Hello, my 02 MCS is leaking coolant, going to take a look tonight to see if I can easily find either one or multiple sources of the leak. But some back story.

I did replace the thermostat a few years ago, not sure how fast those can go bad.
It also over heats and had to no heat when at idle or parked and running. I added some coolant and now it is fine and does not overheat.

But I cannot get coolant into the top hose coming off the radiator right infront with the bleed screw!?
So is my water pump shot? am I looking at a bigger issue?

Just trying to first figure out why I cannot get coolant in that top hose with the bleed screw.

Thanks

Also have noticed oil ever sighlty needing topping off now. Guessing going into the exhaust because no milky oil or coolant.

 

If the car is running, you should see a steady (small) stream of coolant in the expansion/overflow tank. If that is not happening, then yes your waterpump is done

 

hmm, well I do still have coolant flowing through the system. But it doesnt seem to flow at all either through the radiator or that top front tube with the main bleed screw. Maybe that thermostat again? because it does flow in the other piping as I can feel the hot verse cold piping. Does appear to be leaking from the center of the motor but going to have to start taking apart to see exactly.

 

Sounds like the tstat. Keep us posted

 

If you replace the thermostat, consider replacing the thermostat housing as well if that has never been replaced

 

So I know this is super old but I got my mini out of storage and working on taking it apart. I was going to just do a waterpump but maybe I should hold off on the pump and just do the thermostat housing and that. I do still get heat in the car if that makes a difference. but it definitle leaks while engine is running on the right side of the car if you are looking at the motor.

 

more than likely the thermostat housing is leaking or the little rubber hose near that. Get a bright flashlight and peek in the area beside the head when it’s running and leaking.

 

Colin
Try squeezing the top hose while you're bleeding it to help 'pump' the coolant around.
Keep the expansion tank fairly full while bleeding.
The bleeder needs to be almost entirely unscrewed, but don't drop it!
When you're done, there should only be an inch or so of coolant in the expansion tank.

 

Or the flange on the front of the engine (where the waterpump mates with the engine). There is a rubber seal behind it which fails over time.

 

Thanks guys, I have tried the pumping method, and it diffenitly leaks so something needs to be replaced. I’ll get to taking apart the thermostat tonight, if it doesn’t look wet in that area I will start to take apart the front to get to the water pump

 

Got it to the point where the supercharger is off. Water pump off.

I did try and start it before I took anything apart, it was sitting for 3 days with just the inter cooler off, well I started it and really bad whining sound and engine could not stay running. It would rev up and then die. It was all about 2-3 seconds of time. So idk.

I took the charger off and with the waterpump attached I believe it would make the bad noise at running rpm, but taking the pump off and spinning it everything sounds fine (no sound or grinding feel)

so hopefully it’s just the water pump and didn’t wreck something super expensive.

the thermostat looks dry but I’ll just replace it too. Not sure where the leak is coming from for sure now

 

I think the supercharger would whine pretty bad with no intercooler attached to muffle the sound - probably normal if nothing else changed. Good luck!

 

Without the intercooler on the TMAP won’t read any pressure and rev up properly.