Great tip - Thanks!

 

I haven't even read all these posts yet but this is an extremely useful thread. So I had the coolant low thing happened and bought a water pump thinking it was the most likely thing to need changed.
I went into that procedure which is very involved. Before I found the leak at this filter housing. So the water pump change was done but unneccessary. I'm okay with that. But it wasn't a waste of time as this car had never gotten a serpentine belt in its 92k miles either. It also needed the top engine mount and a coolant temp sensor (hard cold starting). So now I got it all beck together except the belly pan and going to go fishing for parts for this. Looks like I need the housing, intake gaskets, maybe that neck that connects the top hose to the block.... And waste another day working on it when all that comes in! But thanks for all this info.

 

Heads up: something I missed when I replaced my oil filter housing. BMW instructs you to prime the engine oil before first startup after doing this repair. See this thread for details (and a link to a PDF with instructions).

 

Good call. 👍 I pulled my fuel pump fuses and cranked it to prime mine.

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A close up picture of the spot that fails if anyone is interested.

 

Yep its like the fibrous plastic really degrades and gets brittle.

 

An update. I did the thing with the metal version of the filter housing and cooler. All is well. You could take any of those pictures of the typical break near the one port and that is exactly what mine looked like as well. The only thing that didn't go well is that the intake gaskets I got off the jungle website didn't fit... though they were confirmed fit. Sigh. So I put it back together with the old squished gaskets. But thanks for the help. this thread was very helpful.

 

Yikes. I hope those gaskets hold. Were you lucky enough that the gasket at the failure location didn't split? On mine (failed at same location and in same manner as @AutoCoarsen 's pic documents) the housing break also split the gasket.

 

I'm simultaneously unsurprised (because this is how design fail works) and floored (because it is SO consistent) that every single failed housing I have seen save one -- and I have now seen at least 6 or 7 -- has failed at exactly this location.

The one I saw that failed in a different location was in a YouTube video, wish I could remember where to find it. But the failure manner was similar -- a slice-off on the inside edge of one of the channels at the assembly's mating surface.

 

I meant the 4 intake gaskets. The gaskets that came with the filter/cooler housing were already in the unit and well held in place with a plastic plate and rubber bands.
Here are intake gaskets that are a "confirmed fit" yet aren't even close. I actually had to drive about 5 hours today and didn't hear any boost leaks but I'm not sure how it would behave if there was boost leaking out at the intake.
And yes, the failure was exactly the same as theirs. The plastic gave way allowing the seal to just hang there.

 

Yikes re the intake gaskets. Well the good news is that now that you've done the deed you know how easy it is to take the intake manifold off to look at them anytime you want

 

This feels like it would qualify as a manufacturing defect. Anyone try to take it up with their dealer/Mini USA and see if they are willing to cover it.

There was literally a recall on 2014 Mini Cooper Oil FIlter Housing: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...55997-7223.pdf

 

I and most others (as best as I can tell) never got anywhere near trying to hash it out with the dealer, but it is such a well-known issue on the B series engines -- on all BMW-manufactured platforms that use the B series engines, not just the MINI -- that it would seem there is no recall out there (despite what went down with model year 2014).

I agree that it is a manufacturing defect though. I have seen photos at this point of 5 failed oil filter housings, including my own, and they all cracked and split in exactly the same location with the same breakage pattern. Looks like a "duh, design fail" to my eye. Also the reason why even if the genuine BMW/MINI part -- which is actually manufactured by Mahle (the Mahle logo is on it so there is zero question about it) -- didn't cost an arm and a leg, there is no way I'm putting one of those on my car. Unacknowledged design fail = go find another manufacturer/design, IMO.

 

So why not take it up with Mini USA/Dealers and see if they would be willing to cover it? They just released an extended limited warranty on the "secure vehicle against rolling" issue.

 

Nobody is suggesting one shouldn't take it up with the dealer. But for those of us who have fixed it ourselves already, we aren't going back to the dealer "just for fun." Why on earth bother? Odd question.

And regarding the "secure vehicle against rolling," that's great for anyone who either (a) gets it in the future (and is under the extended warranty period in the letter -- many of us are not) or (b) paid through the nose for it and can get reimbursement. For those of us who (c) fixed it already for between $5 and $25 -- again, no real value in bothering. Though it was nice to get the letter.

 

Yeah was just thinking dealer might also do reimbursement for oil filter housing if you've already done it. But also figured there would be power in numbers, if a lot of people complain about it.

 

Good reasoning. I can't say I have a real idea why it isn't more of a discussion point. The housing on my 2017 F56S was on its way out within 12 months of my buying the car used in 2021, and when I got to digging I found out quickly that it was a "known thing" in technician/mechanic circles with the B series engines.

Might well be that enough people hadn't smacked into it yet. The secure vehicle against rolling thing got me within months of getting the car in 2021. But none of us got that letter owning the issue until 2024. Maybe with the oil filter housing it's just a matter of time and effort -- but when things hit threshold is probably tricky to predict. Guess we'll all find out eventually.

 

I'm gonna call my dealer tomorrow and ask about this. Will keep you posted.

 

Called the dealer today who referred me to Mini USA. No luck - there is no process to escalate things like this for manufacturing defect review - very bizarre in my opinion. Even asked how the "secure vehicle against rolling" problem made it to the list of manufacturing defects, but didn't get a good answer.

 

Did I miss how the missing check valve was addressed? Looking at installing this part when I reassemble the car this time around. Thanks in advance.

 

@barlowtj @ECSTuning

I just had my mechanic install the metal bremmen parts oil filter housing. He mentioned that all the screws provided with the part were the same size, when one of them should have been slightly shorter. He said he had to use a washer to be able to tighten that bolt.

Was that your experience with the bremman parts metal oil filter housing as well? I am a little concerned that he got confused and installed the shorter screw where the longer screws should go and the longer screw where the shorter screw should go.

 

Had the same thing happen to my 2019 Clubman with 55k miles yesterday. I noticed that fans running at full blast, looked at my coolant temp with my jb4 and it was around 240 and kept rising, then I got the engine overheating message. I let her cool down a few times while trying to get back to the office, thankfully I was able to get some coolant, get back to the office for a few hours and she cooled down enough that i topped off the coolant and was able to get home. Just crawled underneath and everything looks similar to @cjv2's video. Ordered a metal housing, new plastic pipe (metal was OOS), and intake manifold gaskets from ECS yesterday assuming it was this was the issue. Is there anything else I should just replace while I'm in there?

 

Good catch and I hope you 100% caught it in time to avoid any temperature-related damage. Sounds pretty good so far.

So when I did mine I replaced the housing, didn't replace the plastic pipe (though if I did the exercise today, I would replace it), and the intake manifold gaskets. That was it. It's been over a year now, pushing 2 years, no issues.

One tip, when you pull the intake manifold from the engine, you don't have to detach the throttle body from the manifold. I mention that because there's gasketry in between the manifold and the throttle body and if you separate them that introduces a "should I replace the gasket" question that would probably skew "yes" if the car is of any real age. But anyway, short version is you should be fine.

Pay attention to the screw length for both old and new oil filter housing. There is one screw that is shorter than the others and you 100% need to be sure you put it in the right place. That seems to have tripped a few folks up.

 

I got the new Bremmen aluminum housing in yesterday so I decided to tackle this today, I also replaced the intake manifold gaskets and the plastic connector for the upper radiator hose, went with OEM for that one. The housing was definitely broken, even broke in a second spot. No idea why there is so much sand, I guess that's what I get for buying a Florida car... Thank you @cjv2 for the guide, it was very helpful. It wasn't too difficult but it did take a while. I think the most annoying part was doing all the bleeding. Hopefully I won't have to do it again.

 

Do you happen to know the torque for this block connector?

 

I believe it's 8 Nm, but I'm finding it difficult to determine what the "block connector" is called in TIS in order to be absolutely certain in looking it up.

Hoping others will chime in / confirm / deny.