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View Full Version : R56 MCS Coolant Temp Problem - Auto Electrician?


GERFIX
28th April 2015, 08:24 AM
Can anyone point me in the direction of a good Auto Electrician in the Lothians area?

My problems are as follows............

I was getting the overheating/reduced engine power problem in heavy prolonged traffic/warmer weather which I had solved with a new thermostat until it happened again recently.

I have never heard my fan running in anger until recently.

My spotlamps have just stopped working - this is relevant:rolleyes:

So, everything was going fine till Sunday when I decided to have a look for a problem with the spotlamps (told you it was relevant). They are genuine Mini kit with a loom and all which goes in through the bulkhead, just not fitted at the factory. There are no obvious faults but I can't for the life of me find a fuse for them.....I ended up removing a few fuses one by one to check for blows but nothing.

So after that I changed my oil and filter and took the car for a short run to check everything was OK. It was so I washed the car. Gave it another run and when I switched off the fan was running. Strange I thought as that has never happened since I bought the car. I wondered if maybe the fan fuse had been badly connected and I had restored the connection earlier. It ran for a few minutes and then stopped which I presume would be normal operation.

A little later we went for a short run and noticed there was very little warm air blowing so I connected my phone app and found the coolant wasn't going above 40-odd degrees. And that's where I'm at just now - no temperature inside the car, plenty of water in the reservoir, no leaks, blah, blah. I tried the bleed screw on the thermostat housing but nothing comes out when I loosen it.

The reason I ask about and Auto Electrician is I'm reluctant to take the car to a "specialist" for them to plug it in and say there's nothing logged in ECU so no problems.

Any advice would be much appreciated though...............please:sad:
MINI William
28th April 2015, 09:16 AM
I dont know of any Auto electricians in East Lothian but its worth giving our site sponsor B&M a call and to see if he can advise you. He hasent yet got a profile but his contact details are in his thread. Also would I have seen you last night at Duddingston?
GERFIX
28th April 2015, 10:21 AM
Thanks William. You would indeed have seen me there - I think Mrs G spotted you if you were in the GP......if not it was someone else:blush:

What do B&M do and whereabouts are they? Can't find anything on Google.
MINI William
28th April 2015, 10:52 AM
Thanks William. You would indeed have seen me there - I think Mrs G spotted you if you were in the GP......if not it was someone else:blush:

What do B&M do and whereabouts are they? Can't find anything on Google.

I wasn't in the GP yesterday, I was in a red WagonR, there was 1 car seperating us. Car was looking good

Contact details for Douglas at B&M
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u122/miniwilliam/2bd33cccbfec6a1ade75a8de8ad036de_zps89715f2e.jpg (http://s167.photobucket.com/user/miniwilliam/media/2bd33cccbfec6a1ade75a8de8ad036de_zps89715f2e.jpg.h tml)
GERFIX
28th April 2015, 11:31 AM
Ah, right. You might have seen the GP that the wife saw going the opposite way then. Maybe Milton Road somewhere actually.
Thanks for the info.
MINI William
28th April 2015, 11:46 AM
Ah, right. You might have seen the GP that the wife saw going the opposite way then. Maybe Milton Road somewhere actually.
Thanks for the info.

No problems. Never seen it. Only ever seen one other GP on the roads and it was a German car
Eddie_JCW
28th April 2015, 12:26 PM
If there's nothing coming out the bleed screw that's where I'd start, surely you should be getting coolant coming out, I could be wrong. Sounds like there may be an air lock.
GERFIX
28th April 2015, 01:28 PM
If there's nothing coming out the bleed screw that's where I'd start, surely you should be getting coolant coming out, I could be wrong. Sounds like there may be an air lock.

I did think that strange right enough. I might try doing a vacuum fill of the coolant at the weekend to see if that works. I'd have done that originally but the "normal" filling method seemed to work fine quantity-wise.

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone any thoughts on where I can find the fuse for the spotlamps? I assume it's in the drivers-side fuse panel but I don't know where.
Eddie_JCW
28th April 2015, 02:35 PM
Under the bonnet near the suspension turret on the passenger side according to the wiring diagram
GERFIX
28th April 2015, 03:33 PM
Under the bonnet near the suspension turret on the passenger side according to the wiring diagram

I know the box you mean but the loom carries on past this and through the bulkhead behind it.:confused:
Eddie_JCW
28th April 2015, 03:34 PM
In fact scrap that it's in the driver's side footwell
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/5cooby/014639E4-B863-4138-8B32-8E2B377F74B8.png (http://s17.photobucket.com/user/5cooby/media/014639E4-B863-4138-8B32-8E2B377F74B8.png.html) down next to the accelerator pedal by the looks of it
Eddie_JCW
28th April 2015, 03:35 PM
Item A3 is the fuse
GERFIX
28th April 2015, 06:11 PM
Nice one, cheers mate.
badwolf340
28th April 2015, 07:18 PM
If there's nothing coming out the bleed screw that's where I'd start, surely you should be getting coolant coming out, I could be wrong. Sounds like there may be an air lock.
If you unscrew bleed screw ....water should come out
EcosseGP
28th April 2015, 07:24 PM
^^^ yeah I'd agree Brian if it doesn't there's definitely an issue ... I know the R53s are hard to bleed and it can take ages to get it right. Last time I did it I just rang the hose pipe into the system and kept filling it until such times that the water had forced any air out of the system.


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GERFIX
29th April 2015, 08:20 AM
Good news - sort of. Car got up to temperature nicely this morning! Looks like it is an airlock and I think I know why. When I was accessing the oil filter, I moved the expansion tank out of the way and disconnected the return pipe which lost a little water in the process (don't know why this didn't occur to me before now!!) so I presume this is where the lock has come from as it was fine before. I'm going to do a vacuum fill at the weekend just to make sure it's properly filled.

So now I just need to fined out why my fan isn't coming on and investigate my spotlamp fuse.

Thanks again for your help chaps.:thumbs up:

If anyone has any ideas on the fan, let me know:smilewinkgrin:
Eddie_JCW
29th April 2015, 10:48 AM
It's an insanely high temp the fan kicks in at, I'm sure it's over 100 degrees C which the R56 rarely reaches unless it's a warm day, sat idling for ages or it's been a hard drive ;) it's rare I hear my fan running and I can't resist using all my power all the time :p
GERFIX
29th April 2015, 11:24 AM
It's an insanely high temp the fan kicks in at, I'm sure it's over 100 degrees C which the R56 rarely reaches unless it's a warm day, sat idling for ages or it's been a hard drive ;) it's rare I hear my fan running and I can't resist using all my power all the time :p

In heavy town traffic I regularly reach over 100 C and all I ever get is the reduced power message at which point I pull over, switch off and start again. I've never heard the fan until the other day and now nothing again.