So I was home for the holidays and my brother noticed some fluid accumulating under my mini. It seems to be coolant, but between the two of us, we couldn't locate the source. I'll be taking it into the dealer as soon as I can to address that problem (and for brake pads. 24000 miles and the brake wear indicator has been on the last few days), but in the meantime, I noticed something that troubled me. When I had it up on stands, I reached over to the driver's side front wheel and caused it to spin. As it spun, the passenger side wheel spun in the opposite direction. Now to the best of my recollection from working on old Detroit iron as a teenager, LSD's are supposed to cause the wheels to spin the same direction. I may have had the transmission in gear. Would that cause the wheels to turn in opposite directions? Anyway, I don't want to jump to any conclusions but the observation did bother me. Any thoughts?

 

I think that the opposite spin is a normal thing.

Check the thermostat housing carefully... there seems to have been a rash of cracked theromstats lately on my local board. It leaks a clear / slightly blueish liquid that is slightly slippery and dries in a few days with white crystals around the outline of the spill. It's a fairly cheap repair and fully covered under warranty.

 

I don't think the opposite rotation should occur if your car is equipped with an LSD. As I recall the MINI uses a Torsen type differential and if the car's in gear, you won't be able to move the wheel (unless you apply enough force to turn the engine over). Out of gear both wheels will move in the same direction. I may be wrong about this, most of my knowledge on differentials comes from 4WD and if the MINI uses a Viscous differential if may behave differently.

 

thanks to both of you for your prompt replies. As I've read around this board for a while, I've found other mentioning that thermostat thing. Regardless of whether or not that's the source of my leak, the car is way too new to have such a problem and I expect that wherever the leak is, it should be under warranty.

As for the LSD, Deviant's opinion matches my own and my brother's. I'd like to see if anyone knows for sure if this behavior is normal. I would really hate to think that I paid $500 for a piece of hardware that was not installed. (I mean, I was angry that the floormats started unravelling after 6 weeks. I would be absolutely livid if I have been the victim of some sort of bait and switch and I would not hesitate to involve the full weight of the law on the matter)

In case anyone's wondering, my ride is a 2006 MCS that I pruchased new in Jan'06. It was strip-o except for LSD, chrome interior, and the anthracite headliner.

 

I'm pretty sure people on this board have said that if the wheels spin in opposite directions then you have LSD. I think it has to do with the kind of LSD they use.

 

My LSD equipped MINI also rotates in opposite directions with both front wheels off the ground. I have a friend with a LSD equipped MINI & hers is the same. I think it's normal for our diffs.

 

Dont count the thermostat housing out yet, my 05 MCS just went into the shop for a thermostat housing leak and only has 19k on it.

 

Oppisite on my '68 Super Bee w/ the Sure Grip

 

thanks, everyone, for the replies. It's good to hear that the wheel rotations thing is normal, and as I said, I really didn't want to jump to conclusions over it. As for the leak, I'm not too worried about where it is. The car is still well within warranty and should be covered to repair it.

 

On the topic, how can I obtain a part number for the factory limited slip differential for an 04 Cooper S? the guy at my local parts dept. didnt know what I was talking about and kept showing me the skematics of the ring gear.

 

There is no factory limited slip for the 02 - 04 Cooper S. It did not become available until Jan of 05. I guess if you want a slip aftermarket would be the way to go.

 

The Quaife LSD is the way to go (and as an added bonus, the wheels will spin the SAME direction ).
--Dan