It has no rubber. The OEM part fails because the rubber gasket inside falls apart. No idea why they put rubber next to a turbo... I have about 5K on the Detroit Tuned line. And then I had a massive oil leak... because I didn't replace the oil filter housing gasket. I bet I'll be back in there to replace that stupid gasket before the oil feed line has a problem.

 

How many miles did the car have when the oil filter gasket leaked?

 

80,550ish

 

Ok good to know. I'll be doing the oil feed line replacement in a week or two and didn't want to do the oil filter housing yet as I don't want to drain the fluids at this time. I'm at 45,000 mi so hopefully I'm ok for at least two more years.

 

I'm sorry I didn't do it, but I hope you get to 80K also if you decide not to tackle the gasket.

 

Yea I hope I get close to 80K!

 

It's a little messy, but while your in the neighborhood.... They seem to go together.

 

It's not so much the mileage on your Mini it's more related to the age of the Mini. Rubber fails with age and not mileage, just like old tires getting hard and brittle.

 

It makes sense that the rubber gets brittle with age/heat and not just miles driven, I'll order the gaskets.

 

not to be a smart ***, but what makes up the inside of that flexible stainless braided line?

 

Totally cool. I'm not going to take mine off to rip it apart to see, but when DT and Way sell a part and they say 'no rubber' I believe them. =P

You gonna buy one and snip it to see for us?

 

No need, just Google.

Obviously, steel strands in a braided weave are not water proof, so the steel "sleeve" is just that. The actual brake line core that the sleeve mesh encloses could be rubber or teflon:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-p...ake-lines5.htm

https://www.google.com/search?q=stee...tm%3B640%3B244


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My oil line to the turbo started leaking a couple months ago so I ordered the kit from WMW. I went ahead and removed the old solid oil line and upon inspection of the oil line, both ends had the same failed o rings. I spent a good two hours cleaning the engine with castrol engine cleaner. The new line is a flexible stainless line that comes with new banjo bolts and crush washers. The new banjo bolts have larger holes than the factory bolts probably for better oil flow. Another note is the new bolts are 19mm and the factory bolts are 17mm. The install of the new oil line to the engine block was straightforward but the connection to the turbo was a bit off as the angle of the solid part of the line is too flat and the line hits the engine block so I moved the line over to the left and swung the line over to the right. I looked up the part number on the package, MCTL-0911 and went to the following site http://www.technafitstore.com/MCTL-0911-p/mctl-0911.htm. Installed line seems to be working well as there are no oil leaks after a few hundred miles and highway speeds. Anyone else have any install or fitment issues with either WMW, techno fit or Detroit Tuned oil lines.

 

I added a couple of pics. I see the rubber melting away. I'll get a tube of permatex ultra black silicone gasket maker.

 

I've installed DT kit ~6K miles ago.
Everything fit perfectly.
Zero leaks.

Local independents quoted $550 for the job. Dealer wanted $680, but both would have used the OEM part that will fail again.
First time around it took me around 4 hours to remove everything to get to the engine block side of the high pressure oil feed line, about 15 minutes to replace the lines, and another 3 hours to bolt it back together, mostly due to silly tight clearances for bolting heat shields back on.

Second time around I could probably do the job in under 4 hours after first putting the radiator into "service position" to buy extra 4-5 inches of clearance between the turbo and the radioator:

a

 

I would let it melt and forget about it.

The oil line will get very hot. The rubber it has on now, as well as anything new you will spray onto it, will melt and burn off again.

The rubber coating doesn't serve any functional purpose as there should be nothing rubbing against the oil feed line (if there is rubbing - watch out for trouble), and steel braids should provide more than adequate protection for the inner oil tube.

FWIW, DT oil line is pure steel braided line without any dressing. Works fine.
http://www.detroittuned.com/detroit-...urbo-oil-line/

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Duplicate. Sorry. Ignore.

 

Put your heat shield back on. It's there for an important reason. Like not melting your alternator.

 

I kept the heatshields off except for the heatsheild on the engine as I also installed a WMW dp, all of the heat was being generated by the cat, engine is actually cooler with the new dp. I took the black plastic honeycomb looking part from the hoodscoop so there is good cooling although the hoodscoop has been warped since a couple months when I bought the car new in 2008. It's a bit noticable but as long as its not melted, i'm good with it. My clubman is running very strong now with the new line, dp and also changed to the WMW bov. Had all of the recalls done (tensioner, new timing chain/rails).

 

The turbo creates quite a bit of heat and actually gets hotter after shutdown because of the lack of cooling. Do what you will, but I'd run a turbo wrap if I were you.

 

I'm not a fan of heat rapping my turbo though, you want to vent heat away from the turbo. My mother fixed a wonderful meal last night and rapped the baked potatos in aluminum foil to keep them hot, why would you want that for your turbo?

 

I'm merely offering advise so he doesn't bake his alternator. Using your analogy it would be like leaving the oven open while cooking and not considering that your house may heat up... But do what you want. Maybe I'm wrong and open air baked potatoes are da'bomb?

 

Your turbo is designed and build to withstand heat. Not much else around it is designed that way.

In fact, most everything around it that is plastic is guaranteed to melt, sooner or later, without insulation that keeps the heat contained to the exhaust system.

Draw your own conclusions.

a

 

Never heard of anyone baking their alternator because of the heat from a turbo, this is the first I've heard of it on NAM.

The turbo is designed for heat to a point, the Aux coolant pump does keep the turbo from the heating up.

The primary Cat holds more heat (1400F) than the turbo, that's why there's the aux pump for pumping coolant through the turbo for cooling when you turn off your engine. I wish Mini had located the Cat further away from the turbo.

 

The reason why your turbo gets so hot after turning off your engine is because the Cat is only 6" inches away from the turbo, internally your Cat reaches temperatures of 1400F which when the engine is turned off vents into the turbo, that's where the aux coolant pump comes in. It runs for about 5 minutes after shutdown. Get one of these and your hood scoop will barely get warm.