1st Gen R53 Cooper S Need assistance

One of my buddies in my unit has an '03 MCS and he's experiencing some overheating issues. He drove on it a bit with the gauge pegged and had steam. Beyond the obvious, what are things I should look for as I try to dig into this thing?

 

I told him that as well. That's my worry, that he warped the head or bent valves or blew a head gasket. He says he doesn't know how long it was like that and he didn't notice the issue until he was surrounded in steam. He also said he poured coolant in and it came right back out the bottom. So maybe a hose busted (we are drilling so I haven't looked into it yet). But now I worry he really hurt it. Dang young kids....

 

Hmmm...would that also cause the overheating?

 

Thanks all for the help. It's beyond my scope given its location (the armory) and my available tools and such. He's going to have it towed/diagnosed. With any luck, he didn't crack his block or blow the head.

 

Stayed an extra day and got him up and running. Took off the intercooler, radiator, intake piping, etc all in the name of finding the source of the problem. Turns out it was about a 6" long piece of coolant hose that split right down the middle. Luckily it seems his car is running fine and he did no major damage to the engine. Thanks again for the help!

 

Thank you, but I know any of you here would have done the same for me. The enthusiasm from all of you here for the automobile is exciting. I will admit though that he got a bit of a tongue lashing from me about maintenance and taking care of his things because his car is in strong need of serious maintenance lol.

 

Lol I'm finding that out very quickly. I do feel bad for his R53 though. There's some serious neglect going on there.

 

Lol...I haven't yet decided if I'm going to get one or not. Still working on some things. But whether I do or do not end up with a Mini of my own, you guys are stuck with me lol.

 

I agree. Perhaps one day I will.