It's 6:30 in the morning here, and im sure I would get a faster and better response from you guys rather than MINI, I was at a Mcdonalds this morning, while in the drive thru, my temperature indicator came on yellow, within a min it turned red, I can hear my fan on and was pretty loud, after I began driving it went away. I just got my thermostat changed less than a year ago. What can cause this issue? Low anti freeze? This has never happened before? Car is a 07 with 48,000K.

 

Did you check the coolant level? How old is the serpentine belt? Vibration damper failure?

 

Fly'n Brick asked the right questions.

Don't drive it until you correct the problem. The fastest way to kill your engine is to overheat it.

 

I'm not sure on either questions. All my services were done at mini and I didn't know what was done, only time I had a real issue was when my car had a cracked thermostat or reservoir tank so all that got replaced.

 

check your coolant and add more anyway to be on the safe side till you get the issue addressed by your dealer or DIY.

 

Sounds like you got lucky....
For future reference, a RED LIGHT on the dash means STOP, AND SHUT THE CAR OFF.
Failure to no do this can often cost you an engine, or other very $$$ fix that might have been very simple and less expensive had the car been stopped.

 

I never seen or had any of these indicators so I didn't know to stop there. I was only a few mins away from work. I called my mini dealer and the advisor said he gets a lot of these calls during summer and the end of summer from a lot of customers. He advised for me to check the coolant and oil levels. He didn't say the serpatene belt had anything to do with it. Should the indicator stay on or go away? Once I started to move the fan went away, so did the indicator and car felt fine. I also advised him that I did change the whole thermostat about a year ago and he said due to the heat in ca it could have sucked up more coolant.

 

Just checked my coolant and its bone dry.

 

In the future...check all your fluid level at LEAST weekly. The MINI is NOT a drive it and forget it appliance. Running low or out of fluids can only be attributed to neglect.
Serpentine belts should be replaced at around 30 to 40K. They oxidize, suffer from heat and become brittle and begin to crack. That is when they will slip not pulling the water pump properly and eventually fall behind on your trip to the supermarket.
As others have hinted, when an engine light comes on, it is or is becoming too late.

 

Thanks for all ur help!!!! Last question is, the last time when my coolant was leaking, I poured distill water, now that I'm at work all I have is filtered water, should that be ok? I'm driving to mini after work which is about 15miles away to pick up coolant.

 

Though distilled water is the best, filtered water will do. You are going to be changing the coolant anyway when you fix the leak.

 

Hopefully I don't have a leak. I had the whole thermostat and everything with it replaced sometime last year. I'm hoping it's just due to the car sitting at times in the garage and the ca heat. I have multiple cars so I don't drive the cooper to much.

 

I've heard of all kinds of 'fluids' being poured into cooling system in emergencies. Remember the M.A.S.H. episode where Col. Potter and Klinger poured in all the wine they had when their jeep boiled over?

 

Since your coolant was dry, I'd look around for areas in the engine bay that may look to have residue on them. You can get under the vehicle to inspect further for any signs of coolant. If you have a pressure tester you can pressurize the system to check for leaks a bit easier. We go over that process here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti..._Leak_Test.htm. We also provide tips on checking for leaks without using one. Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

Most likely a waterpump

 

3 Common points of leaks are the waterpump, thermostat, water pipe between the thermosat and waterpump. We've seen a couple of cars need random sections of hose due to someone leaving them out of the clips and they begin to rub and chafe.

Add coolant, check the underside of the car. If your car drank the contents of the expansion tank a year ago when you had the thermostat replaced you would've had problems sooner, chances are that you have a leak.

 

My suggestion is that since your mechanical skills seem limited, do not drive the car until you have gotten it to a shop and had this problem diagnosed and corrected. You can fry the engine in minutes...and you've already tried to do that once by not checking coolant and by driving it dry.

 

It was the coolant. Checked it while I was at work and it was out. Filled it up with filter water until I got home. I filled it up and, it would drop down some, probably it was completely empty, seems to be staying filled up right now, I'll check it again later. I would hope it's not the thermostat since all that was replaced not even a year ago.

 

I suggest checking quite often (daily) until you know how fast it's losing coolant.

 

Yea, I've been driving around and checking after each drive to see if it still goes down. I'm sure it was going down a little cause the entire reserve tank was empty.

 

That's not a leak, it's a hemorrhage! Get that puppy in a shop, on a lift and get it resolved before you fry the engine. You are being way too lackadaisical about this problem.

 

I took my car into a mini mechanic and the machanic said my water pump is now leaking. I just had my thermostat replaced about 8 months ago and drove it less than 1k miles, is it just me that they didn't offer to replace it since it wasn't that bad at that time or notify me? I'm sure I would have told them to replace it since it was looking bad.

 

leak could be a result of changing the thermostat. who knows if they are gentle with the car or not! Also, who know how they did the job to begin with! try to negotiate that it was not leaking not until the thermostat job (if that really was the case) and you need some sort of credit.

 

This was not a mini dealer. It's a mini/BMW mechanic so they didn't want to hear anything just if I wanted them to do the job or not. That is true about the water pump was not leaking u until they replaced the thermostat. When I intially took it in, I speicifically asked them to look at common parts wishing the thermostat that may fail so I can replace everything at once. Now they want to charge me 180 for the pump and 450 for labor. I called a friend of friend mechanic guy and he said he did a thermostat change before and required a special took for a belt. Is that needed if I'm just changing the water pump?

 

there is no need for special tools. the only special tool you need is your hands it is a fairly medium to easy job. the tool they are mentioning is something like a handle that helps releasing the tension off the serpentine belt. then there is pin on the assembly that holds the armature in place.