2005 MINI Cooper R53 coolant loss.

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History: In laws bought this new because it was cute and fit the needs of the MIL for a city runabout. In 2013 my wife and I bought it because it was too small to carry around the MIL’s friends. It had less than 7500 miles in those 8 years. I changed all fluids including coolant soon after purchase. It was my DD for a couple years and I loved it.

Wife and I divorced and she wanted the MINI. I have been maintaining it since we still get along(better than ever?) with oil changes, air & cabin air etc. the PS system failed (common) so she had the dealer replace the electric PS pump.

I just changed the oil Sunday and checked the other fluids. The coolant reservoir had just a trace of coolant in it and it’s never dropped over it’s now 70k mile life.

I’m worried.

A little research shoes the coolant can leak from the water pump/supercharger area which may be enough to convince her to get rid of it. I’ve been telling her this isn’t a 100k mile car and she should think about trading it. KBB values show this car to be basically worthless. There are a few VW GTI’s leftover from 2017 that have $7k discounts.

Is it time to let it go? She loves it for the size and zippyness. Her family is even pushing her to a new car!
 
Get rid of it over a coolant leak? Of course not, it could be anything from what you read about to a simple hose connection, heater core, radiator tank, HG etc.
Test the system with dye and pressure and fix the leak, its not like its a big complicated V engine stuffed in there.
 
As cold as it was this winter it probably just had a little leaking from a cold hose. Look around for the dried coolant. Fill up the coolant and keep an eye on it.
 
Originally Posted By: LotI
Wife and I divorced ......... we still get along(better than ever?)


Same here...................... Why is that?

Actually, my ex-wife is pretty self-centered.
She said she really liked me as a person... she just couldn't live life with me.
 
It really depends on the engine. 05 is a cutoff year from the "good" ones to the "terrible" ones. If its the early engine with spark plug wires, its more worth keeping for something like a pump or radiator. If its the later one with the N12 engine and coil on plug, Id probably dump it, theyre known for their timing issues. Im pretty sure its an early one though, so youre in good shape.
 
Likely it's the thermostat housing, I had an R56 that let go around 88k. It was very slow at first, but it got bad to the point in the last couple days I had to keep coolant with me. I believe the problem was there with the R53s as well.
 
Had a Mini come into a shop i worked at, it had a replacement water pump, radiator, thermostat, before it came to us with a mystery water loss all the above failed to fix.

We replaced the radiator cap. No more water loss.

Claud.
 
Yep sometimes its something that simple, that's a case where proper diagnosis the first time around would have saved a lot of money.

Pressure testing would probably not have found it though as the offending part would have been removed to use the tester, a cap tester would have been also needed.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Yep sometimes its something that simple, that's a case where proper diagnosis the first time around would have saved a lot of money.

Pressure testing would probably not have found it though as the offending part would have been removed to use the tester, a cap tester would have been also needed.


Quite so. We pressurised the system, then tested the cap. The cap was bad, but trying by hand it seemed ok. Apparently caps were a known weakness on UK Mini's.

Claud.
 
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