Anyone know about modern Mini's?

[Welly]

One of my Wife's friends has a 2011 Mini Cooper Petrol (non turbo) and has just spent a fortune on a new timing chain at a Garage.

Now the car is losing water (with no visible leakage) the expansion bottle empties every few days, it's running cold all the time, and the radiator cooling fan is running flat out.

All the hoses to/from the rad are cold, they feel soft not over pressured, there's no sign of water in the oil or vise versa.

She contacted the Garage again and they said it 'might' be the water pump leaking (it wasn't changed with the cam chain but then again I don't think it's driven off the chain).

Have these cars got an electronic thermostat? it might be stuck open hence the cold running. Google suggests a coolant temp sensor which might explain the fan running etc?

Any advice welcome....

[PeterN]

If there is no leaking water evident I would strongly suspect the head gasket. Is there any evidence of coolant around the filler cap? You could try putting a receptacle under the end of the overflow pipe and see if coolant is being blown out.

Peter

[GingerMagic]

Heater matrix?