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I have an oli drip form the weep hole on the bell housing, pretty sure it's the main rear seal. I don't see any oil running from anywhere else like the oil cooler, oil filter housing, turbo lines, oil pan gasket, main seal or valve cover that would pool there. Assuming
a typical mechanic charge would be 3-4k but the car is probably worth about 5. I would do it myself but I can't find any videos or directions on how to do this. Not even sure if it can be done without a lift. Does anyone know where I can find a step by step process to change the seal? It's a 2014 countryman s r60 automatic. Does the transmission need to be completely pulled out for this and what's the worst that can happen besides constant oil loss if not fixed?
Are you 100% sure it’s not coming from someone else? Looks like a lot of oil on the outside of the housing there….
$3-4k seems about right for a shop to handle the job. You do have to drop the transmission to replace the rear main seal. This gets a bit more complicated in the Countryman due to the transfer case on the All4 models. I swapped the clutch in my Clubman on jack stands. You do have to get it pretty high to lower the subframe. you can check for videos of R56 clutch replacements to get an idea of what is involved. The Countryman is basically the same assembly, with the exception of the transfer case and rear driveshaft.
Thank you for responding, I can't say 100% sure but 99% sure since I had already replaced the front main seal when I did the timing chain which I believe you actually helped me with, all gaskets on oil cooler, had turbo rebuilt with all new seals and lines, oil pan gasket valve stem seals, and walnut blasted the ports. Watching separate videos seems to be how I'm going to get the knowledge to do this, from what I'm putting together, a video on lowering subframe, transmission removal and clutch removal would be good places to start. I did see one guy who took the front end off to remove the transmission instead of pulling the whole subframe off. I don't have an All4, so I'm hoping that will be a bit easier. Also going to have to figure out any special tools, and how many stretch bolts I can't reuse. I'm also guessing the passenger driveshaft needs to be removed? Is there anything else I should consider replacing while doing this job since there will be so much stuff taken apart?
Take it to a MINI repair shop and tell them you have an oil leak, they will tell you where it's coming from for sure.
I had a leak that I thought was from the rear main, the shop told me it was from the oil filter, easy fix.
Appreciate that but I'm 100% sure about the places it's not coming from,. I can put my finger in the weep hole and feel wet oil and see it on my finger when I run it across the inner ledge next to the flywheel. Even if it was leaking from somewhere else, the oil wouldn't travel up into the weep hole. In my opinion anyway. Maybe I'll scope it and see if that shows anything.
Clean it all up REALLY good, the take it for a longer drive and check it again. With everything cleaned up, might be easier to find where it’s coming from.
Your situation seems to be identical to what I experienced recently with my son’s 2014 R60 S FWD.
I first noticed the leak due to the amount of oil residue I noticed on the underside of the car when doing an oil change. After cleaning it all up I found it to be from that same weep hole and confirmed it using my borescope camera.
Fortunately the parts aren’t expensive. In addition to the rear main seal, the transmission bolts have to be replaced since they’re one time use. The cost of labor makes this project expensive since the subframe and the transmission has to be removed in order to access the seal. Unfortunately I don’t have a life high enough to be able to drop the transmission from the car but I was lucky enough to have a good friend nearby who owns his own MINI repair shop be able to do the job while I watched and learned. Not sure how these can be replaced without dropping the transmission since you have to make sure you don’t roll the new seal when inserting it and it’s safer to set the new seal with a special tool that pushes it in evenly.
