10 replies to this topic

[dangermouse]

hey guy's any help on this one will be greatfully recieved as i'm getting fed up of breaking down! my problem is that the engine seems to be overheating extemely fast ie a 30 minute trip to town this morning after i had given the car a once over that very morning (water levels, oil, breakfluid) the water tank doesn't seem to be leaking as i filled it up and the level didn't drop when i was stationy now i know mini's use the water and don't recycle it but not that fast, something is causing my engine to massively overheat and guzzel water any suggestions? the symtoms before i overheat is a loss of performance i can put my foot right down and it struggles and looses speed and also it starts to smell of burning the engine block almost looked as if it was on fire last night? what can i do to stop this happening, whats wrong with her? any suggestions are welcome esp mini docs cummon guys my baby is sick!

oh yeah i'm in andover hampshire at the minute is there anyone from round hear who may know where i can pick up parts or general thoughts on how to get parts?

[tom]

Sounds like a blocked radiator.

[bluebottle]

if you are using water, but dont have any leaks that sounds like your head gasket has gone.

[hammoj28]

The head gasket on my bimmer has gone and it doesn't use water that much. Check your exchaust to see wether there is water coming out of it or steam instead of smoke. Possibly thermostat???

[clubman katie B.F]

are you getting hot air out of your heater? had the same problem today. had an airlock somewhere

[miniman5]

it could be a combination of things like a bocked rad lie ksome ones said or ure thermostat is bugerd or your rad is just full of crud

[dangermouse]

so any suggestions as to how to identify the problem and fix it? short of a mechanic! ie if it is a blocked radiator how do i fix that, though to be honest i'm hoping its just a buggered thermostat stuck closed so the water isn't getting into the engine and the engine is just boiling it off would explain the loss of water without the engine cooling off but would like to know for sure? if i had blown my gasket surely i wouldn't be able to drive it over again? if it is a air lock how do i fix that? any advice yet on the best way to get new parts? i've a feeling that by the end of this month i'm going to have rebuilt this engine am getting quite good at it!!

[miniman5]

you can chack the thermo stat. thats it out of the block and put it in a sauce pan fill it to the top of the thermo stat and put it on the kooker when the water starts to boil it shoulnd open if not its bugerd!..if the rad is full of crud ge tthe bottom hose of and put a house pipe up the rad take the top of 1st then it sounds shft all the bad stuff as the water is flowing a differant way to usual! hope thats hellped

[Dan]

Smoke? There should always be steam at your tailpipe. Exhaust gas is mainly comprised of water vapour. It's not burning coal.

You need to be careful with this. If the engine is loosing it's water into a cylinder you could hydraulic your engine and that will be very bad news.

The sudden loss of power and coolant suggests to me that you have a minor head gasket failure which is appearing intermittantly as the engine heats up. If this is the case then eventually this will become a proper failed head gasket. This could have been initially caused by a stuck thermostat which has in turn warped the head or block slightly, or relaxed the head studs a little. Does the top hose heat up as the engine reaches running temperature? If not the thermostat is stuck.

Has water reached your sump?

If you run your car without cooling you run the risk of it siezing, breaking a piston ring, hole-ing a piston or burning out a valve among other things.

[cowboy]

hi dangermouse
id agree with dan sounds like a termostate to me and changing your head gasket would a good idea if it has been overheating.
camberly auto factors in andover, which are close to safeways, or halfords close to tesco's will have what you need

[cowboy]

pm me if you need help doing it as i'm only 10 minutes away from andover and have a workshop at my disposal