Anyone know anything about SPI Minis?

Anyone know anything about SPI Minis?

Author
Discussion

roscozs

Original Poster:

477 posts

188 months

Friday 23rd April 2010
quotequote all
I have just bought a 1995 SPI mini cooper which has a few engine faults.
First of all the coolant temp guage does not work. It occasionaly rises to just around the blue section of the guage but goes no higher. The car has been into two different garages to try and rectifiy this fault but to no avail.

The other fault which I think is linked is the car sometimes wont rev underload and wide open throttle. The engine stutters and misses. I know the car has had a new coolant temp sensor under the manifold but it doesnt appear to have been the fault.

Is there anything I should know before I get stuck in and possibly start chasing somthing that isnt there? cheers

Cooperman

4,428 posts

257 months

Saturday 24th April 2010
quotequote all
All temp gauges are a bit 'iffy' on Minis. The only real soultion is to buy and fit a capilliary-type gauge from Mini Spares (about £60) as that will give a reading in deg C.
With regard to poor running, the only real answer is a rolling-road session with a RR company who understand Minis, such as Peter Baldwin near Cambridge or Aldon in the Midlands.

roscozs

Original Poster:

477 posts

188 months

Saturday 24th April 2010
quotequote all
All is well now fault found. I took the cooling system to peices today and found the inlet manifold full of rust deposits. So I cleaned and flushed the block/head, inlet manifold, heater matrix and radiator. While I had the radiator out I could just reach the plug for the coolant temp sensor so I decided to check the resistance reading between the Coolant Temp sensor and the ECU and all was well. I then banged everything back together and filled with coolant (was just full of water and probably the reason it was full of rust).

Now the guage reads normaly and it goes like a train.

Cheers for the heads up Cooperman.



Edited by roscozs on Saturday 24th April 17:14