Mini Convertible Heating not working

[bex8687]

Hi,

I have a Mini Convertible 2007. I have had problems with my fan kicking in all the time and being really loud, over heating, no heating in car and losing water.

I have had a new radiator put in to try and fix the problems but at the minute nothing has happened!!!

It is still losing water, am constantly filling it up. Today, the water was a orange colour so am slightly worried!

The fan has been ok, not kicked in all the time and the temperature gauge hasn't gone above half way (YET!)

But my heating is still not working, when I am driving it warms up a little bit but when stationary it blows out cold air and takes ages to heat up again!

Any ideas on what could be wrong?

Many Thanks!

[Angib]

I am not suggesting a diagnosis - just thinking out loud.

The overheating may not be causing the coolant loss, but may be the result of it, if the heating system is being pressurised.

Do you ever lose coolant without the engine overheating? If so, that would make pressurisation a possible cause of the problems. I don't have enough experience of (new) Minis to know if pressurisation would empty out the heater matrix, but it might do.

A likely cause of pressurisation is a failed cylinder head gasket and I have known one engine (not a Mini) that pressurised the cooling system intermittently, which made it a right bugger to track down.

Discolouration of the coolant would be consistent with head gasket failure. Garages have a magic potion (no, seriously) that they can add to the coolant which will test if there are any exhaust gases getting into the coolant, which is a good test of the head gasket.

[mab01uk]

Is the water/coolant coming out anywhere visible or dripping under car?

When refiling coolant are you also bleeding the system correctly for airlocks? If not the heater matrix can be full of air instead of coolant which can cause no heater and poor circulation/overheating of engine.