Hi everyone, here's my first topic as i browsed the search function for months now
Also I'm french, I hope my english will be understandable.
My mini is a 998 with a stage 1 fitted, AAU needle in the carb.
For 2 years I've seen it overheating, slightly in winter, and a lot more in the summer. The seller told me that the radiator might be old and muddy so, I bought a brand new 3 core original radiator, but the car still overheated.
I flushed the water system a hundred times, changed the thermostat (I tried all of them, even the special ring), all the hoses and the water pump (high flow), the heater matrix, the heater tap, the whole speedo unit (facing the driver -> central speedo) and fitted the sender that came with the speedo, I've tried a small waterpump pulley... And the mini overheated even more...
I started to be really annoyed, some garage and friends told me the problem could be the head gasket (as the top and bottom hose of the radiator were really hard to squeeze, and when I ran the engine with the rad cap off, I could see a lot of bubbles when hot), so I fitted a new head gasket. 3 times in the same year, because the problem was still there. I also changed the cylinder head 2 times, thinking it was cracked...
This summer I was really cranky to not use my mini, so I fitted another engine, still a 998, thinking my block was cracked or something. The new one overheated like the original.
I replaced again the sender, and the heater tap with a simple steel take-off, and the heater is hot all the time now, and the temp gauge decreased from H to maybe 5mm after the N of the gauge. I still have a lot of pressure in the rad hoses though.
BUT :
If I start the car, and let it heat in my garden without driving : the thermostat opens and the gauge stays between C and N.
If I drive in town : the temperature stays a little below the N, fluctuating sometimes.
If I go up a hill, or drive at 60mph on a flat road : the temperature gauge start to creep up. In winter too... If I go down a hill, the gauge decreases towards 1/3 of the gauge.
The timing is set to 10° at 1500rpm, the carb is tuned and besides all of that the car runs great.
Calling specialists here
Thanks in advance.
edit : MS, sorry for the language. I didn't even know how to politely say the word that you deleted...
Edited by corsicanwood, 09 April 2019 - 12:01 PM.
I know yr new here, but please mind the bad language - thank you