No coolant leak on mine. Was held at port to fix the oil filter housing recall.

 

update:
oil filter housing contains 3 ports, so while the campaign calls for coolant leaking as the cause for the oil filter housing replacement, they did confirm that the oil filter housing had to be replaced due to oil leaking for my car. they did make a note on my "account" that states that although my car was not part of the campaign, the same part had to be replaced.
also, the drivetrain malfunction alert i received is because....the oil filter housing failed, so the alert made sense. they are still going to do an update on the car nonetheless.

other than that, part had to be ordered, so i should get it back tues/wed. the latest. 1 week turn-around time. longer than expected, but i'm traveling for work so works out for me.

 

Anyone knows how many hours job this is? I read R56 had the same problem and it's really 6+ hour job. I really wonder why they can't make it simpler like everyone else. Just a simple screw on type filter.

edit: I should have said similar problem. This is what I read about R56:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...placement.html

 

What they're replacing is more than the filter or its cover. It's the component where the filter sits; it has oil and coolant running through it. For some reason it's cracking and leaking either oil, coolant or both. See item #1 on attached picture. I never heard of any issues with the R56, its a completely different engine and design.

 

update:
car is ready for pickup as of 2PM. oil housing replaced as well as campaign to grease up starter motor was done. No ecu update as the car was "up to date" as per the service advisor.

Marco

 

I have had a few cars outside of the SIB range, that have had this issue. I have submitted my findings, SIB's get revised and updated all the time, so that may be the case here in the near future

 

SIB ??
Please delineate this statement

 

I think it means service information bulletin.

 

Okay so... it is the upper assembly where the filter housing secures to is leaking?

 

Yes because that's the only way some are getting coolant leaks; there isn't any coolant (antifreeze) running through the oil filter. The upper assembly is an oil cooler that runs coolant and oil through it. The coolant keeps the oil cool or cooler anyway. It's possible to crack the black screw on cap on the bottom part of the assembly that holds the oil filter if you over-torque it, it is made of plastic, but that's not what's happening here.

 

 

Update: Car got picked up. no problems. things seemed normal for that day.
next day (yesterday) i took the car for a quick ride to home depot. on the return i turned on the heat and instead i got a very strong burning smell and the heater stopped working. i drove it for 10 more minutes with zero change. parked it and this morning connected my bluetooth ODB II device and drove to the doctor while keeping an eye on things. the heater started working again, there was no odor, and the engine temperature was hovering @ 225-230 degrees (as per the App, DASH).

been driving most of the day with no obvious issues as of yet, but wanted to make mention if anyone else has this occur to them as well.

Marco

 

If the heater stopped working, doesn't that mean something related to the heater actually burned? If that wasn't the case, I would have just thought it's the leftover oil, and not worry too much.
I searched on the web, it says 230F for engine coolant temperature is the upper bound of normal. Elantra and CX-5 are always near 183F.

 

100% agree with you. my initial assumption was either blown heater core. it could be leftover oil, but then why would the heater stop working. and then today, it acted like normal, like nothing had happened.

this was more to just mention. for all we know, someone comes with the same repair and they also experience a burning smell that goes away eventually.

Marco

 

Update: air pocket discovered.. No damage but that's what was causing the heat to not function and what also triggered the drive train alert. Car was in dealer for 2 hours. Easy fix.

 

A common way to detect oil loss is by seeing it on the garage floor. Problem with this car is that a small leak will be caught by the shrouding under the car and NOT appear on the garage floor until a fair amount is held by the shroud. I would consider removing the shroud and drilling weep holes in it in a few places so any dripping of anything from the motor can be detected early. I am under the impression that my daughter's car went from no leak to massive loss in the span of a few miles, but because of the shroud, there could have been an otherwise noticeable drip that would have alerted and prevented the problems that ensued. Hope your dealership treats you as well as mine did. Honest 5 stars for Irvine Mini service department.

Paul

 

You are correct in the fact the car is loosing the oil in a matter of miles, I have two f56's in the shop, both with excessive oil leaks from the oil filter housing, both lost all oil in a single trip of driving, and both getting new engines per my recommendation. When I added oil to each of them, and started them to see the leak, the rate of oil loss was pretty fast, so I could easily see all the oil loss happening in a 5-10mile trip.

With that said, before all the oil is loss, you will get check control messages, check engine lights, and warnings telling you to pull over and shut the car off.

 

Even a Car and Driver long term Mini came down with a filter housing leak...
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...-update-review

 

Holy crap this housing problem is getting more common....
I drive like 70 Miles a day, needless to say if this was to happen, my engine will be TOAST.

So what the HELL is causing the housing to fail?
If i was to replace it with a brand new one will that solve the problem?

 

Your Mini dealer should be able to tell you if yours was subject to the recall and whether it was done or not. Some slipped through the cracks ; already on a ship or on the way to dealers and didn't get updated.

 

There was somebody in the forum that had the oil housing problem and his/hers were built after the recall. So, I think even though my VIN is not included in the recall, it probably have a higher chance to experience similar problem than a properly (defect-free) designed oil filter housing.
I'm just hoping mine doesn't have any of the problems that I read here, but I already had an engine clunking really hard one time when I was driving slowly between steady 5-10 mph. I'm still on factory gas.

 

Went out to get groceries and noticed a stench of gas in the cabin. On my return noticed a huge puddle of dark brown fluid in the garage. Peeked under the car and could see something dripping from the engine compartment. 2014 MCS with about 8300 miles and took delivery last March.

 

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Sounds like your probably have the oil filter housing leak. :( Take advantage of your roadside assistance and have them tow it in, don't drive it. If it was only a couple of miles, you might be okay and no damage was done, but don't take any chances. Keep us updated on the results when it is brought in.

 

Had the car towed to the dealer and they confirmed that the oil filter housing was leaking. The SA said it had leaked about half a quart. They replaced the housing and filter, drained and refilled the oil and coolant, greased starter terminals, secured the shifter and had the car back to me in 24 hours. Has been fine since then.

 

Can you tell use what production date yours has, and if it falls under the TSB VIN range?