Help! I'm despairing. I was driving my 02 mini cooper s, today, luckily going slow at the time in traffic, when the engine overheated all of a sudden. I pulled in straight away and turned it off. This is the first time this has happened to me, and the car was driving fine. No warning lights came on in the car, and the temp. gauge hadn't moved past normal. I didn't drive it after this, had it towed to a local mechanic whose going to look at it in the morning, and let me know what the story is, but he said it probably is the head gasket, and as far as I'm aware this is very expensive to repair. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Thanks.

Have you had any recent work on the car?

No. Due a service in about 600 miles. Oil light was coming on when I went round bends about 6 wks ago and put oil in and seemed fine since.

Was there coolant in the reservoir when it overheated? If not then you may have a leak, possibly a water pump. A faulty thermostat could also cause it to overheat. Cooling fan relay, etc.

Is the resevoir the plastic small tank at the back under where the wipers are under the bonnet? Sorry I'm useless when it comes to technical bits, but if that's it, when I lifted the bonnet that was spitting like mad and when we got it open after a few mins it was hissing, like it was very hot-obviously if it had overheated.

Oh, and also there was a big pool of liquid under the car as well where I pulled in.

I'm guessing but it sounds like the water pump. There should be 2 reservoirs one for the windshield wiper fluid and one for the coolant that runs through the radiator.

Well I'll know in a few hours anyway, thanks for your help, we'll wait and see, and I'll be keeping everything crossed that it's not too bad :frown:

Mine was the water pump. The seal on the shaft dies and all your coolant makes a pretty waterfall out the front of the engine. You did the right thing, and from what I've read and personal experience it's unlikely (but not impossible) to be the head gasket.

And if it were the gasket you would see water in the oil (goes to a milky iced coffee colour on the dip stick) not a puddle on the ground.