North American Motoring - Stock Problems/Issues

Oil leak sources at 177k miles

khnitz — Sun, 17 May 2026 14:59:47 GMT

I'm in the middle of preparing our Mini for the Summer and there are some extensive repairs underway.

I am in the process of replacing the valve cover gasket, which may or may not be original. My question: other than the valve cover gasket, what other oil leaks at the front (vehicle's front) of the engine would cause this amount of oil leaking and build up?

I'm in the process of degreasing that area now. I had serviced the supercharger oil <20k miles ago, but I'll check the level while I have access, too.

Goo drops on passenger side fame

MassMini — Mon, 04 May 2026 03:23:53 GMT

Hoping someone can ID this buildup of thick gooey drops on right side frame below and in front of the axle. CV boot not ripped and drops not a circular spray. Hydraulic engine mount is shot (compressed with black stains) and I'm curious if this could be fluid from the mount. It's an '05 R52 with 90K miles and on its 2nd upper engine mount.

R53 - Stock Expansion Tank ( ghetto upgrade\fix )

Mforce — Sun, 03 May 2026 00:47:31 GMT

Hello,

So I was checking some screws on my R53's engine bay, then I started thinking it's getting warmer again I saw my ( okay ) expansion tank so far NO leaks all good. I decided questioning myself what shall I do to this? to avoid the catastrophic over heating when this thing breaks all of a sudden while driving.

Well for now this will do, atleast to hold both halves together and keep the coolant inside compared to all open broken\cracked tank with coolant gushing out. This gives me time to recover.

I am thinking of using stainless steel zip ties then crisscross it. Any better ideas? let me know.

Zip tied expansion tank