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Just bought a 2018 Cooper S last week and going through some of the maintenance at this mileage (replace battery, belts, spark plugs, and oil). I saw that the coolant was slightly low, below low so I topped it with some distilled water and drove around with the cap not all the way tight - the car went down to low and I've since filled it with Blue euro peak coolant and only had to fill 50ml since then - after 100 miles it has stayed at max. It just came to my head that without any noticeable leaks on the engine block or any notice of smoke from the exhaust could this coolant be in my oil? I only have the infotainment to go off of and it shows max as the oil change was pretty recent, nothing milky under the oil cap or coolant color change (but not sure I'd expect any with a few hundred millilitres of coolant being lost). With the oil being pretty thin already, I am just scared that any coolant will bring down the viscosity
Not sure if this was a result of the previous owner leaving the car sat for a month and possibly the coolant over the course of the entire cars life has never been refiled, according to the previous service records, and me adding water/coolant added to the heater core since the heat is much better which resulted in a small loss after that initial adding.
Here she is; quite possibly the cheapest F56 Mini sold in the US but sorted some of the issues and she has been driving fine otherwise. Taking ownership of the mini
when I bought my 2015 a few years back, (which happens to be about a dead-ringer for yours) it was delivered with the overflow tank DRY. I topped it off & a couple times after that it was LOW but ever since then NOTHING. so relax & monitor. lose the hood stripes & put a functional black hood scoop on it & we'd be twinsies almost. I have ralley lights & black headlight rings
You may have something going, you may not. Apparently MINIs "do this." However, they also do other things, like develop actual coolant leaks (ask me how I know).
Even with that in mind, still pretty much boils down to watch it over time, see what it does.
At your next oil change, check for streaks of dried coolant, orientation from front of the car to the rear of the car, along the bottom of the oil pan. The oil filter housing/oil cooler housing, which uses coolant to cool the engine oil down, has known failure issues. If it "finally starts to go for real" you won't get much visible tell because the leaked coolant will mostly be soaked up by the underbody panel, and whatever is left will evaporate away on the engine block and oil pan. You can't really inspect from the top, either, because the housing is under the intake manifold. Absent a borescope or disassembly, it's a tough one to be aware of until something happens like the climate control having no heat or... you get the idea.
FWIW, I have been though the oil filter housing thing, as well as some other cooling system items that included pressure testing the system. Tests fine. And yet, every once in a while, the car just vanishes some coolant. The raw physics of it says somewhere in the system there is a thing going on. But for now, who knows what it is. Coolant gremlin maybe
Yup, I saw this post and have them saved. I was going to do it when it was warmer just for preventative maintenance anyhow (waiting on the metal one, though it looks to be on backorder) - I have the black bumper portion in my cart too :P
Looks like I will just monitor it for a bit, I plan to do some miles here this weekend after changing the spark plugs and belt so it should be a good test. I am mostly worried that the coolant is in the oil and possibly diluting it, but I will try to not lose sleep over that
@ECS Tuning what kind of feedback are you getting on the all-metal ones? Just curious. I had to replace mine with the plastic model while the metal one was out of stock, but have remained curious about the metal unit.
On the topic of metal ones, I did see there is some generic brand on Amazon(always a great sign when you can have one delivered at intervals, like a consumable) - but I am curious how much worse the quality of this particular part would be compared to bremmen, not that I'd ever install a Deegooly anyhow
The new plastic is good, I have not heard any issues.
The metal ones are the one and done version. No issues really, quality is just as good as the plastic one if that makes sense. Castings look like Genuine MINI. Its insurance so you don't have to do it again, or if you sell the car the next person will be ok.
Coming back to this after nearly half a year - drove over 10k miles since and hadn't really had any troubles with the coolant - I've checked it about every month and never saw it drop (even checked it a few days prior to today), however when I came to get something from my car during work I noticed a leak and smell of coolant. This morning was the first morning I required the heater on the car and noticed heat was absent. Going to see why this happened by looking at it after work.
Car took approximately 1/3 gallon of 50:50 Mini branded coolant to get it back to max. Wondering if the heater matrix got empty over the summer when not in use and turning on the heater has some actuator that lives in the engine bay that has a leak or something
Last edited by jpsulisz; Oct 16, 2024 at 12:02 PM.
Coming back to this after nearly half a year - drove over 10k miles since and hadn't really had any troubles with the coolant - I've checked it about every month and never saw it drop (even checked it a few days prior to today), however when I came to get something from my car during work I noticed a leak and smell of coolant. This morning was the first morning I required the heater on the car and noticed heat was absent. Going to see why this happened by looking at it after work.
Car took approximately 1/3 gallon of 50:50 Mini branded coolant to get it back to max. Wondering if the heater matrix got empty over the summer when not in use and turning on the heater has some actuator that lives in the engine bay that has a leak or something
Very interested in hearing what the source of the leak is (if you find it). There are a few of us out here chasing the "F series MINI sometimes eats coolant, and not following any discernible pattern of consumption" ghost (myself included).
Looks like I may have been insanely lucky - after a road trip of many thousands of miles, it decides to begin to leak 15 minutes away from home.
I took the lower tray off, and it's pretty evident that something on the front of the engine is causing it, most likely the oil filter housing or that plastic hose connector above it. Most likely tomorrow I will take apart the upper portion of the engine bay to get a better view before I put an order in - not driving the car obviously and thankfully didn't do the oil change.
Photos below show where the coolant has been leaking right below the oil filter housing and that the block towards the front of the engine bay has coolant over it as well as the oil level sensor.
FYI, if replacing the belly pan I do suggest getting the ECS tuning Aluminum floor pan. Quality product and will protect from debris and tire treads getting into the car underbody. You do need to remove (same as felt pan) for oil changes and access. I’d also suggest getting some additional white plastic tabs that fit into the frame and the screws hold the belly pan in - they get beat up / brittle and are cheap.
Our cars are low and anything to protect the oil pan and engine area is a positive IMHO.
Looks like I may have been insanely lucky - after a road trip of many thousands of miles, it decides to begin to leak 15 minutes away from home.
I took the lower tray off, and it's pretty evident that something on the front of the engine is causing it, most likely the oil filter housing or that plastic hose connector above it. Most likely tomorrow I will take apart the upper portion of the engine bay to get a better view before I put an order in - not driving the car obviously and thankfully didn't do the oil change.
Photos below show where the coolant has been leaking right below the oil filter housing and that the block towards the front of the engine bay has coolant over it as well as the oil level sensor.
Sounds like a classic oil filter housing leak. Disassembly will tell the tale, but sure sounds like it. Coolant runs down the vehicle-front facing part of the crankcase, streaks backwards (towards rear of vehicle) along the bottom of the oil pan and dries there, stuff gets on the oil level sensor because it's in the way, you get the idea.
Curious if anyone has replaced the 11118511205 engine block connector pipe with this metal one? Figured to replace this while I am in there. I got this one from work and forgot to order the specific Loctite from ECS during my oil filter housing order (due this Wed). Reading online reviews make it sound like this will last a lifetime or only a few thousand miles with the RTV eventually leaking. I had planned to use this with Permatex Ultra Black RTV (what I use on my classic for nearly everything RTV needed) but thinking grey RTV may make more sense, blue, or make a composite type gasket?
I am curious - the Bremen one uses dirk gray, but you have another (“Rein”) that states includes the gasket (also aluminum). Any feedback on one vs. the other?
Rein aka CRP design theirs with a gasket. Its new so we have not had any feedback yet. I know people have used ours with the dirko and its good, no leaks so far.
Interesting, do you know if the gasket used in theirs is the exact same as the plastic variant? I see that the gasket shown in the photo of their press release is of the black plastic part but the tab in the photo of the aluminum one would lead me to believe it's the same: https://crpautomotive.com/wp-content...ange_Final.pdf
I'd probably just buy this one if it didn't ship in a month
Bought some dirko grey per ECS suggestions, didn't look necessary to do as the plastic wasn't leaking, but the gasket looks tired.
As for the main leak, looks like a pretty common story for the oil filter housing. The entire area around this was insanely dirty, so not sure if that was an indication that this may have been leaking for a while before it gave away entirely. Replaced it with the ECS Tuning Bremmen Parts one https://www.ecstuning.com/b-bremmen-...28585235m~brp/ and refilled with G48 coolant from my local NAPA.
Side note, originally in this thread I posted about this oil filter housing being available from Amazon and had an opportunity to get one very cheap, this was after I already ordered the ECS one, and it arrived today (after I already installed the ECS one) and the 2 units are very similar, the only difference was that the BP one has a 13mm bolt for the 1st oil drain while the Amazon cheapie has an OEM style torx. Both BP and Amazon have the valve installed in the oil filter compartment with a preinstalled filter. Visually, the gaskets look the same and both come with bolts that don't have the o-ring (ECS page shows that they do, but they don't). There were many QA stamp markings on the ECS one while the Amazon one doesn't and the ECS one was much more professional packed than the Amazon one. There is probably only a single factory making these so they are largely the same, I imagine the additional cost of BP is that they are under more scrutiny for extra quality assurance.
Currently monitoring coolant and oil levels, planning on doing an oil change tomorrow.
As for the main leak, looks like a pretty common story for the oil filter housing.
Yeah, it's a known thing on the B series engines (B36, B38, B46, B48, haven't heard yet about the higher-numbered Bx6/Bx8 or Bx6C/Bx8C engines yet, but I figure those are coming), and not just in the MINIs -- across the BMW line. And with respect to the one you have, yours is now the fifth or sixth I've seen break in exactly the same spot in exactly the same way (including my own).
BMW plastic = wear crack snap. (that would be the oil filter housing).
BMW rubber = shrink shrivel separate degrade leak (seal) or snap (upper engine mount, harmonic balancer). (that would be the gasket that looked aged; same goes for other o-ring type things under the hood, based on what I have observed at least).
