[cityclinic]

After visiting Andrew 'Boo' Jackson this afternoon at his new Coffee Shop in Balgowlah (378 Sydney Road) and enjoying a fabulous Maciatto over a chat about MINI's, TASMINIA and general car stuff I headed off to meet a mate in Parramatta. I was about to head onto the M4 when I noticed the temp gauge has hit the high mark and the red temp light is beaming. I pulled over immediately to investigate the problem. Checked all fluids, under the car for leaks and generally looked everywhere I could think of to find what was causing the high temp reading. Oil was a bit low, particularly as we had our usual 5000 k oil service the week before TASMINIA, however no oil light had shown. As there were no apparent leaks I was stumped so I called "MINI Assist."

Within an hour we were loaded on the table top and off to MINI Garage Sydney. I rang ahead to warn them to expect the vehicle. Spoke to Michelle Macarthy in Sales (taken over from Shaw Harrison) and without any hesitation she organised a loaner and said it would be ready when we arrived. Service will be onto the problem Monday and if all is well I'll pick up Monday night. And I can still see you MINI nuts at the Pie tomorrow morning as planned . . . however to avoid finding my bags packed on the front lawn, I have to be home by 10.30 am (or thereabouts )

I have had a number of new vehicles in my time including some of the expensive exotics. This is the very best service I have ever had with any new vehicle and it is Saturday . . . . service is closed. Good on you MINI Assist, MINI Garage Sydney and a special thanks to Michelle.

UNLOADED AT MINI GARAGE SYDNEY


LOANER; BRAND NEW CR/W MCS WITH SAT NAV (80 K'S ON THE CLOCK)

[ScottyB]

Good news Brad

Hope JCWMCS gets better soon!

[gazah]

interesting [albeit saddening] news brad... 'our thoughts are with you at this difficult time!'

reassuring to see such great MINI service, as most of us have come to expect!

[warped]

Not particularly fantastic news Brad obviously that cat has managed to wiggle its way into someplace not designed for cats

Hope they sort it pronto ... meanwhile enjoy the wonders of Sat Nav

[ScottyB]

Quote: Originally Posted by warped

... obviously that cat has managed to wiggle its way into someplace not designed for cats

LMAO Steve!

Could be a water pump maybe?

[Mike Clarke]

Hope it's not a complete CATastrophe Brad.

Great service from MINI Garage & MINI Assist.

[robbo mcs]

Hi Brad,

That is not good Awful to see you car on a flatbed. However, it is reassuring to see the prompt response from miniassist, and excellent service from the dealer

Hopefully there will not be too much damage to the car.

Just a reminder, for future reference, for anyone who gets an overheating problem. Brad did the correct thing, and stopped immediately . Do not try to limp home or to a garage with the coolant system boiling Running for even a minute or two with a cooked coolant system can cause major damage to the engine. The other thing you can do if you ever get in this situation is to turn the cars heating system up full blast, as this sucks heat out of the radiator.

Keep us posted with updates Brad.

Cheers

Robbo

[ScottyB]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs

The other thing you can do if you ever get in this situation is to turn the cars heating system up full blast, as this sucks heat out of the radiator.

Is this a fact Robbo??

I can understand it makes sense, but I would have never thought about it to be honest

[enzothemaddog]

I had Mini Garage offering pickup within 20 mins about 2 yeas ago in old cooper. Granted I was about 750metres from the dealership. But with a totally obliterated front left tyre exploded whilst avoiding a power pole at around 90 whilst going New South towards Double Bay.
Did you check the coolant bottle, have had that problem.
Even the Towies are good blokes!

Not a good look though.

[robbo mcs]

Quote: Originally Posted by ScottyB

Is this a fact Robbo??

I can understand it makes sense, but I would have never thought about it to be honest

Hi Scotty,

The heater sucks its heat out of the radiator cooling system. Therefore running the heat flat out must help cool the temperature of the coolant system. I dont know if it helps, but it cant do any harm. On the track, radiators or radiator hoses, cooling fans etc break frequently. Old wise "track heads" have told me to stop the car as soon as possible, and run the heater flat out. Intuitively, it seems like good advice to me

Robbo

[ScottyB]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Hi Scotty,

The heater sucks its heat out of the radiator cooling system. Therefore running the heat flat out must help cool the temperature of the coolant system. I dont know if it helps, but it cant do any harm. On the track, radiators or radiator hoses, cooling fans etc break frequently. Old wise "track heads" have told me to stop the car as soon as possible, and run the heater flat out. Intuitively, it seems like good advice to me

Robbo

Excellent

Thanks for the info Robbo

Cheers,
Scotty

[cityclinic]

Quote: Originally Posted by enzothemaddog

I had Mini Garage offering pickup within 20 mins about 2 yeas ago in old cooper. Granted I was about 750metres from the dealership. But with a totally obliterated front left tyre exploded whilst avoiding a power pole at around 90 whilst going New South towards Double Bay.
Did you check the coolant bottle, have had that problem.
Even the Towies are good blokes!

Not a good look though.

This is not the first time MGS has been helpful . . . when the strut guides cracked just before Tassy they overnighted the parts so we could take them to Tassy with us and organised (through Heath in Melbourne) for Launceston BMW to fit the day we arrived on the ferry ( a Saturday . . . . their head mechanic 'Gary' came in his own time to fit them). I guess it's no wonder they are the top selling MINI Dealer in Aus.

Checked the coolant, released the pressure and waited for it to cool . . . all OK. There were no obvious signs of a problem however past experiences mean't an immediate call for a tray top. You never second guess an overheating problem, adding oil or water and waiting to cool does not necessarily prevent engine problems. Best to stop immediately (as Robbo indicated earlier), get a tray top and get to a Dealer ASAP.

[poki]

I was also pleased with the service I got from Mini Assist when I couldn't close my boot. They were there faster than the NRMA have ever managed.

Hope it gets sorted quickly and painlessly.

[Dooks]

Very good to hear that you are getting good service from MGS! If I say pretty please maybe they will give me good service in a week or two

[FLiPSiDE]

Quote: Originally Posted by ScottyB

Is this a fact Robbo??

I can understand it makes sense, but I would have never thought about it to be honest

hehe the heater on full blast to cool the engine down brings me back to days in summer in my clubman, 40 degrees out side, heater on full blast sitting at lights sweating my ring out praying the needle stops rising on any bored sumwhat modded oldschool mini.. hot days nearly always brought about an alarming cat and mouse game with heater switch and engine temp gauge and i never lost the love of that car it still makes me smile every time i look at it i really should get it out, register and drive it more however the laziness monster has me

[cityclinic]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dooks

Very good to hear that you are getting good service from MGS! If I say pretty please maybe they will give me good service in a week or two

See Anthony Alafaci at MGS and tell him you are a member of the club . . .

[swamos]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Hi Scotty,

The heater sucks its heat out of the radiator cooling system. Therefore running the heat flat out must help cool the temperature of the coolant system. I dont know if it helps, but it cant do any harm. On the track, radiators or radiator hoses, cooling fans etc break frequently. Old wise "track heads" have told me to stop the car as soon as possible, and run the heater flat out. Intuitively, it seems like good advice to me

Robbo

Turning on the "Auxillary Radiator" is good for 5 Degrees in the Lotus It also gives the engine a shot of cool water if things are bad

Don't forget to crank the fan too For people with aircon, turn it off at these times

[Smurfn]

Not good news Brad

Thankfully the service was quick and you got a nice loaner.

Hopefully yours will be fixed quickly, and well.

[AndrewH]

Cityclinic,

Run over any plastic bags recently?

Not sure when they brought in the separate fuse for the power steering and radiator cooling fans but your MCS (Jan 03) may be pre this change. There have been a number of cases where people got things caught in the power steering fan resulting in an overload of the circuit/ fuse blowing and hence no more radiator cooling fan. If this is the case, you were lucky you caught it early as some of the other stories have resulted in major damage.

[TRELO]

Have you got it back yet Brad?
What was the problem ?