12 replies to this topic

[kristjans]

Mini Kensington 1996, 1.3 Spi, 54k miles. This is my first Mini.

 

Before 2.5k miles it overheated, was a hot day and hight traffic. Coolant was browny. I replaced thermostat, coolant and radiator cap. 

All worked great till now. 

 

When engine is cold or hot the car doesn’t start so easy. When start need to push throttle more times and then ~20 seconds need to help with little push throttle, if you don't do that it stops. After that engine works great without performance problems.

Yesterday was a hot day. While  staying in high traffic the car overheated (went to red) one more time. I stopped the car for ~1 hour. Coolant level was low, i topped up coolant. Mini started normal, without problems. I drove 20 minutes outside the city, temperature was on half. Then I stopped at traffic lights and temperature raised, when driving it went back to normal (half). At home coolant level was low and oil cap with mayo. Oil dipstick no mayo or milky. No visual coolant leak.

 

Where should be a problem with starting and coolant loss?

 

Thanks!

[minifreek1]

Head Gasket.....

 

Welcome to TMF :)

[kristjans]

Head Gasket.....

 

Welcome to TMF :)

 

Head gasket are solution for both of issues?

[Bat]

Hi,

I'd get the head gasket done, check over everything on the inlet manifold while it's off then put it all back together.

Get the fault codes read and then reset and re-learn. Then see if you still have a problem.

Cheers 

[viz139]

Sounds like head gasket gone, get a compression test done.  

Coolant loss can be caused by fitting the wrong rad cap. '92 -'96 Minis with expansion bottle under the wing have a specific rad cap with two rubber seals.

http://www.minispare...|Back to search

 

When filling the rad with coolant make sure the expansion bottle is half full also.

Edited by viz139, 20 July 2018 - 04:26 PM.

[minifreek1]

Head gasket needing replacement is usually the indicators of oil in water (or water in oil) to cause mayo in oil cap, also overheating due to coolant loss as engine is burning/using water....

[MiniAida]

Hold on Kristjans.......

 

It is normal to have a bit of mayonnaise on the oil filler cap, so I wouldn't go straight to a head gasket change.

If you had a HG failure, you would notice mayo elsewhere (e,g, in the oil) & the car wouldn't run well at all.

 

I would try....

• resetting the stepper motor - turn ignition on but don't start, then pump throttle 6 -10 times until you hear a whirring sound.
• check all vacuum pipes (thin ones that run from the back of injector to various places). These should be pushed on, but not fully as that can block them, pull them off & blow through them to check they're clear then carefully replace.

Next I would check & clean all of the plugs to see if there are any dirtier than the others.

 

There could be a lot of reasons for this problem (I think there is more than one cause), but in my opinion, there's no need to change the head gasket as the car would run very badly at all times, if it even starts at all.

 

I think it would be good to flush your coolant system too, as that might be part of the problem (brown fluid).

 

Good luck

MA

[Sprocket]

• resetting the stepper motor - turn ignition on but don't start, then pump throttle 6 -10 times until you hear a whirring sound.

 

Where on earth did you hear this nonsense?...... can you back that up with documented procedure?.......

 

you may inadvertently be 'indexing' the stepper motor (as described in the Haynes manual) nothing more, it does not 'reset' anything.

You cannot reset any learned adaptive parameter without the appropriate diagnostic equipment.

[FlyingScot]

This as sprocket has written above is an urban myth.
Cycling the stepper or removing the battery for a period of time does NOT reset the learned parameters in the MEMS.
For those with ACT it has a specific option, ACR it is service reset. Testbook has a reset parameters.
Others I’m not sure

FS

[harrythehat]

If this was a normal carb mini you would be able to follow the book and sort it, even with just a little knowledge.

 

You have a spi/mpi its a little more modern with sensors you cannot see if there working or not even with just a little knowledge you aint gonna sort it (probably).

 

A £5/10 item IAC valve or similar could be causing this grief water loss could be a hose or leak on pump,

 

if you heads been spun around too much on reading replies to this thread, time to get someone who knows

[MiniAida]

Thanks Sprocket (and F.S.) for pointing that out.

 

I had always assumed that the procedure cycled the stepper motor back to its default position. I had managed to resolve several idling problems this way, so had suggested it on that basis.

 

My big concern was that Kristjans might change the head gasket & still find himself back at square one, as I can't see why the engine would run well at times i.e.

 

 

After that engine works great without performance problems.

 

 

I don't know what support is available in Latvia, so was just trying to give some pointers......

 

I'm sorry for any confusion caused here and hope you are able to find a solution soon Kristjans.

MA

[FlyingScot]

The key point to remember about the SPi and MPi cars is that when they went to the dealer for service (or third party) the garage plugged them into Testbook or similiar to not only read the codes but to gain live data from the sensors.
Yes you can infer many of the defects from the behaviour of the car and you can make some simple checks but it is quicker and easier if you can read the data.
Don’t however think that plugging it in will necessarily immediately tell you what’s wrong, but some issues are very difficult to understand without diagnostic support.

FS

[Bat]

The key point to remember about the SPi and MPi cars is that when they went to the dealer for service (or third party) the garage plugged them into Testbook or similiar to not only read the codes but to gain live data from the sensors.
Yes you can infer many of the defects from the behaviour of the car and you can make some simple checks but it is quicker and easier if you can read the data.
Don’t however think that plugging it in will necessarily immediately tell you what’s wrong, but some issues are very difficult to understand without diagnostic support.

FS

 

 

 

 

Hi,

To be honest I think this is the problem with asking "what's wrong with it" on the forum for injection cars.

It's nowhere as simple as the old carb and points days and if the car is abroad then they seem to have even less chance of accessing diagnostic gear.

Further more to reduce guesswork you need fuel pressure tester, multimeter, vac gauge and 4 gas exhaust analysis to be in with a good chance of getting it right...

Cheers  

Edited by Bat, 22 July 2018 - 03:21 PM.