So, I am a first time mini owner! 2012 Countryman S with 62K miles on it and am loving driving the car but I have been poking around and have came across some things that do not seem right.

1) In the below pictures you can see oil leaking from what I think is the junction held together by this pipe clamp. I've read that oil in the intercooler lines is normal but have not seen anyone that has oil up this far.

2) I have a rough idle 30 seconds - 1 min after starting the car. It goes away after warming up and I do not seem to have any loss of power.

3) Does this motor normally sound like a diesel? How do I tell the difference between a normal engine sound and the timing chain going out?

 

Welcome to the forum. All Direct injections engines sound different. If your oil is clean and the level is good your most likely ok. There were some issues with timing chains and the tensioner especially if the oil wasnt changed regularly maybe stop by a Mini dlr and have them take a quick listen. The roughness when started, two things. #1 the vacuum pump works harder at startup and can load the engine down. #2 the plugs and coils should have been changed by this mileage, if they havent you should. Easy to do by yourself and relativley cheap . The oil you show looks to be under where the oil filter housing would come thu when removing for a filter change and some could have spilled. I would clean and watch. There is an Oring on the oil filter housing that can go bad. a new one comes with an OEM filter.

 

I thought the oil filter housing was kind of underneath the coolant expansion tank. The picture is from the passenger side of the engine compartment. Maybe they just shot oil all over the place when they refilled it? It does look like oil got onto the black frame and was wiped off.

 

oops sorry, looking at it on my phone correctly. Only time Ive seen that is a valve cover leak.

 

So, The turbo intake hose was cracked. It was hidden by the hose clamp. Not sure If this is causing any issues or not......


I do not see or feel any oil coming from the valve cover gasket. I took apart the inter cooler hose in a few places and there was definitely oil on the inside, starting way back at the where the output from the PCV valve enters the turbo input and coming out under the hose clamp in the first picture. It seems to have been going on for a while as I can see where it has been cleaned up and there is oil+dirt accumulating in the area above the bosch boost pressure sensor but under the black frame piece.

I've got 30 days on my carmax warranty and 3 days left if I just want to return it

Is it normal to have all this oil in the intercooler lines? I'm sure it has been going on for a long time. What are the long term effects of this?

 

 

So, independent mini mechanic here seems to think it could be related to a vacuum leak but wouldn’t know until he started fixing things.

First missfire the computer saved was at 57000. Im at 62000 now.

Carmax is replacing the MAF boot. Hopefully they will get the valve cover as well.

Did have a slightly leaky thermostat.

 

After fighting with them for over 2+ weeks to fix it I ended up returning it for another R60. They were going to send it to a mini dealership for a DME upgrade. That was really going to fix a rough idle?
The new one is the same year same mileage but a manual. It is is much better condition.