1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Major cooling system issues R53

  1. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    #6 MCS02, Oct 19, 2014
    If your coolent and oil looks good then I don't think it's your head gasket. It may be a intermittent fan failure. My sons BMW had this happen it drove me up a wall. I would check it and it would work then a few weeks later it would over heat agine. I was told it was a new fan by the previous owner. Finally I check the fan motor and it was notchy.
     
  2. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    #8 MCS02, Oct 19, 2014
    Spin the fan if it is notchie replace it. I have seen bad motors that don't blow the fuse. If it stops at a bad spot it won't start turning. It sounds to me like a bad fan motor. Its cheep insurance, you have already bypassed the low speed resister. In my opinion that is just a way getting a little more use out of the fan.
     
  3. Tummi_Gummi

    Tummi_Gummi New Member

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    #4 Tummi_Gummi, Oct 19, 2014
    Installed the spectra industries radiator. Fit perfectly and had no issues with it. Car seems to be running good now. No leaks yet coolant temps are good. The csf radiator began gushing coolant out of what looks like about a 2 mm crack now. Glad I got that off. Also got the oem expansion tank on there and changed my oil. Oil looked great had all 5 qts still after 2 months.
     
  4. Tummi_Gummi

    Tummi_Gummi New Member

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    #2 Tummi_Gummi, Oct 12, 2014
  5. ZippyNH

    ZippyNH Well-Known Member

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    #3 ZippyNH, Oct 12, 2014
    The radiator can be fixed...
    Radiator repair shops will weld/braze them for about $40-50...
    They work on mostly classic cars and commercial trucks that still have all metal radiators that can still be fixed and re-cored.
    As for silicone hoses....
    Many brands are junk....more eye candy than useful...
    Modern edpm rubber hoses (stock) easily last 10+ years, and sometimes 200,000 miles...syenthic fibers in them don't rot, and the newer edpm hoses conduct electricity... Lengthing their life...older rubbers failed due to the cords rotting or the rubber degrating due to tiny electial voltages in the cooling system due to corrosion dammsging the rubber...
     
  6. Tummi_Gummi

    Tummi_Gummi New Member

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    #5 Tummi_Gummi, Oct 19, 2014
    If coolant no longer leaks out I'll give my car 1 more shot with high temperatures. If it runs uncontrollably high 230+ keeps going up at idle in traffic then I'll verify there's no air in my system and if that's true then assume my head gasket is blown or heads warped. I did tell you guys that the cars coolant got to 260F for about 20 seconds once when a plastic T fitting snapped right? May explain my blown radiator and oscillating boost
     
  7. Tummi_Gummi

    Tummi_Gummi New Member

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    #7 Tummi_Gummi, Oct 19, 2014
    I didn't have any fluid cross contamination. I have had to do the low speed bypass mod because the exposed resistor rusted through and stopped working. (Imagine that). I'll check the fuses and make sure it's not blown again.