I have just had a service done on my 04 MC and the car had apparently been leaking coolant off the engine up front just above the altenator. Classic MINI replace the necessary pipes, fittings and hoses. I also asked them to replace the serpentine belt as coolant had glazed the belt and it was noisy. Thank goodness my warranty is still in effect. I'm glad, yet still concerned.

Here's the thing, the MINI tech explaned to me all the work he performed when he returned the car to me, but he mentioned he had noticed white milky fluid in the coolant overflow bottle. He flushed it out and replace the whole system with fresh coolant. Why was there milky fluid in the system at all?! It can't be good, right? Any ideas from anyone? My warranty has only 1000 miles left as of TODAY! Thanks to all replies. Cheers and long live the R50.

 

Oil & antifreeze will make a brownish sludge. My suggestion is to keep a close eye on it. If it doesn't get better or in fact gets worse take it back to the dealer again. That is not normal.

 

VERY not normal. Somewhere in the system oil and coolant are mixing. I wouldn't wait to see something fail. Call your SA and get it looked at. The Great Santini says: "headgasket"......

 

Classic MINI techs have seen this milky fluid in a few MINIs following flushing the coolant system and have had no further issues. Classic DID have to replace the radiator due to a leak somewhere. Glad thing I noticed all this trouble before my warranty expired. I clocked 49000 as I was driving to Classic MINI yesterday! Now the next delima, do I buy an extended warranty good for up to 100,000 miles for $1750.00 withnin a month or risk it to the end of the lease and get an 08? I just don't know 'cause I really hate the new bigger front of the 07. Hhhhmmm, what to do. Long live the R50?

 

04 MC-midland tranny? I'd probably spring for the warranty...

 

I guess it depends on your comfort level. $2k is a bunch of work on your car if something does go wrong. Plus a lot of the stuff, like the clutch for example probably would be excluded forom the ext. warranty. So if this goes out you still will be paying big bucks to get it fixed, plus having spent the money on the warranty.... Personally I wouldn't get it....just my opinion though..

 

yet another heat exchanger biting the dust?

 

sorry ; it's not an "s" ?

 

if it's not brown in color it could be you don't drive it far enough and long enough to cook off the condensation in the oil pan .

 

Just curious, where did you get the $1750 pricing? Is that for MC or does it apply to the MCS as well?

 

I got the quote from Jarred, the sales mgr at Classic MINI in Mentor OH. They also quoted me $750 for coverage of another 10000 miles which will take me to the end of my lease, so I need to decide if I'm going to keep my R50 or lease an R56? Boy, I don't like the look of the R56 next to my R50. It just looks sooooo bloated and gainly. Oh well, this is my dilema. Cheers.

 

I have the same guess. Blown head gasket (possibly) mixes coolant and oil somewhere in all those water jackets.