Mark: Hi, it’s Mark from Top Local Lead Generation. We’re here with Bernie Pawlik of Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver; 16 times winners of Best Auto Repair in Vancouver as voted by their customers. How’re you doing Bernie?
Bernie: I’m doing very well today.
Mark: So we’re going to talk about Mini Coopers, a 2008 had some sort of oil and coolant leaks? What was going on there?
Bernie: Well, a couple things, the vehicle was brought to us for 100,000 kilometer service and the owner had some concerns about the, that there was some fluid, engine oil leaks that he’d had looked at the dealer and had a very large quote for repairs; so that’s what’s happening with the vehicle. We had a look at it and we did find in, a couple engine oil leaks and a coolant leak.
Mark: So what was going on with the coolant leak? Where was that coming from?
Bernie: The coolant leak was coming from the thermostat housing which is a fairly common issue on these vehicles. We’ve done quite a few of them recently. The um, it’s one of those plastic parts that I love to talk about, the thermostat housing is molded plastic; it incorporates the thermostat internally and you know these things, you know cause a lot of problems; on every vehicle they seem to be put on eventually.
Mark: So another plastic part, you’ve talked about those before, doesn’t seem to make sense that they would be using plastic in such a hot area.
Bernie: Well plastics are pretty amazing. Apparently, I’ve never seen them, apparently they actually make pistons out of plastic which is quite incredible when you think about how much heat is generated in that area but they’ve never caught on, obviously they’re experimental or for racing or something but plastic is you know, I think there’s a desire to use plastic because is A cheap and B you can mold it into any shape you want so you can create some pretty amazing pieces. Like this and I don’t have a photo to show you here but it will be on when we do this on our blog page, there’ll be a photo of this thermostat housing, I mean it’s quite an amazing, intricate piece. It has coolant pipes going all over the place which is something you could only really mold economically with plastic so there’s a reason they use it, I mean it does last a while but eventually it fails and sometimes I really question why they use it especially in things like water pumps where the, you know where like the water pump impellor they will use plastic and they break over time, they get brittle and break and fail and how much weight are you saving, I mean, ounces? It really doesn’t make sense to me.
Mark: So what about the oil, where was that leaking from?
Bernie: The oil was leaking from a few spots, the turbo, there’s a turbo charged engine so there’s an oil supply pipe to the turbo charger and that was leaking, also there’s a big oil filter housing at the front of the engine, it kind of wraps around under the exhaust manifold, it has a number of gaskets and seals, that was leaking as well from several spots, so those were the main oil leaks. There was also a minor oil leak from the valve cover gasket which the owner chose to leave at this point in time.
Mark: So pretty complex and expensive repair?
Bernie: It was, yeah, there’s a lot of work involved, the turbo charger, the exhaust manifold has to come off and actually the front bumper needs to be moved forward to gain access because everything is packed into that engine compartment pretty tight, so there’s a lot of labour involved to remove it all and replace the pieces. In this case the actual oil filter housing sometimes needs to be replaced and in this case the housing was a bit warped but the owner chose not to replace it, it adds a lot of cost to the repair so it probably would have been best to do it but I think to replacing the seals will work though the repair may not last as many years as it should.
Mark: Any further thoughts on Minis?
Bernie: Awesome little cars, I mean I’d say they’re not the most reliable cars around, you know if you’re looking for reliability the Mini’s not the car to buy but if you’re looking for a nice you know, European zippy sporty car, it’s got a bit of class to it, I think it’s a great car to buy but just be prepared, you will spend more money than you would on a Toyota or equivalent Japanese product although there’s probably not an equivalent but similar.
Mark: So if you’re looking for repairs on your Mini these are the guys to go see in Vancouver, Pawlik Automotive, give Bernie a call, you can book your appointment. They’re busy; 604-327-7112 or go to their website pawlikautomotive.com. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thanks Mark.
