Used car problem.... Should I be worried?

Ultrasonic

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

Many modern cars no longer have a temp gauge.

That's just dumb :wall:

Putting aside spotting major faults, surely even in modern cars it's best to take it easy before the engine is warmed up? When I come to sell my car I must remember to advertise the advanced feature of it having an engine temperature gauge!

thegirlintheattic

Ultrasonic wrote: »

That's just dumb :wall:

Putting aside spotting major faults, surely even in modern cars it's best to take it easy before the engine is warmed up? When I come to sell my car I must remember to advertise the advanced feature of it having an engine temperature gauge!

List of cars I've seen without:
Smarts
Fiestas and KA
Mazada 5
Polo

You shouldn't thrash the engine at all in most cars/situations, so no need for it to see when to take it easy, plus modern cars often have a major fault or stop message should the car start to overheat.

LandyAndy

My Mazda2 doesn't have a temp gauge. There is a blue light which goes out when the engine reaches operating temperature and a red light that would come on if it overheated.

KTF

Call the garage and speak to them again.

In the interim are you monitoring the coolant level?

Next time you see 'smoke' (steam) coming out from the bonnet, stop straight away to avoid further damage. Although it doesn't have a temp gauge, there should be a warning light to warn of an over-temp.

Jamie1981

Your Mini should, as my BMW does have the temperature reading digitally.

Look in your handbook and it should tell you how to access it.

Does Mini not have a dipstick like the BMW's for checking oil? That is also read digitally.

My bet is that the head has warped and that is where you can hear the hissing coming from as although it has a new gasket, it's not sealed correctly due to the warp. This is why you are losing coolant still. As it is a big expensive job, Mini would have changed the gasket first to see if that cures it rather than potentially ( In their eye's) paying out for the most expensive repair straight away when maybe it wont be needed.

If you like the car, go back and tell them you feel the head is warped as it is still losing coolant after the previous fixes and you would like it replaced. See where you go from there.

Joe_Horner

Jamie1981 wrote: »

As it is a big expensive job, Mini would have changed the gasket first to see if that cures it rather than potentially ( In their eye's) paying out for the most expensive repair straight away when maybe it wont be needed.

Except that most of the cost is the time involved in removal and refitting of the head. Measuring and skimming is a very small part of the total. On the other hand, it usually takes longer with a skim (not many dealers have their own machine shop mowadays) so if it measured as borderline they may have tried a gasket to turn it round quicker.

bigjl

Couldn't you buy a cheap OBD reader from eBay and one of the Android of iPhone Apps and then you could see what the coolant temperature was in real time.

Never driven a new Mini much, and never for more than a half mile or so when I did, I didn't even look for a temp gauge, does seem like a serious ommision, though some other small cars don't have one either.

Certainly seems like the garage are not really on the ball with this.

Their mistakes could possibly have made this issue worse.

If it has an alloy block it is likely that the engine is cooked and is fit for scrap. Once had that on a customers AX GT that he had overheated badly.

HG was done twice along with two skims of the head before the owner admitted that he had driven it with no water till it stopped.

We fitted a used engine in the end.

I don't know if the Mini block is alloy though.

This is another example of a low mileage car that has been used on mostly short journeys going pop when it is taken on a nice long run.

If you only do one mile here and one mile there you could have had an overheating problem since the car was bought, perhaps even the more common than you think, failed water pump impeller.

I drove a diesel Focus with a failed water pump, drove it till the temp shot up then pulled over to let it cool and repeated till I got were I wanted to get to.

The things we do when we are a bit younger with less mechanical sympathy.

But that little tddi engine would sit on Tickover for an hour an not overheat!

Drive it for more than ten or fifteen minutes was a different story.

In the end it blew a core plug, replaced that, cambelt and water pump and off she went.

freddiecider

Hmmm....all food for thought.

To be honest, when the steam came from the engine I did stop as soon as I could. However I was on a four lane motorway with no hard shoulder in nose to nose traffic with three children in the car!! Nightmare!! The steam appeared then the coolant light several minutes later. My personal thought is that surely the warning light 'should' come on earlier.


Also, could this fault have been present when I first bought this car mid feb. as I only normally drive a few miles each day ( apart from the dreaded overheating day) effectively I had not tested the car in busy traffic circumstances.




Anyway...my main concern is how to remedy this situation. To be honest, I trusted the garage that it was the radiator only at first. So I have then driven for a week or so in between before they fixed the head gasket . As you say, this in itself could have caused a problem.


I got the car back fri ( after fixed head gasket) and have been monitoring sounds initially. I then tried to investigate where te sounds are coming from when I identified the low coolant. But I have driven very few miles since Friday anyway, so either they didn't fill it up r it is definitely losing it.


I suppose I will have to call yet again tomorrow


All in all this is highly annoying, time consuming and a real hassle I could do without.


Yes, I DID like the car but now I don't like the hassle!!

freddiecider

There was still water in it when I originally stopped. The car didn't stop on its own or nothing like that.

Steam appeared, coolant light a few minutes later so then I stopped and car was towed away.

worried_jim

freddiecider wrote: »

The steam appeared then the coolant light several minutes later. My personal thought is that surely the warning light 'should' come on earlier.

A small stone will have struck the radiator and made a small hole, at this point your engine temp will be fine. As coolant starts to escape as steam the engine starts to overheat, this is why you wouldn't have seen the warning light go on straight away, in a car with a temp gauge the driver would have seen the temp starting to climb and would be able to make the decision to pull over before any damage is done.

Good luck getting it sorted- keep us informed of the progress and if you do get a new car- get one with a temp gauge!