37 replies to this topic

[adcyork]

hey, i'm now the proud owner of a 1990 mini studio 2 with a 998 engine which is my first car (i'm only 16). It really looks the part but there are a few major problems with it which are:

Driving it home from buying which was about 30 miles i couldn't get it into 3rd. Every time i tried to change from 2nd to 3rd it just revved very highly and slowed down, its seemed just like it was not hitting third and instead just going down into 1st again. why would it be doing that?

During the drive home there were little whisps of smoke coming out of the fan blower below the windsreen which was worrying to say the least. has anyone any idea why that would be?

When i finally got it home i thought i'd pop the bonnet n have a look to see if i could see the source of the smoke. On opening the bonnet all i could see was an oily mess! There was oil everywhere. It was all on the underside of the bonnet as if it had jetted up under great pressure. There is nowhere obvious that it has come from but it really has poured out from where it has bin coming from.
Has anyone any idea on this one?

Any help that anyone could could give me on these would be great.

Thanks in advance

Edited by adcyork, 17 October 2006 - 09:33 PM.

[fikus01]

hi, glad to hear you're so keen, we've all been where you are now, its great isnt it !!

ok, firstly driving ur own car at 16!! is that legal !!

when you were trying for 3rd gear were u definately going for 3rd!! minis dont as standard have a spring to make sure it goes over to the middle, u hve to make a concious effort to slide it across urself!!

if u were then i suspect your clutch hydraulic system will need bleeding or even the cylinders replacing!! make sure it will select all the gears when stationary with the engine running without any crunching!! if not investigate clutch cylinders

what does the clutch pedal feel like?? soft light and squidgy?? or progressive with a definate bite point??

the whisps of smoke that were coming out from the fan!! did they smell of burning or tcp?? it could just be a bit of steam coming from a leaky heater rad!! look under the heater for signs of water in it!!

the oily mess under the bonnet of a mini could be a sign of a worn engine but on the plus side could also mean the previous owner wasnt very good at getting the oil in the hole without spilling it everywhere!! try cleaning it off with some gunk (avoiding the electrics and the distributor at the front as much as u can) then check it after each drive and it mite give u clues as to where its coming from!!

nick

Edited by fikus01, 17 October 2006 - 10:27 PM.

[adcyork]

yeap sure is gonna be great when i'm driving it. i haven't driven it yet, my dad drove it back home so all legal and good

I'll check the clutch and gear lever tomorrow and let you know how it feels as i've no really had a good play about with it yet.

The whisps of smoke smelt of burning yes which after seeing the oil makes me think that it was coming from that maybe??? I'll have a look in the blower n see what i can see.

The engine was in a very clean good condition under the bonnet before we set off with no oil patches at all so all the oil i saw on the engine was from when we were driving it home. Yet again i'll have a look tomorrow. I'm going to clean it all up then top the oil up and run it for a while n see if i can see any signs of a location of the leak.

Thanks for the help so far, thats great

[Silicon Skum]

If the oil has been blow out of the engine, I would also susspect that the previous owner might have over filled the engine with oil, as the engine get up to temp this oil is pressurised and if there is too much oil the pressure will be to high and will escape by any means. So check the oil level BEFORE you top it up.

Check the crancase breather pipes are still connected correctly and that the oil filler cap is still in place and intact.

Welcome to the joys of mini ownership.

SS

[Retro_10s]

when you day the engine looked real good, did it look clean?

a clean engine in my book (unles it's brand new) is a guilty sellers engine!

[fikus01]

just a thought could be a broken/leaky rocker box gasket!!

[adcyork]

Today i was having a play with the mini and trying to source the origin of the faults.

In answer to questions asked by people:

The engine was not overfilled before i bought it as the first thing i did upon lifting the bonnet when i went to see it was to check the oil level, and it was halfway between min and max.

I checked the oil level today and it was below min so i topped it up to max today and started it up and took it round the block a few times and there was no leak of oil to be seen at all, not even a drop.

The gears didn't crunch at all when changing gear when stationary with the engine running so i'm assuming that rules the clutch out as being the problem.

The gear lever wasn't just not moving propperly but it also was turning too. The lever will spin a full 360degrees with nothing really stopping it. So i had the lever out and had a look and this is what i saw:



There is a notch where there should material to stop the lever turning by the pin fitting into the slot.

i'm thinkin its time for a new gear lever then? where from and how much?



in reply to fikus01: i was looking at the rocker gasket and there was no sign of that being the source but i'm going to change the gasket asap to be sure anyway.

Edited by adcyork, 18 October 2006 - 06:50 PM.

[AlexM]

If the engine was covered in oil, it could have been oil was burning off from the exhaust manifold. Or it could be the exhaust was blowing.

[adcyork]

yea i thought that might have been where it was comin from if it was smoke but it would seem it was actually steam as when i started the car and had the blowers on the window was covered in condensation on the patches above each blower so i think it was just water that was in the pipes that was evaporating.

really need some advice on that gear lever as it is practically unusable as it currently stands and the car needs to be moved on sunday preferably

[fikus01]

kad quickshift isnt too expensive!! not sure about std ones!! mini at the scrappers!! just bear in mind the actual rod change box mite have a worn pin rather than the lever being worn!! or BOTH!!


EDIT: sorry look on www.minispares.com or www.minisport.com!! minispares first tho, i rate they're delivery!! minisports has let me down a few times!!

Edited by fikus01, 18 October 2006 - 08:02 PM.

[adcyork]

do you know of any scrappers that might have one? and how do i go about checkin wether the pin has worn in the selector box?

[Feeble]

Where do you live? I know local scrap yards with Mini's...

[fikus01]

just look down!! by selector box i mean the place the lever that u pictured came from!! shud be a nice square edged pin!!

[taffy1967]

As far as the oil is concerned, i'd check the rocker cover gasket for starters and then perhaps the drive shafts?

[adcyork]

Where do you live? I know local scrap yards with Mini's...

I'm in york, any near by?

just look down!! by selector box i mean the place the lever that u pictured came from!! shud be a nice square edged pin!!

oh ok well i'll have a look tomorrow n let you know.