G'Day all,

This is another "I have this problem and these symptoms, can you point me in the right direction" posts.

A little history on my Clubbie:- I have replaced the Alternator, I had the 998 rebuilt November last year and have done less than 500KM since rebuild. In the last few months I have moved to Townsville, replaced the inspection plate gromets (Pain in the A&*) and replaced the starter with a GeMini one from 'convertable mini' (cheers mate, it works a treat) on the weekend just gone.

The symptoms I currently have is:
1. The engine overheats in about 5 - 10 minutes.
2. Once the engine becomes hot I cannot change down gears easily, as in "crunch crunch, griiiinnnnnd 'Oh For freddies sake work' slow down, match the revs and eventually crunch the gears home"
3. My mini will not start when hot.
4. I still have an engine oil leak I cannot put my finger on. I believe it is on the rear of the engine (closest to the driver) below the inspection plate cover. The oil leak isn't the normal type of a little drop after a day, it's a 15cm diameter spill overnight.

My thoughts on the problem:
A. The coolant isn't getting to the parts of the engine it needs to, to cool it down. To remedy this, I have cut out the spring in the thermostat - no noticable difference was made.
B. The engine oil leak is leaving the engine/gearbox with too little oil to operate and change gears properly. To remedy this I refilled the engine with K-Mart oil - don't know if it fixed the long term problem.


I am open to any and all suggestions; but I would like to try out the 'budget oriented' suggestions first as my mini will be dry-docked in a few months time while I go away. If I have done something 'incorrect' please forgive me and be safe in the knowledge that it is off the road until I remedy the problem.

_________________
Cheers,

Fade77
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

Fade, I would seek to isolate the 2 issues to make sure that one is not causing the other.

Try to sort out the cooling issue first. Is the water level correct and maintained? Is the radiator clean, not blocked up? How long since the radiator been cleaned? Does it overheat without driving it? Is the fan on the right way? Is it loosing water for some reason? Has it got the right radiator cap?

As for the oil leak, where is it coming from? From the hole in the bottom of the clutch housing? Some have a split pin sticking thru this hole. If it is leaking here, then the primary gear seal is leaking and your clutch plate is probably soaked. Does the clutch slip?

Need more info.

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Steve

instead of cutting the thermostat, you should have put it in boiling water to see if it actually opens or not. there was a thread the other day about another fellas car was overheating - search for it, it explains how to flush your radiator and locate the coolant drain on the block.

spray the engine bay with degreaser and give it a thorough cleaning. you will soon see where the leak is coming from.