Keeping it cool

When I was last at Mintech a few weeks ago getting the alternator replaced, the lads noticed the radiator had a leak coming from it. 

With no time to replace it at the time, I was tasked with keeping it topped up and training a watchful eye on the temperature gauge until I could get booked back in.

Just before Christmas they Mintech lads found a slot for me and I duly hurried over for the next fix my MINI needed.

Surprisingly Martin was smiling today... maybe because I was asking what his favourite beer was...

The boys set to work and within no time at all the front was off and the radiator was coming off too.

What ARE you doing? Hahaha

The replacement radiator slots in nicely and all the pipes are reconnected.

The MINI hadn't had a full oil change for over a year (just topped up to replace the leaked oil) and my inspection reminder kept popping up on my dash so I brought a big bottle of Liqui Moly's oil (our sponsor) over so they could do that too. 

 

"Have you got a new filter?" Martin asks...   Err, No. So he kindly grabs me one from the shelf!

Back to the radiator and Martin still hadn't finished. He unscrewed a screw on a pipe at the front and after pouring a load of water in, he then started to, what seemed like, kiss my coolant reservoir. In actual fact he was carefully blowing, pushing the water around the system to prevent an airlock. 

As soon as we saw water come up from the screw he had undone, he did it up again and topped up the reservoir until it just came up to the top of the fins. 

Once that was all done, the MINI was ramped up and the main sump plug was undone to drain out all the black stuff.

Once it had all drained out, the filter was changed before the new Liqui Moly oil was used to fill it up. I'm sure he said it takes about 4 litres (but may be mistaken).

A couple of blog posts ago, I talked about how my horn had stopped working after rain had got into my steering wheel when the window regulator was stuck down. 

Anyway, it has been a good six months since the horn stopped working and with the MoT due in the next couple of months I did need to address it. 

In a rare occurance, it didn't seem as busy in the Mintech garage as it usually is, and I asked Martin about the horn issue hoping for some wisdom on what might be the cause. I tell him about me trying new fuses that just keep blowing.

He turns round to me like I'm an idiot and asks if I've tried putting another horn on it. Funnily enough the answer was no, because I don't have a load of spares hanging around. 

Right next to him was a wrecked bumper which had been chucked in the skip. He grabbed it, and ripped off a horn with his bare hands and moved over to my MINI. Now I didn't realise there were/are two horns on the MINI. He has a fiddle around and in a couple of minutes he's hooked up the other horn to my MINI. "Go give that a try," he says.

"Beeeeeeeeeeeep!!!"  Well what do you know. I hate it when that happens. I've been driving around without a horn - getting frustrated at idiot drivers - and unable to make my frustration audiable, and Martin comes along and fixes it in no time at all. I should be grateful, and really, I am! I'm definitely going to have to get him some beer now!!