[Fabio]

what exactly is the purpose of engine coolant/

It seems to be very low in my car

[Goonery]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fabio (original)

what exactly is the purpose of engine coolant/

It seems to be very low in my car

Keeps the engine at optimum operating temperature once its warmed up, but from your earlier post in the other thread it sounds like you have a leak in your expansion tank radiator or heater pipe.

The coolant in MINI engines is contained in a sealed pressurized system so it really should not need topping up between services unless its overheated and the excess pressure has blown a pipeclip seal or joint somewhere

[Fabio]

Quote: Originally Posted by Goonery (original)

Keeps the engine at optimum operating temperature once its warmed up, but from your earlier post in the other thread it sounds like you have a leak in your expansion tank radiator or heater pipe.

The coolant in MINI engines is contained in a sealed pressurized system so it really should not need topping up between services unless its overheated and the excess pressure has blown a pipeclip seal or joint somewhere

cheers, hopefully its not too serious and is covered by warranty

[MINI-Morgan]

Lets hope its just a small leak somewhere and not too much pressure caused by some much much worse....

I'm sure the dealer will sort for you though

[oldmots]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fabio (original)

what exactly is the purpose of engine coolant/

It seems to be very low in my car

The exact purpose of the coolant is to transfer heat from the combustion process in the cylinder to the air flowing through the radiator. It also transfers heat from the auto transmission to the air as well. If it is low, you must get it up to level and watch it carefully. If it goes down, get it to the shop ASAP.

[oldmots]

As we know, coolant has other secondary purposes, it is designed to prevent freezing of itself and to lubricate the water pump, provide heat to the interior and to transfer heat to the throttle body and other users of heat in the system.

[jp4788]

if you have to keep topping up your coolant you more than definatly have a leak somewhere!! i would get it sorted asap!! the coolant is designed to keep the oil temperature at normal operating temperature!

[Stevemac]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINI-Morgan (original)

Lets hope its just a small leak somewhere and not too much pressure caused by some much much worse....

I'm sure the dealer will sort for you though

I've been looking at these threads as I have a problem with my MCS its spewing out Coolant, and the temperature of the expansion tank is really hot while the gauge is ok, this is after 15-20 mins driving...

You mentioned "Pressure caused by much much worse WHAT?????...

Steve Mac

[MINI-Morgan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Stevemac (original)

I've been looking at these threads as I have a problem with my MCS its spewing out Coolant, and the temperature of the expansion tank is really hot while the gauge is ok, this is after 15-20 mins driving...

You mentioned "Pressure caused by much much worse WHAT?????...

Steve Mac

Blown head gasket into one of the water ways. That will cause extreme pressure in the cooling system and just blow it out the weakest point.

Yours might just be the thermostat has gone or the pressure cap on the expansion tank if its coming out there.... make sure you get it sorted though as low coolent levels and extreme heat have been known to crack the cylinder head.

[Stevemac]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINI-Morgan (original)

Blown head gasket into one of the water ways. That will cause extreme pressure in the cooling system and just blow it out the weakest point.

Yours might just be the thermostat has gone or the pressure cap on the expansion tank if its coming out there.... make sure you get it sorted though as low coolent levels and extreme heat have been known to crack the cylinder head.

Thanks for that, the Mini is at Woodmans in Blackpool at the moment, and has been there twice already in the last 4 weeks trying to solve the problem. Hope its not too bad.

Regards

Steve Mac

[gdowsett-uk]

Been suffering a similar problem since having the coolant changed! The car was pressure tested a few weeks ago and nothing showed up, then yesterday morning the car dropped all it's coolant on the drive. Turns out there was a leak where the radiator is mounted which is next to the pipe they used to drain the sytem The garage is saying the too are not connected!

[AHminione]

Recently my mini one 2005 went into the dealership with a coolant leak, the thermostat and housing was changed and five weeks later I got it back. One week later the car was leaking again, BMW asked if i'd topped it up lately! (I'm not a mechanic, but that's laughable, right?)
A new improved part has been put back on and i was told not to get too paranoid about checking the level. When I got home i checked the level and found that it had been overfilled above MAX. One week later I have checked it again and it's lost about 10mm! The warranty runs out in two week! Are they glossing over untill is pay time? Would a car dealership be that under hand?

[MINIMANIAUK]

Dealerships are not underhand ,but they have timesheets to fill out and time is money! diagnosis and checking take time ,far easier to simply replace a bit that failed ,charge the warranty (BMW) OR THE customer! and then later change another bit that failed ,even though the second bit was due the original problem.
There is a lot to be gained in DIY ,yes some tooling costs,and perhaps a bit of reading up ,but all knowledge gained is a good thing,and will remain with you forever. Ultimately it will save you money throughout the ownership of a car and NO ONE looks after a car better than the owner!!

[AHminione]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIMANIAUK (original)

Dealerships are not underhand ,but they have timesheets to fill out and time is money! diagnosis and checking take time ,far easier to simply replace a bit that failed ,charge the warranty (BMW) OR THE customer! and then later change another bit that failed ,even though the second bit was due the original problem.
There is a lot to be gained in DIY ,yes some tooling costs,and perhaps a bit of reading up ,but all knowledge gained is a good thing,and will remain with you forever. Ultimately it will save you money throughout the ownership of a car and NO ONE looks after a car better than the owner!!

Thanks for the advise, but no thanks. I bought a brand new car and also bought three years servicing so that I would not have to worry about my car (plenty of other things to worry about) except a wash every week, check the oil and water every now and then, no worries. My car is, obviously, three years old with 24k miles on the clock, I don't really think that I should be out collecting tools for DIY on my car, do you?!
If i'd have wanted to tinker with cars I would have bought a classic or Nissan Micra!
Are you a dealer by any chance?

[MINIMANIAUK]

The main dealer is a company separate from BMW/MINI they are franchised from BMW/MINI and follow the rules of the franchise, to them it matters not if they are paid by BMW for warranty work or by the owner for out of warranty work -It would serve no purpose to delay any repair beyond the warranty period -they get paid either way.
Its a free world and you have choices ,you choose to spend you time doing other things rather than get under your car,fair play! However you distrust your dealer (re underhand comment) -so who can you trust? -hence the suggestion that you DIY
At 3 years old any car can have problems,potholes can damage bushes ,belts can fail,wires get chaffed ,exhausts fail etc, without looking yourself you have no option but entrust someone else to do it and thus accept their findings or extend the current warranty or buy a new car and be covered by a warranty once again.
I have no affiliation with MINI

[oldmots]

A dealership that was basically dishonest would not last long, but there are plenty of incompetent techs, which might be what you got. Cooling problems are serious as the coolant is as critical as the oil to the engine. You need to raise a stink and get it fixed right. It should not leak on the floor and once the car has been serviced, it will often take one drive cycle for the coolant level to settle, give it that chance, then watch it, itr should drop no more. The Mini has a cooling system that airlocks easily upon filling at the reservoir and has bleed valves to get the air out. If the tech does it wrong, these airlocks can overheat the car and cause big problems. Knowledge is power, protect your interests by being aware such as you might with your bank accounts and credit cards. You may not want ot be an expert, but you need to know enough to function, thus the reason you are here!

[MINI-Morgan]

Nothing wrong with a bit of DIY

Has the level dropped again?? The MINI is terrible for air locks so you might have just released one them during driving. The heater matrix is a nightmare for storing air!

[Streeters]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINI-Morgan (original)

Nothing wrong with a bit of DIY

Has the level dropped again?? The MINI is terrible for air locks so you might have just released one them during driving. The heater matrix is a nightmare for storing air!

I've recently experiencedd the same problem as ahminione, and had the same rectification work done. 3 weeks later at Himley someone pointed out that my coolant was only half full. so ikt had dropped by half in 3 weeks I decided to monitor it rather than top up and last saturday before L2B it had dropped to the minimum level So obviously in view of the drive and sitting in traffic that i knew would be inevitable i topped up to the max line and off we went. On return i checked again expecting it to have dropped but it hadnt took it into my local stealer yesterday and they came back saying no leaks found anywhere and that i was wrong to top up to the max line as the expansion tank levels falls and rises I always thought that was why the max line is only 2/3 of the way up to allow for expansion

having just read this thread I was wondering if an airlock could have been the problem as they obviously drained the system when they fitted the thermostat housing. could this be a possibility, as it used less water in L2b than in a week of 8 miles a day

[oldmots]

Quote: Originally Posted by Streeters (original)

I've recently experiencedd the same problem as ahminione, and had the same rectification work done. 3 weeks later at Himley someone pointed out that my coolant was only half full. so ikt had dropped by half in 3 weeks I decided to monitor it rather than top up and last saturday before L2B it had dropped to the minimum level So obviously in view of the drive and sitting in traffic that i knew would be inevitable i topped up to the max line and off we went. On return i checked again expecting it to have dropped but it hadnt took it into my local stealer yesterday and they came back saying no leaks found anywhere and that i was wrong to top up to the max line as the expansion tank levels falls and rises I always thought that was why the max line is only 2/3 of the way up to allow for expansion

having just read this thread I was wondering if an airlock could have been the problem as they obviously drained the system when they fitted the thermostat housing. could this be a possibility, as it used less water in L2b than in a week of 8 miles a day

There are a few steps in refilling the coolant to avoid an airlock (which can be fatal to the engine), first, turn on the ignition and set the heater to "HI" (leave it there), open all the bleed valves (be sure to get them all for your particular model), remove the pressure cap and add coolant until all the bleed valves are weeping coolant and the bubbles in the filler neck or pressurized expansion tank (for the S) stop coming up. Close each bleed as the bubbles stop coming out of it and there is coolant only coming out. Start the engine with the pressure cap off and watch the filler neck or expansion tank for bubbles, run the engine until the thermostat opens and the temp guage reads normal, be sure there are no bubbles coming up in the filler neck. If you see bubbles, keep watching until they stop, adding coolant if needed to keep the level up so you can see it. Shut down the engine, install the pressure cap and let the engine cool. Then go to the car, open the pressure cap and top up the coolant level to normal and you are done. Bring the level to noraml on the catch tank on the reg Cooper.The first gen reg Cooper has three bleed valves, one on the large upper rad hose, one on the heater hose near the battery box and one metal screw type on a metal coolant line near the front side of the cylinder head close to the thermostat housing. On important note, the first gen Cooper and S use G05 HOAT coolant , do not mix this with other coolants. The orange Dex-Cool is not the right stuff.

[crabbysam]

Where are the bleed valves ?
i have a 2003 s.
thanks

sam