OVERHEATED!!! :( what do i do? (first turbo)
Turbo Mini Forums

think this is the right place to post this?

hi all, ive just got a new mini last night (had to drive it back from hertfordshire to london) -kind of.

will get some pics up soon.

umm basically it was driving fine on the way back for a while, then it just started losing power.. took my foot of the pedal and changed down then the power came back :S. i pulled up on the hard shoulder, left it for a few minutes then set off again... then after about 5 mins i heard a noise coming from the engine. i pulled up again, took the bonnet off and coolant was spraying out the expansion tank and i could feel the coolant boiling in the radiator top hose.

obviously it couldnt be driven any more so i had it towed back to my house.

on starting it again, i can hear a knocking noise coming from the engine (sound like somethings blowing through) and the car wont idle. the noise knocks get faster with the speed of the engine if that helps.

can anyone help me? ive never had a turbo mini before lol and i think i'm going into depression lol.

p.s thanks for your time in advance

do a compression test on it, sounds like the head gasket to me.

ok thanks, will do that then see if it works lol

if you put down your location in that info bit under your name, you may find a local person can have a quick look for you.

hopefully blown head gasket and a new thermostat needed

as budd says compression test and take it from there.... a guess would be the above i have mentioned
look for split hoses bust rad etc........

hope its nothing deeper for you .....chin up and one thing at a time

what thermostat will i need? going to pull the head off tommorow and possibly make a run up to moss.

Hi,
Bog standard stat should do you fine :)
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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i'd got with a 74 degree stat, or an 82 seeing as its still a bit nippy.

i would personally go with a 74 deg for max power as long as you change the oil and filter regular

i used unleaded petrol in it without thinking... im not sure what it actually takes though..

could this of had anything to do with it?

and what will happen if it turns out to be leaded?

sounds like headgasket but knocking from the engine sounds like it could be bigends, what oil pressure have you got

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

Might just 'pinking' abit, especially if suspected head gasket gone & running unleaded.

Do a quick compression test mate to find any obvious problem there. Hopefully you'll get away with it being just a headgasket as that oviously not as bad as big ends!!

Do a quick service oft the car like oil and filter change and the thermostat like others have mentioned as you've just got it, shame somethings gone wrong with it already, hope you get it sorted mate!

Get some pics up in show us yours too :)

Rich

got the front off today... found that the bottom radiator hose had split :(

and also the air filter was filthy.. could this of been starving it of air causing the power loss?

check compression then a good service if all is well like everyone has said above

ok will do when i get the chance... i cant seem to get any pics up??? ive got a few up on tmf though

a mates mini made a loud knocking when the head gasket had gone between cylinders

hi, done a compression test today.. its reading 140 psi on 2 3 and 4

but on doing number one you could hear the gasket blowing out the side and also you could clearly see where it had split

hopefully this means the head wont be warped :)

im in the middle of taking the head off, but i cant seem to move the exhaust manifold away from the head?? do i need to take it out completely?

I know on a metro you can get the head of by just pushing the maifold back, but on a mini i'd expect you'd have to take the turbo/ exhaust manifold off.

i would guess that if it has got hot its started to det and killed the gasket, its worth posting some pics of the gasket when you get it off.

i cant seem to get any pics up on here... but i have all of them so far on tmf.. heres the address

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/index...showtopic=72660

Can't see the pics as I'm not a member on there. Try uploading pics to photobucket.com or something then they can be embedded in the thread.

Wow, thats gone quite bad hasnt it. Was there any signs of damge on the head?

Edited by Jordan on 17th Feb, 2008.

Back once again like a renegade master

not as far as i can see... how can you tell if the head is unleaded or not?

oh and does anybody know what pistons i have? there stamped 20831 on the top

thanks

Whether you run unleaded or not will not have caused this problem.

I have had this happen before and after much head scratching I found the problem. The tell-tale sign is on the other side of the firering by the water hole.

You can see that the teflon (is it teflon, black bit anyway is damaged by blow by from the firering. This, I have learned is caused by the head not being sufficiently torqued down. It can lead to the failure you have encountered.

No other damage is apparent, so new gasket and propper torque on the nuts should cure it.

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