at 72;000 miles my thermostat housing cracked and leaked coolant all over. took it to a repair shop, they said they could fix for, lets see $422 .turns out they did one the day before this mini only had 22,000 mls on it. starting to hear a lot story's about the same thing. how many of us out there ?? maybe there should be a recall.

 

Replaced mine @ around 25k.

 

I just bought a thermostat, I'm over 100k. I hope the problem isn't the housing as well...

 

Replaced mine at 62k... For a LOT less than 400 bones... Holy cow that's expensive for a part that costs less than 50 bucks.

 

this is a 2nd gen issue, housing cost over $130 for plastic. bull*&^%*$$$

 

Replaced at 60k, bought the part from parts.com for roughly $100 shipped, did my own labor and had bmw coolant already (otherwise $25 for a gallon from bmw). Labor took about 2.5 hours if taking your time, second time would be much faster knowing the little tricks to getting different hoses on and off. The one behind/under the intake manifold is a bit of a bish, otherwise its all pretty easy. Drain coolant from bottom radiator hose, refill from expansion tank and use the bleeder valve from the top of the housing after you've replaced everything.

Theres many threads on this. I wouldn't pay 500 to get it done.... if you're not mechanically knowledgable at all, then take it to an indy and get it done for half the price.

 

Just did mine the other day at around 54k on the odometer.

Now to figure out where the vacuum leak is that I created doing it lol.

 

You cant buy a "thermostat" as it is part of the physical housing and can not be removed sperately. But you can by a "themostat housing" for 100-120 or a "temperature sensor" for about 40-50.

 

The things you can learn about MINIs.

Indeed, years of small-block Chevy thermostats at $7, easily accessed on the top of the intake manifold, two bolts and a $.25 gasket and you're done, jaded my thinking. You barely needed to drain coolant, just enough to get below the top hose outlet on the radiator.

Different animal on these, all one unit, junction of *many* hoses. Complicated. Rube Goldberg-esque, although Klaus, Hans, or whomever designed the thing could prolly explain why it's a functional marvel. :-)

I'll admit to being bemused by all the thermostat-issue posts when I first started reading; how hard is it to make a thermostat? Now having seen a couple...not a simple device.

 

I am a complete car/mechanic noob. But I just took my 2007 MCS into the dealers for the auxiliary water pump and they also did a free inspection (courtesy of a coupon ) and found that I need to have the thermostat housing replaced as well as all the coolant hoses.

Now are the items that need to be replaced a result of this faulty water pump? If so, shouldn't that be taken care of as part of the recall? :/

 

maybe, they probably won't see it that way.

 

No, the Aux Water Pump recall is completely separate. Your thermostat housing and radiator coolant hoses have nothing to do with the Aux Water Pump.

 

+1 So many people do not understand what it happening with the recall.

The recall is for a SMALL water pump that run after the engine is shut down to cool the turbo. Absolutely nothing to do with the Main Engine Water Pump or thermostat. The electronics on the motor can over heat or short out and cause a fire.

As for the radiator hose. Some people have sagging hoses right over the transmission that can be worn down by the shifting mechanisms that are right underneath them.

 

Had my housing (leaking) and thermostat (stuck in open position) replaces at ~40k miles. Was needing to drive ~400 miles the next day so I kicked-down the $625 to have MINI do it!

 

I had to have mine replaced at 11k. I hope this is not the start of things to come!!

 

Had mine done for the third time, this time by an independent who used the 'right' kind of gasket so that should be the end of it. First two were under warranty with OEM stuff, what does that tell ya?

 

Replaced mine with about 800 miles on the car

 

My Justa has had thermostat housing (p/n 11-53-7-588-876) at 4,022KM and now at 24,347KM. The problem was that the engine cooling fan would always run once the car was started and would stay on after the car was shutoff even if I just ran the car for a minute to move it on my driveway. Both times it was the same issue.

 

My buddy is a parts manager at a mini dealer. When I went to buy a thermostat for my R53, he wanted to give me a housing too. He said "we always replace the housing at the same time."

This makes me think that there is enough of an issue that anyone with an original, should replace theirs too.

 

I replaced mine last week at 80k miles (2008 MCS). Dealer wanted $650. I did it myself for $150 which included the new thermostat housing and a jug of MINI coolant. I got a check engine light the next morning. $119 diagnostic fee later, turns out I swapped two sensor plugs. Check Engine light came on a few days later and has stayed on since. It's at the dealer again today for another $119 diagnostic fee... Starting to wish I'd just payed the $650 from the start, however the codes are saying I'm getting multiple misfires so I think it's unrelated to the thermostat repair.

For anyone considering doing it yourself, make sure you pay attention to which plugs go where, as even though they are color coordinated, they don't seem to attach that way (according to the mechanic).

The service adviser said they see 2-3 thermostat replacements every week - yes, it's extremely common...

 

52,000 miles, 2009, no issues

 

70K miles and replaced mine.

 

there are Chevy's & fords from the 60's & 70's that still have the original housings

 

I bought my mini last June with a little over 55k with an extended warranty. I parked it in the garage over the winter and only put 4400 miles on it since June. It started leaking coolant took it back to the dealership where I purchased it and they said it was a cracked thermostat housing which is not covered under the extended warranty. I decided to check out the net for others experiencing the same problem. It's much better knowing others are experiencing the same issue. I agree it should be recalled. Thanks!

 

Around 77000 I took mine in for a non-related issue and the techs informed me the coolant level was quite low, and the cause was the cracked thermostat housing. Quoted me $450-ish for the replacement job. I politely said thanks for the information and ordered the part and did the job myself in about 2 hours (nice leisurely Saturday).

Flushing, filling and burping the coolant system was much easier than I had imagined! Having the BMW/MINI Service Manual for R56 really helped a lot too.