Death of a Mini Cooper...

"Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost) 03/18/2019 at 01:51 • Filed to: None

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My middle daughter drives a 2010 Mini Cooper. She likes her car, and actually prefers driving its stick shift over her mom’s automatic SUV. She’s not interested in any performance driving, despite my encouragement and offering to pay autocross entry fees. It’s OK, it’s better she like a little car than have some irrational desire for a giant truck she won’t use. We are in Texas after all.

A couple of months ago she mentioned that her car was running hot and potentially overheating, but it cooled down after she added coolant. Of course I offered to take a look at it, all she had to do was bring it by. Most coolant issues can be solved with a couple of hours and a trip to the parts store. I never got that opportunity.

Two weeks ago she drove from Austin to Houston to see her mom and overheated the car 20 miles from Houston. The description I received is that it “made a rattling noise and just stopped”. When asked further it left an oil trail, but to be fair it was the middle of the night when it happened, and the folks telling me that are “less than reliable”, but more on that in a minute. The description was “an oil trail in the shape of the pan”.

They had it towed to my ex-wife’s house, and the ex began to take a look at it, determining that there was oil all over the engine bay and that the plugs were fouled with it. The youngest daughter’s boyfriend, who is the definition of “less than reliable” diagnosed a broken piston based on fairy dust and dreams, but the ex was unable to find any holes in the block or oil pan.

Today I met with the ex, the concerned Mini driver, and the youngest’s boyfriend and discussed the fate of this car. This is where I found out about the following...

The moron boy took the head apart, claiming that “it’s the only way to get a look at the pistons.” When he said that I stopped him and explained a few things about engines. He shut up and went to sit in the car instead of continuing with his line of idiocy. Now on top of what I suspect is a cracked thermostat housing or water pump we have a blown head gasket and a head that is completely in pieces. He still doesn’t think he did anything wrong.

This car only has 77,000 miles on it, and thanks to this idiot it’s now going to cost twice as much to put back together.

I told the ex to find a mechanic and get a professional opinion on this before doing anything else. This kid isn’t qualified to troubleshoot a bicycle, let alone an internal combustion engine. The end result of this may well be that this car lands in a scrapyard. It’s a shame.

Poor lil Mini...

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 02:08

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S hop labor r ates :

$150/hr

$175/hr if you watch

$200/hr if you help

$300/hr if you tried first and couldn’t do it

I know it goes without saying, but that kid is a dumbass. Bless his heart for being in the right place...?...I guess...?

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 02:12

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A BMW built in England, what could go wrong?!

bob and john > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 02:14

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people are a special kind of stupid. 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 02:16

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Most people are born with a voice telling them “don’t take that apart if you don’t know what it is”

I do know somethings about engines and have still struggled with that voice. I spend damn near a month doing a timing belt because I was terrified of breaking what was my own car. Point is stupid kid is stupid.

But on the subject of young girls with bad boy friends... my sister in law’s HUSBAND recently went on a whole rant about how no one appreciates how important a man’s role in creating a baby is “because a woman couldn’t do anything without the man” and then prodceeded to tell my wife that she wouldn’t be able to see their future kids if she couldn’t acknowledge his role in creating a child or some such bullshit. My wife of course said he couldn’t make that decision, and he replied “yes I can I’m the human and I’m in charge” . He later went on to pick fights with my mother in law and her husband that sane night. I’m really glad I wasn’t there because I might have punched him. 

Aaaanyway it could be worse.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 03/18/2019 at 02:20

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Sunday could have gone much worse. The idiot boy actually met his girlfriend’s GRANDPARENTS. We didn’t invite him to my parent’s house, but he came anyway. The shocking part is that he mostly kept his mouth shut and didn’t do his usual job of creating a bunch of useless drama until afterwards when we talked about the car.

Future Heap Owner > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 02:23

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Mini I’m so sorry to hear some fool took your head apart 

pip bip - choose Corrour > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 02:37

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the boyfriend sounds like a dropkick!

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 03/18/2019 at 02:40

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Someone apparently didn’t install that little voice in this kid. He told my ex that he had already done $4500 in labor on the Mini. She laughed in his face since she didn’t ask for his help.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 03/18/2019 at 02:40

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Dumbass is a charitable description. We’re all still trying to figure out what the youngest daughter sees in him.

Future Heap Owner > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 03/18/2019 at 02:45

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$25/hr to watch? That’s a pretty good rate.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 03:51

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Yeah... If that wasn’t properly labelled or at least arranged when it came apart, none of it’ s g oing back together if you want the engine to run for longer than a couple weeks.

The unfortunate thing is the kid won’t learn anything from the experience because if you don’t let him finish his job and let the engine explode (um, again) , he always will have been able to fix it, no matter what anyone tells him. I know this because I used to be that kid. For me, though, it was just a lawn mower. And unfortunately, despite my tender age of 12 and only a theoretical knowledge of internal combustion engines as guidance , it went back together and my parents used it for another 15 years before replacing it. This definitely instilled a false sense of confidence in my own abilities, but eventually that became less false.

I’m not saying let him put it back together. I’m frankly not sure which is worse, him thinking he could always fix it, or the slim chance you let him try and  he gets it right and proves you wrong.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 03/18/2019 at 04:00

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I don’t think a DOHC engine is the place to start if you’re just learing how to re-build them...

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 04:19

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Find a small part from the head. Tie a long leather thong around it to make a necklace. Engrave it with 'I Am An Idiot'. Give it to the boy as a token of your appreciation.

random001 > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 03/18/2019 at 05:42

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I don't have that voice, but that's how I learned, so....

shop-teacher > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 07:30

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Holy hell!

I commend you for not beating him senseless.

facw > Future Heap Owner 03/18/2019 at 08:01

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Innuendo aside, paying an extra 17% might be worth it both to see how they are doing things and to assuage any paranoia about getting ripped off.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > shop-teacher 03/18/2019 at 08:27

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I only didn’t because when I got these photos he’s no longer within arms reach.

shop-teacher > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 09:11

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You could’ve thrown a camshaft at him, but you didn’t.  You’re a good man.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 09:18

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I don't even know what to say. Who does that?

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 10:03

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He didn't do $4500 in labor, he made $4,500 in labor. Also, a shop only charges about $1,500 to do a head gasket on one of these so I don't know why he would think it costs 4x that to do half a head gasket job. 

Urambo Tauro > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 11:29

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... took the head apart, claiming that “it’s the only way to get a look at the pistons.”

What is this I don’t even

Did he somehow skip the part about removing the head from the engine? Seems like he would have seen the pistons if he had taken the head off before disassembling the head. Never mind the fact that USB/wireless scopes are pretty affordable nowadays, and you could ju st stick one down the spark plug holes...

CaptDale - is secretly British > shop-teacher 03/18/2019 at 11:40

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I certainly would have 

Future Heap Owner > facw 03/18/2019 at 11:45

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That was not innuendo, I was being 100% serious. If I had to bring my car into a shop for some reason, I would learn a ton by watching them work on it. $25/hr to learn that much would be well worth it to me, unless it was more than six or so hours of labor.

syaieya > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 12:55

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You mean these need to be labeled as you take them out?

Well this plan has gone less well

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 13:31

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shame it wasn’t fixed at the first sign of trouble. Low coolant in a R56 almost always means cracked thermostat housing as you said. Not super easy but I managed to replace mine myself . This sort of thing can happen in any car if you take  a long trip while i gnoring overheating.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > syaieya 03/18/2019 at 15:49

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 those are totally fine! 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 15:51

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Are those cam journal caps numbered? If not you're going to need a head. Definitely should get new lifters and rockers. If they don't go back where they came from it often causes carnage down the road.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > MiniGTI - now with XJ6 03/18/2019 at 17:49

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yeah... I have re-iterated with my daughter that if weird stuff happens on her car, then I can’t do anything about it if she doesn’t bring it to me. I can only fix things I can see...

MM54 > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/18/2019 at 18:13

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Sounds like someone owes his girlfriend money for a new cylinder head.

Make him finish the job, it’s already fucked. When he give up, he pays labor to fix his mistake.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > MM54 03/18/2019 at 20:50

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Worse, he owes h is girlfriend’s sister... And he doesn’t even have a job, so no money...

CalzoneGolem > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/25/2019 at 13:43

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Wow. What a winner.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang 03/26/2019 at 07:45

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Cute kid, though. My 21-y-o daughter is driving a 2000 RAV 4 — that I paid for and she still owes me and probably always will, but that’s a separate story — and she mentioned that “her heater was struggling.” I told her to quit driving it until we sorted it out. Cracked radiator tank. I got a new Denso radiator for $97 and installed it. I had to disconnect the A/C and my friend with a shop recharged it for me for the price of a steak ‘n eggs brekkie. Well worth the price.

Anyhow , I read your post and thought I’d be the clever guy who suggested you buy a used engine from LKQ, but it turns out an engine assembly for that car from LKQ is about $3,500. This is all an unfortunate story.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 03/26/2019 at 23:51

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yep. The cost of the used engine assembly is what pushed the issue into just replacing teh car.