Help! My car puked oil and I don't know why.
 

I changed the oil, oil filter, and o-ring 2 weeks ago with no problems. I had driven at least 1000 miles and there were still no problems. I got home after a ~100 mile drive and parked in the driveway, washed my car, left it there for several hours and then went out again. I came home and in the morning there was a puddle of oil under my car. There was also oil slung all along the underside of the car. There was no oil in the driveway of the house I left before I came home the night before, and I did not hit anything on the way home. I drained the oil and there was only 3 quarts left.

The only thing I can think I may have done wrong is over-tighten the oil filter, but with the amount of miles I put on it between the oil change and the oil puking I doubt that's it. I had it at 25 ft/lbs. I traced said puking to the oil filter area, but I'm still not convinced it was caused by over-tightening. The old o-ring at the oil filter was not torn or ripped. The oil filter was Purolater, not MINI.

I have since changed the oil, o-ring, oil filter, and tightened it to 18 ft/lbs (spec). I have driven it three times with no issues.

Does anyone have ideas about what may have happened.

You didnt change the o-ring? That was probably the issue. That and over tightening the filter housing. You can just snug it, the o-ring does the sealing, not the threads.

Also, use only MINI filters and their o-rings, they are the best and will never give you any problems.

I did change the o-ring both times, and that's been edited above. Sorry for the confusion.

Would 7 ft/lbs really cause it to react like that? and after 1000 miles? Not that I don't believe you, I just want to be "sure".

Did you use an OEM filter, I had this same problem using an STP filter and O-ring. Once I went back to the dealer and got a new OEM filter and more importantly a new OEM o-ring the problem stopped. The o-ring that STP supplies you with is too small in diameter and causes a leak.

It was not an OEM filter or o-ring, it was a Purolator. I will order one from the dealer. Thanks for the info.

the vendor here called mini carparts sells good filters .at fraction of dealer cost . i buy them like 4 to 6 at a time and never an issue
:thumbsup::thumbsup:

I'm 100% sure it's your oil filter. When my MINI leaked oil, it goes all over the place and can cause a false diagnoses. I used a STP filter twice in a row and they both caused leaks within 200 miles. It's the damn o-ring on them. Always go OEM.

I did the same thing, and when I called customer service to give them my 2 cents they wont even stand by their product. I will NEVER NEVER buy STP products again.

Alright guys, thanks for the help!

I got a factory filter and I haven't had a problem. As far as the factory filters being difficult to install (as I've heard some say), I put a decent amount of oil on the inner ring of the filter where it slides onto the cap. Once it soaked in a bit I was able to press it onto the cap with some firm twisting and pushing. I lubed/soaked the other end the same way so it could slide onto the mount in the engine. This helped me from having trouble with cross threading.