Apparently my head gasket is leaking . I've been having valvetrain noise and losing coolant. I checked the oil cap and there's milkshake on the bottom of it. Dies the headgasket repair additive work . Or am I in for more work on my mini

 

You need to remove the head, check it for warping due to overheating, skim it if it is warped and reinstall with a new gasket.

 

I did the clutch so im sure I can do the head provided my back holds out. How do you check for warping . Do I need to have a machine shop do it ?

 

You can check for warping with a good steel straight-edge but it's best to have a shop measure it.

 

Makes sense. I don't want to do it twice . I don't think it's warped because it still runs perfect . I think I caught it early.
I was having intermitten valve train noise so I drained a quart of oil to add some risleone oil additive and when I was done draining a quart it still measured almost full so that along with unexplained coolant loss lead me to check the oil fill cap.

 

I'm watching a video on replacing the headgasket and I noticed when the oil was drained it looked like chocolate milk . My oil looks normal I do however have chocolate milk under the cap. Did I just catch it early ? Or could it be something else. I mean it's a mini ..lol

 

Some people who drive a Cooper S have had coolant contamination in their oil from leaks in their oil cooler, either from the gasket or internally. It can show up as the milkshake you describe. If you have an S that might be a possibility.

 

He'll of alot easier than a headgasket . I just ran the engine and pulled the cap and there's a pretty strong positive pressure. It's strange that the oil in the crankcase looks normal but there's milkshake oil on the cap and in the valve cover when I reach in to check .

 

I'm going to start a new thread do I can list all the symptoms and what's been happening over the last couple of weeks

 

I was getting oil in the coolant on a 2003 R53 I bought in August (it was a known problem when I bought it). I changed the oil filter housing first for the reason you mentioned above -- it's a lot easier. The oil cooler was filled with gunk so it definitely needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem. I had to do the head gasket as well. In fact, the head was cracked so I bought a used one and had it rebuilt. My point is that there could be multiple causes of the symptoms you're seeing.