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Hot Hot Hot - Steam - Doh :(


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#1 MiniSi

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Posted 30 May 2005 - 06:01 PM

Well first of all this all seemed to begin on Friday night on the way to minicooperman's TMF Kent Drive meet. I said to him when I arrived that the car was running very warm. As I left the meet around 9pm ish and headed to my girlfriends house I noticed the temperature creeping up, so did the usual, open window and heater on - and to my amazement it made NO difference... hmmmm...

Anyway I arrived in Newhaven around 11:20pm outside temp was quite low yet Meep was running very warm.

On Sunday we decided to go to Brighton. Giving the Brighton Mini Owners Club a good wave as they sat on Marina Drive having a meet we parked up in town - I noted the RED hot temp of Meep and thought aftet some breif shopping she'd be ok. We came back to her and she'd cooled right down, got half way home though and the temperature went mad.... we pulled into Texaco at peacehaven with steam billowing from the under bonnet. Not happy chappy... I popped the bonnet quickly to make sure it wasn't on fire.

Thankfully she wasn't, the engine however was steaming like the Flying Scotsman, as was the radiator and accomopanying parts! I removed the front splash guard thing and chucked it down on the ground to get some ventilation in, and with the bonnet left up - jumped back into to comfort the girlfriend and re-assure her it was going to be ok... needless to say after she'd stop steaming i carefully took the radiator cap off and filled it with EXACTLY 1.5 litres of water.

The temperature then dropped from MAX to medium and after a few minutes of settlinig i started her up and we drove home. I then drove home today and didn't see a water temp over medium.

What went wrong? I guess thermostat is buggered and its got a leak somewhere so going to get some rad-weld tomorrow but theres no sign of a leak - i'm thinking a broken or damaged hose.

Any advice or help appreciated. :cry:

MiniSi.

#2 Cir-clipalot

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Posted 30 May 2005 - 06:50 PM

if its a tiny leak then maybe only high-pressure steam rather than drips of water are leaking, which can make the leak hard to spot. Radweld will probably do the trick ifyou cant find the leak, lots of people have lots of different opinions on it but i like it!
While the carpet's out, check for signs of leaking from the interior heater matrix too!
Its not *necessarily* a thermostat problem as a leak alone could cause the symptoms you describe.

#3 MiniSi

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Posted 30 May 2005 - 06:54 PM

Ahhhhh well you know from our PM's on the state of my interior... I had noted a leak in the passenger footwell even though there was no sign of any holes.. maybe heter matrix is a place to look.... gives me something to do.

I'll get some rad-weld chucked in it tomorrow to see how that goes!

#4 Jammy

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Posted 31 May 2005 - 07:55 AM

You may also want to take the heater matrix out and give it a good flush, or use radflush before radweld. Its fairly common for the heater matrix to get all crudded up since this is the lowest point of the cooling system (this is what I've been told, but surely the bottom of the radiator is lower?!)

#5 MiniSi

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Posted 31 May 2005 - 07:55 AM

Checked her last night and no visible leaks - also nothing appears to be leaking inside the car. Just cocmpleted my 13mile drive to work, she warmed up nicely and temp needle sat just below medium - is this about right? Checked the radiator last night and its dropped a bit since I filled it. I guess this is as some of what I put in gets pumped around the system, no visible leaks all the same though.

#6 Jammy

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Posted 31 May 2005 - 09:17 AM

Hmmmm, I don't think it should have dropped, although you never know. Your probably will be, but I say it anyway, check the water level everyday! If there is no leaks then the main cause will possible be a blockage in the system, with either the heater matrix or the stat the likely culprits. I don't know what the Docs will think of this but may the pump is on its way out? Also, does your mini have an additional electric fan? I don't think it does, but I thought I'd ask?

#7 Dom

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Posted 31 May 2005 - 09:57 AM

From talking to favminigirl whose mini seems to run hot all the time, we established that the 998 doesnt have an extra fan compared to her 1275 cooper.

#8 miniman5

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Posted 31 May 2005 - 10:01 AM

well... first of all, is there any water in the rad? is there a thermostat in the car? has your sender gauge croaked it?

i would cheque the rad. the bypas or bottom hose might have gone.

then if there ok, whip the thermostat out and get some boiling water in a bowle and dangle the thermostat into the water on some string or something. thats if there one fitted. if there isnt i would highly recomend you get one in.

also if you can try one of you mates sender units then if its ok keep it!

:cry: well buy a new one. that should solve the problem. ile think of anothing thing that could ause in later though :cry:

#9 Jammy

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Posted 31 May 2005 - 10:18 AM

First off he's already said that he put 1.5 litres in the rad the other day and that it has gone down a little. Also he has said that he can't see any signs of a leak. The sender unit wouldn't cause it to boil over and if the guage is reading red and you stop and you find steam everywhere I would say the sender unit is working! Lastly, if there isn't a stat fitted, its not a huge deal to get one fitted, and it certainly wouldn't cure your problem. If there isn't one fitted, however, make sure there is a blanking sleeve fitted.

#10 Dan

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Posted 01 June 2005 - 08:36 AM

You were probably low on water. No Mini's until the introduction of the MPi had sealed cooling systems so they continually loose a little water and you must check every week to see if the level is right. You can't have lost 1.5 litres of water as steam and that's no way near a cooling system full so it hadn't all gone missing it was just low.

Oh and by the way, if you ever suspect you have an engine fire DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES OPEN THE BONNET. You open the bonnet, you let the oxygen in and you get horribly flash burned. Of course if the engine is boiling then opening the bonnet is quite the right thing to do, but you must determine if you have steam or smoke first. If it's a fire then get everyone out of the car very quickly. If you have time you can pop the bonnet on it's catch and spray an extinguisher in through the gap but the most important thing to do is call the fire brigade and get away from it. Cars burn very very fast indeed and produce lots of very dangerous chemicals when they do so.

#11 Guess-Works.com

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Posted 01 June 2005 - 08:47 AM

Get it pressure tested... that will show any leaks, I once had a ritz (998) and the water pump sprang a leak, and it was only until the system was pressurised you could see this very fine spring of water out of the top of the pump.. (like someone squirting a hyperdermic needle) regular checking and filling of the rad got me around until I had chance to change the pump...




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