5 replies to this topic

[itscomealongway]

Evening folks,my first post and i need some help, never owned a mini before. i bought a mini in london at the weekend and drove it home to just outside glasgow. All was well for about 100 miles then it seemed as if the clutch was slipping, it would roar without accelerating in fourth. shortly after this if you lifted off the gas the mini would start to shake violently and the only thing to remedy it was to dip the clutch, then the car would cut out. It would restart but meant you had to drive as fast as possible in any given gear. After getting it home i replaced all the leads, plugs, dizzie cap rotor arm etc and it looks like a nearly new coil. Alas it still runs like a bag of spanners and a friend said it was running on only 3 cylinders, what are the possible causes, help me please as i really enjoyed driving it home despite the problems and cannot wait to go for a drive again. HELP, HELP,HELP

[Retro_10s]

How does your friend know it's running on 3 cylinders?...
What colour are the spark plugs, and did you check each plug for a spark?

Sounds like it could be head gasket failure....

[itscomealongway]

How does your friend know it's running on 3 cylinders?...
What colour are the spark plugs, and did you check each plug for a spark?

Sounds like it could be head gasket failure....

he has rebuilt capri and escort engines and said he could tell just by listening to it, so i took his word for it, the spark plugs are clean and they are all sparking, he also suggested head gasket but not knowing minis didn't know how expensive it would be to fix as i would need to take it to a garage if it was that serious. any ideas?

[mini_kel]

If he has rebuilt escort engines before then a head gasket will be an easy fix for him,

This doesn`t fix the clutch problem though!

[miRon]

1st things 1st,do a compressiion test that'l give you some idea,if its going to try and stall at high speed (4th)sounds like it could be running to lean...

[Bondbill2k2]

been searching for a head gasket fitting guide as mines gone and cant find any,thoguht would post in here save having another topic, seeing as this topic is relevant. Ive lost most compression between 1st and 2nd cylinder but 3 and 4 arnt bad.