4 replies to this topic

[tonysilver]

My wife has one of the last Mini Cooper S Works from John Coopers garage in Worthing.

We found brown sludge in the expansion tank, however the car is no over heating and there is no milky residue in the oil filler cap, We've been told that it could be a blown head gasget, however as there's no over heating etc.. I'm not so sure.

Has anyone else had this problem, and what's the best to do? Do we just need to flush the system?

[nicklouse]

I would flush and clean out the system and refill with new anti freeze mix.

 

i would also do a compression test.

[slidehammer]

The sniffer tests are also fairly cheap and check if you have combustion gasses in the coolant, that might be worth doing as well prior to any major tear down on the car. I would think between the sniffer test and the compression test Nick suggests that should tell you if you have any head gasket issues. I know that on mine which is prior to having an expansion tank even with the correct anti freeze it still goes brown over time. I blame the cast iron block and head.

[Ethel]

The engine being cast iron is the only thing it's a clear symptom of. Anti freeze (& corrosion inhibitor) doesn't last forever, that might be all it's a symptom of if it hasn't been changed in 4 or 5 years. The heater valve hasn't been turned off all summer has it? That could explain something.

[Deeppockets]

I have taken to using Prestone coolant in my MPI since I replaced the standard coolant after a couple of years (from a complete flush and clean) and found corrosion starting to build.

Seems to be working well at the moment, keeping it under observation.