Hi guys,

just got my car back from repair. hoping some one can help me out understand-

symptoms- i had no heat. overheated. loss of coolant. no obvious leak.

diagnosis- coolant leaking from water pump, coolant also leaking from oil filter canister.

repair- replace water pump, replace oil filter housing.



I get the water pump. however i did ask about the filter canister-

my first question was- the oil filter canister, is this a fancy name for a normal oil filter?

second, why would coolant be leaking out of a oil filter?

i was told inside the oil filter canister there is an oil cooler, ... ok which leads me to question 3.


3- if coolant is leaking out of cooler, then out of filter canister, then it is easy to conclude that coolant is now mixed with oil through out engine?.

forth- does any one have a picture of this oil filter canister and cooler?

Thank you for the time.

 

By the oil filter canister, they mean the whole housing. The oil filter housing has coolant running through like in the R53s. There is a gasket that seals against the engine block and apparently it leaked.

The N12/14/16/18 engines have a 3way coolant passageway on the filter housing. You have coolant from the pump coming into the heat exchanger, which then goes to the turbo and the actual engine.

These coolant passageways are sealed with their own specific gasket, while the oil passageways have their own. Unless both gaskets were leaking, I dont see a way for coolant and oil to mix.

Hope that helps!
Joey

 

that does thank you.

 

Glad I was able to put my MINI knowledge to good use.