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2001 R50 Cooper Coolant Loss

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  SeanC 
#1 ·
Hi firstly, thanks for an awesome forum. I used it many times researching my purchase.

I picked up a tidy little Cooper with 120K miles two weeks ago. Im happy with it, because everything works (keeping my fingers crossed with the clutch).

anyhoo, i noticed on my commute this week that i didn't have any heat from the blowers, so i checked the coolant level and there was nothing in the expansion tank, so i topped it up through the filler and did a quick bleed. (just the top two bleed-valves, on the rad hose and heater matrix hose). Heat came back, jobs good i thought.
But now i have come back to a pool of coolant under the car, and its difficult to see where from. I can’t tell if it’s the thermostat housing or the rad, or something else. What I can see is wetness on the bottom of the radiator on the right if you are looking into the engine bay over the front bumper. There is a nice pool of water on the top of the skid plates under the car too.

I think I’m going to top it up and run the engine to see if I can identify where it’s coming rom but that engine bay is tight.!

I guess I will just have to take off the bumper and cross brace and have a look….(i have no A/C BTW)

I think generally it’s on the left side of the car, so not on the water pump belt side. Got to be either thermostat housing or rad right….?

Google tells me there is a common problem with the lower left side or the radiator, but left when sitting in the car?
Thx in advance.
 
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#2 ·
check for corrosion around the bottom of the rad ive had this issue and it was that. take the small skid plate off
and have a look at the radiator from the bottom. thats what i have my money on.

the thermostat gasket and housing does leak on cars with over 100k so have a look round there also
 
#4 ·
Hi, i changed the radiator yesterday and filled up with coolant. It was the lower corner of the rad leaking and i could have a good inspection with the front of the car off. I dont know what front end service mode is though.

Actually not a terribly difficult job, and I found evidence of some leaking from the water pump hose connection from the lower radiator. I cleaned this up and added new jubilee clips where i could.

I'm not convinced i have bled it properly, but the temperature is steady and the blowers work fine now.

Couldn't find the elusive third bleed valve, and the one on the pipe going to the heater matrix was a pain, literally. It gets hot down there when you try to close it, and if you dont have the screwdriver lined up properly, it rips the plastic!

Glad to have my car back on the road. Oil and filter next, plus gearbox oil.

Out of curiosity, my car is on 120K miles. Is it likely to have had a new clutch in that time? There is no paperwork for it other than MoT's and some service stamps. No mention of clutch.

Cheers
 
#5 ·
It's likely the clutch has been replaced in that time. However if it was looked after and not abused it is possible it is original.
If it's an old worn clutch it will slip and the biting point will be very high :) in my experience..

Gearbox oil is red line mtl [emoji4]

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#6 ·
Bleeding the R50 is a pain in the chuff. The best way I've found doing it is to fill the system very slowly and once you have a couple of litres of coolant in turn the ignition on and fan switch to position 1. Once filled fire the car up and get the coolant moving around the system and turn the heater on to full and leave the thermostat cap off and let it burb here then get the rest of the trapped air out via the 2 bleed screws. I changed my screws to brass ones as mine were chewed plus they don't go soft when the engine is hot and it makes cracking them off to bleed much easier. To find the 3rd bleed screw follow the pipe feeding the thermostat as the 8mm bolt sits right on the front right hand side of the engine on this pipeline ;)
 
#8 ·
Tbh the 3rd screw doesn't really do much, well it hasn't done for me. It's located on the line from the water pump to the thermostat but if you fill it slowly, let it burp and bleed it via the 2 screws then you should be fine. The only downside is it may take 2 or 3 goes to get it bled as these things are worse than babies with trapped wind

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