant leak into the crankcase, this leak can only be detected with the valve cover off and sometimes requires the timing cassette to be removed to see it. I would say 2 of the 3 cars we've seen this on were JCW cars though.

 

I don't think it got installed upside down...? I thought that once i lined the HG to the guides and had the weap holes by the exhaust manifold it was right. If I had this crack in the head, the mechanic said I would be getting misfires during cold start from the coolant in the pistions or it would be running bad are start because of the coolant in the combustion chamber? plus some of the coolant would be in the oil and the tip of the dipstick would show snot in the oil? I only get snot from the tube when I pull the dipstick out. I can clean that off and ck the oil and the oil on the stick looks fine. I plan on doing the Blackstone but might run it a while before I have to put more into it?

 

I asked the mech what the machine shop does with the head and it sounded like they did not do any dye ck for cracks, just visual. But again wouldn't that give me other indications in the oil/pistons/etc...

 

If the HG has the coolant weep hole on the backside of the engine then you have it installed correctly.

The head being cracked in the area we've seen it doesn't cause a misfire, because the leak is into the crankcase not the combustion chamber.

If you're still seeing milky solution in oil a cracked head or faulty HG is totally within the realm of possibility. The only way they will see the coolant leak is with the valve cover off and the system pressurized.

 

the mechanic spent four hours yesterday looking/testing. They said just keep driving/adding coolant until something else happens to help determine.

 

That's bothersome.

If you are using that much coolant, they shouldn't be recommending you drive it until something bigger happens.

I would highly recommend finding someone who can diagnose the problem, a gallon of coolant a month is a lot, and they should be able to find the source of the problem.

Not trying to demean anybody's work, but they should not advise you to drive until a bigger problem surfaces.

 

ya, that was one reason I posted. Didn't like diagnosis. I agree don't want to demean any mechanics work, they have a lot of issues they need to track down on multiple styles/models.

 

maybe I need to do the oil sooner than I wanted to and send to Blackstone lol

 

I went for the last three years with a slight drip from a coolant hose located under the little expansion tank on my r50. It was a pretty slow but I still went thru 3 or 4 quarts of the coolant a year. I think it helped this car last so long that fluids need to be monitored often. idk but anyway when the thermostat gasket started to drip i paid to fix them both, even changed the thermostat and (housing very common leak area) havent overheated or added coolant since!

 

was there indication on the heat shield below the tank?

 

Just changed oil to send sample to Blackstone. Oil looked ok, get analysis results later.

Mechanic suggested we do a floreseant dye and ck things with a black light. Anyone do that?

A week before that I had to get a new dipstick. In one week the stupid tip broke off (I'm thinking my car doesn't like me lol ;-)) so I had to get a craven, cuz I wasn't going to buy another OEM. But the tip is missing, should I be immediately worried?

 

The tip of my stock dip stick broke off hundreds of thousands of miles ago. It just fell to the bottom, never caused any problems

Nik

 

If you want you could do an oil change and see if you can get it out during the service. Zippy has some suggestions in this thread here - https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-dipstick.html

 

Thanks, the dye did not show externally agh. Still waiting for Blackstone analysis but still driving it. I might take the valve cover off this weekend and black light the upper part of head?

 

Way doesn't have his machined heads, any thoughts on replacement heads? Don't know if I want to inherit someone's junk yard head?

 

Coolant in oil verified by blackstone. Car at mechanics now, thinking I mighta not done the head gasket correctly. I did notice pitting on block but the pitting didn't appear to connect coolant/oil ports (I'm probably wrong there of course). With a metal gasket it probably didn't fill in pits like the old one. Probably gonna rebuild now, just really like the car. At a local performance shop (labor still cheaper than dealer and they specialize in euro cars, they even built a mini that won the race up Pikes Peak a few years back) it's in good hands. Thanks for all the responses.

 

Hope you get this figured out and fixed soon. Would love to see pictures of that MINI that won at PPIHC. One of my favorite events. Have a few friends that have raced in that event. Good luck!

 

I don't think it's possible to install the OE head gasket upside down. I think that the dowel pins (and oversized holes for them in the gasket) prevent that. Can't say for an aftermarket gasket. The chain case cavity isn't symmetrical so you'd see that it's not right in the chain case area (bolt holes won't line up). Also the "weep hole" on the back side of the gasket isn't a weep hole for coolant, it is an oil flow restrictor for the cylinder head. If you did manage to put one in upside down, you'd starve the cylinder head of oil, have very loudly clattering lash adjusters in no time, and probably seize the camshaft if you kept running. Most likely you have a broken oil cooler or cracked cylinder head. I'd have them pressure tested and maybe flouro particle inspected.

 

They found a crack in the head, on the low press side by timing chain. Gonna look into heads by Sneed and Thumper and put er back together. Kind stinks I don't have the cash to rebuild whole thing :-( .