I have an 08 MCS that I bought a week ago. It has a reman. engine because the PO ran out of oil in the original one. He said that it uses oil, which it does. It uses mobile one 0-40 oil, he switched to this oil because he said he read somewhere that it helps with oil loss. Still looses probably a quart between fill ups. I noticed the other day when checking it that the engine seemed to be very hot. The oil was burning inside the fill cap and the dip stick was smoking when I pulled it out. I did notice after my drive that the fan did not stay on, (maybe never turned on at all). I'e had a bunch of cars/trucks and never had a problem losing oil. I've read the post saying mini says it is normal, but i don' believe that. Thinking I need to cool the engine more and look for leaks. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

I think you need to get actual engine/coolant temp numbers. Mine does have steam when i open the oil cap.

 

I plugged in my scangauge 2 and it reads max coolant temp of 225 F under moderate driving on 60mph backroads. My EOT in the xgauge did not work so I need to look up some codes. Honestly I haven't had a gas burner in awhile. Is 225 high for a MCS?

 

I just monitored my temps....the max it reached was 105 C and after few minutes it would drop to about 90. I guess that's when the thermostat open. So your numbers are within range.

 

So after reading some posts I put my ac on max and the coolant temp dropped from 225 to 180 within a minute. What gives? Any thought 9n running the ac to keep the engine temp down.

 

Been data logging my 2018 JCW and coolant temperature can get as high as 233F. The temperature doesn't stay up there long as I guess the fan kicks on and the temperature drops to 218F in just under a minute's time. The temperature can drop even further to in one case 199F but this was with the car moving at 70mph+ and in the space of around a minute's time.

The engine is hot at 233F or thereabouts. But as long as the fan comes on and the temperature doesn't get any hotter I don't necessarily see a problem, but I don't know what the factory has to say about the upper temperature range threshold.

(I know years ago my Boxster's coolant temperature got up to 226F -- which was "hot" in my experience the radiator fans coming on at low speed at 212F and switching to high speed at 216F -- and I collected the various temperature data and spoke to my dealer's service department SM. The SM was intrigued by the temperature data and he sent it to the factory. The factory responded back with essentially if no warning light came on there was no problem with the coolant temperature. No light was on but the temperature "gauge" needle got up to a region of the dial I never saw it get into before or since.)

As minitobe metioned you need to collect some real coolant temperature numbers. A way I have done this over the years is via an OBD2 code reader/data viewer/logger that among other things lets you view engine telemetry, such as coolant temperature, in real time.

Once you have the real temperature numbers be sure to update the thread.

Even if the temperature is within the limits the cooling system must be able to retain fluid and pressure.

If it can't then this needs to be addressed.

As for the oil usage..., first I have to address the reference to 0w-40 oil.

Really, my experience with 0w-40 in my Porsche Boxster engine, my Porsche Turbo engine, and before these cars my 2006 GTO and 2002 VW Golf TDi -- all used this oil -- is at operating temperature, call it 212F, 0w-40 oil is like water. (I changed the oil in these engines enough hot to have experienced the oil at operating temperature.)

Now before you think I'm slamming the oil by comparing it to water all I mean is the oil is quite fluid and if there is a bad seal it is going to leak regardless if you are running 0w-20, 0w-30, or 0w-40 (or even as I mention below, 5w-50 oil (not a typo for 15w-50!)).

And in the case of my Boxster it did leak, leaked out the rear main seal,but not very bad at all. I took the car on an 8K mile road trip with the RMS "leaking" and it never became an issue. Similarly, the RMS in my Turbo engine developed a leak and likewise never became an issue but I had the RMS replaced.

Even if one goes up to 5w-50 oil (not a typo for 15w-50!) the oil will leak out if there is a compromised seal. (I ran this oil in my two Porsche engines for a few years and like 0w-40 at temperature the oil is quite fluid. In fact, based on the oil pressure gauge reading at hot idle in the Turbo I could not tell which oil: 0w-40 or 5w-50 oil; was in the engine.)

So...back on track...if the engine is "using" a quart/liter of oil every time you fill the gas tank, that's a quart/liter every ~300 miles?. (I think I can stretch my JCW to go 300 miles on a tank of gasoline, provided I can behave for 300 miles...) I am not current on what Mini offers up as to what is acceptable or what is not acceptable in terms of oil usage, but I sort of kind of from owning other cars believe that 1 quart/every 600 miles or 1 liter every 1000kms is excessive oil consumption. Thus 2 quarts every 600 miles is, well, excessive oil consumption.

But is the oil being "burned" or leaked? I would think 1 quart every ~300 miles if this was leaking out the leak would be rather obvious.

If the oil is being "burned" it may not be get into the combustion chambers via bad rings or valve stems/guides or valve stem seals but through a "bad" air/oil separator (AOS). In this case the bad AOS just allows too much oil vapor to pass through and this is routed to the engine and burned.

A sign this might be happening is if the intake system downstream from where the AOS connects to the intake system is wet with oil.

I'm not quite up to speed regarding all the various MCS models, but another source of oil being burned can be from a bad turbo seal. 'course, if the engine isn't turbo-charged, but instead uses a supercharger... nevermind.

Regardless you need to find how the oil is disappearing.

If being burned in the engine looking at the plugs should provide a clue. While the plugs may not be wet with oil they should show some sign of having been exposed to oil in the combustion chamber.

A compression test can tell you if one or more cylinders are down/weak which can be due to bad rings. 'course, the engine isn't generating a CEL with one or more misfires so my WAG would be the compression is pretty good. (Might not hurt to check compression anyhow...)

Of course compression can be just fine but if the oil control rings are toast...

Assuming compression is ok this brings up the question who re-manufactured the engine? One always has to suspect the engine may have been assembled with something wrong with the oil control rings. Or some or all valve stem seals were left off. Or have failed since the engine was put into service.

Update: if you turn on the A/C and the coolant temperature drops this suggests the radiator fan isn't coming on when it should based on just coolant temperature alone. When the A/C is switched on usually and I think this is the case with your car, the radiator fan is turned on at least to low speed. Thus the hot running could be just (just...) a fan problem.

 

Thank you for the reply. I dyed it and found a leak on the valve cover. When tightening the bolts I broke one. FFFFFFFF I wish I had a picture of my face. I was able to back the stud out so I just need to replace the bolt (all of them) to see if it solved the oil issue.

I put my scangauge 2 on it to properly measure oil and water temp. So far it is hanging out at, or just under, 225 with moderate driving.

 

Your not burning oil..your vaping it.

it's well known that the temps you're seeing are completely normal. It is also a general consensus that its better to run cooler.

At stock, temps are hot enough to do a few things:

*vape a lot of oil additives (looks like you lose oil quantity) causing you to top off frequently
*high water temp means the auxiliary water pump which turns on once the car is shut off (for cooling turbo), will not be able to remove enough heat...causing oil coking on the turbine shaft
*vaped oil collects on the intake valve stems and causes further blow-by issues as well as studdering acceleration


As you have seen- turning on the A/C will cool the car down. It keeps your radiator fan on..thats why. You can remove a lot of heat by running the heater too, though the radiator fan only kicks on when temps get over 228 or so.

All that said: You're seeing first hand why oil catch cans are essential on these motors. Also - getting a stage 1 or 2 ECU remap will take care of those temps.. as the tuner can reset the thermostat points. I'm stage 2 and run ~178f water temps on average now... before tune it was ~226f