could you have put the radiator pipes the wrong way around on the thermostat housing,, if correct one should be clipped to the side of engine bay also has arrow for direction, ie temp sensor goes faulty or if not in the water because pipe work wrong way around can cause all kinds of strange water problems i know i've done it, as car done 60k and only had a chain tensioner i would deffo bear in mind thats the wrong way with those engines, chain kit correct way forward.

 

Did you put the thermostat in the right way round?
Spring towards the engine.
Is the water pump working?

If it's spitting steam out after only a minutes running time then the coolant isn't circulating.
Temperature issues like this throw out the mixture and will give ****** idle.

Gerry

 

thermostat on those engines are electronic the ecu runs it more like a servo than a normal thermostat and is sealed in to the plastic casing, unlike the waxstat you refer to
link below shows what type it is,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coolant-...&epid=554062816&hash=item4b05ec97a4:g:zM4AAOSwzoRZgBdn:rk:2:pf:1&frcectupt=true

 

A couple of months ago I bought a 2007 Cooper S with 60k miles on the clock, Iv had nothing but problems since owning it and once I fix one problem another comes up. My most recent problem is the car does not idle properly at all, it bounces between 300-900 rpm and sometimes nearly dies, we’ve compression tested it and all is good there, we’ve checked for a head gasket fault but again it is sound. We’re going round in circles trying to figure out what’s at fault but we’re getting nowhere. My next fault is overheating, The day it started we had the front end off replacing gaskets to stop an oil leak behind the down pipe. We put the car back together and filled the coolant back up and bled the system and then after idling for a minute it started blowing steam out from the bonnet so I immediately turned the car off, we kept bleeding the system to get rid of any air locks. I started it back up and after 30 seconds it was back to blasting steam, after some looking about we realised the fan wasn’t kicking in when it should of been so we immediately thought we forgot to connect something back together. It turns out everything was connected up correctly and we plugged the car into a diagnostic computer and we were able to activate the fan remotely, we then started testing the relays and again they were all sound. We ended up bridging across 2 ports in the relay speed 1 terminals to hard wire it to stay on and it worked. The car didn’t overheat at all the whole time the fan was on. The parts Iv changed on the car are the thermostat (fixed my issue of power loss when I first bought the car), high pressure fuel pump, spark plugs, pre cat o2 sensor (fixed my recent problem of power loss after 4K revs), timing chain tensioner and I have cleaned the intake valves and vanos solinoid. If anyone has experienced these problems and has fixed them then any help is greatly appreciated. Sorry for such a long read.

Thanks in advance

could you have put the radiator pipes the wrong way around on the thermostat housing,, if correct one should be clipped to the side of engine bay also has arrow for direction, ie temp sensor goes faulty or if not in the water because pipe work wrong way around can cause all kinds of strange water problems i know i've done it, as car done 60k and only had a chain tensioner i would deffo bear in mind thats the wrong way with those engines, chain kit correct way forward.

Thanks for the reply, the radiator pipes are the right way about at the thermostat. We are getting heat from the left hand side pipe of the radiator but the pipe on the right of the radiator is not. Reading up this points towards the thermostat not opening but I have already replaced the thermostat twice and they were genuine parts. Thanks again for the reply and any other help is greatly appreciated.

 

My cooper s was running really hot (hotter than they usually run)
Very poor idle, felt like it would stall
Rough at low speeds
Eventually no power / jumping over 3000rpm

had coils replaced, spark plugs, sensors etc....by local garage
they suspected fuel pump

Went to mini specialist - they diagnosed coked engine and pitted valves.
Engine had full walnut shell blast to clean out, new valves and new head gasket - big bill but sorted it all out, runs like a dream.

If you are in the SW UK I used Paddockmotors. no complaints.

 

Thanks for the reply Matt, I had power problems when I first got mine. I had a very poor idle and no power but I replaced the thermostat and all was good for about 3 weeks till I lost power after 4K revs, i had previously changed the spark plugs and cleaned the intake valves along with replacing a few other bits and then finally got a fault code that pointed us to a pre cat O2 sensor, changed it and it ran fine for a few days then the poor idle came back and has stayed ever since. Thanks again for the post.

 

Quick update, finally managed to get the fan working by itself and it’s not overheating anymore but like everything else Iv done with this car another problem has come up. The car has very very low power, I had my foot flat to the floor in 1 gear and it took over 10 seconds to get to 2k revs. Once it got to 2k revs it picked up and eventually got faster due to the turbo kicking in but was nowhere near full power. It still idles poorly but we’ve noticed it’s not as bad when it first starts up but will get progressively worse as it heats up. We’re thinking it’s a problem with the vanos solenoid but we’re not 100% sure. If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Does sound a bit like the problems I was having when I had a failing vanos solenoid. Mine was idling poorly and lacking power. Replaced the solenoid on the intake side (rear of engine) and that resolved that issue. I bought one from ebay that I saw recommended (on here I think), available for £26.99 from UK seller, seems to do the job.

Like you it does feel like you fix one problem then another one crops up. My vanos solenoid was quickly followed by the 02 sensor, fingers crossed I can get through the next couple of months without any more dramas.

 

Does sound a bit like the problems I was having when I had a failing vanos solenoid. Mine was idling poorly and lacking power. Replaced the solenoid on the exhaust side (front) and that resolved that issue. I bought one from ebay that I saw recommended (on here I think), available for £26.99 from UK seller, seems to do the job.

Like you it does feel like you fix one problem then another one crops up. My vanos solenoid was quickly followed by the 02 sensor, fingers crossed I can get through the next couple of months without any more dramas.

Like you it does feel like you fix one problem then another one crops up. there is a answer to this partly to do with all these parts have a mileage limit on them and all most people including garages do is replace the one part thats worn to the point where it stops someone driving the car, below is a list of parts that makers do give a rough guide to when needs replacing, but reality is if we all did live by that yes cars would be so much more reliable but at a cost
turbo chargers 80-120k
particulate filter 75k
timing chains on a lot of cars 100k, reality is prince engine around 60k
clutch 80-120k
02 sensors 60k
cats 60-100k but should be replaced at same time as 02 sensors as a sealed system
brake disc 40k should replace both sides at same time
even wheel bearings 70k
water pumps have a expected life span like timing belts do but some belts are 150.000 miles try and get a cam belt driven water pump to last 150k

 

Yes, I think when I was googling the parts I've already bought it seemed that none have them had actually worn out early or unexpectedly, just down to the age and mileage of the car. I guess a lot of owners want trouble free low cost motoring, but the reality is that you just gotta keep chucking a certain amount of cash and tlc at them to to keep them running sweet. Shouldn't tempt fate but my Mini is currently running really well, engine smooth and responsive, long may it last :-D

Need to edit my previous post, it was the intake solenoid I replaced, not on the exhaust. This thread reminded me that I intended to change the other one as well so I had that in my head!

 

with new cars totally should be reliable for 80k trouble is then comes along someone who buys it secondhand and expects it to be as good as a new one,, EU consumer laws push this wrong belief ie people buy a 100k car that fails and the courts make the car dealer refund them