Hey guys. New member here and new a mini owner as well, so please forgive me haha.. I've noticed I have an oil leak coming from this area and I believe I've narrowed it down to this point. I'm not sure what this is a cover for but the 4th bolt ( on bottom not shown) looks to have a spacer and what seems to be a bolt hole going into the block. The bolt holding this cover on is not long enough and I believe should be plugging this hole. Can anyone tell me if this is correct or if I'm missing something that should be plugging this hole. Currently waiting on a service manual just hoping someone can give me some insight since I have no idea what this cover is for and what should be behind it . Thanks in advance

^this is the cover^
Round object in picture

the cover (or whatever it is) is below the
factory rubber inlet hose, right behind
the inlet to the turbo.

 

Pics work now, my original guess was wrong...move along, nothing to see here.

 

Sorry yetti96 bump for better pictures. I don't think its the valve cover because I'd have oil on top of this cover but i could be wrong. I believe its coming from this piece at the lowest bolt hole or from behind it.

 

I believe your talking about the vacuum pump.

 

Yes that is the vacuum pump. I have a pic on my site of it off the car.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/used-va...14-engine.html

 

Thanks way & snacks.. does this just pop on and off once you remove the screws. And would this cause an intermittent oil leak. Sorry I'm not sure how this works.

 

I believe if you undo those bolts the pump comes off not the cover, I have also read that if that pump is not lubricated it will fail, this is a bad thing to happen. Hopefully Way can step in and advise, but oil leaking means oil not lubricating.

 

Well since I was shooting in the dark (literally because no pics) I now look like an idiot, but I was wrong.

 

I did find a post showing the vacuum pump removed and believe the hole to lube the pump could be blocked since it seems to be the leading causefor these pumps to seize. Maybe its just leaking bellow. . Thanks for the support guys. Ill follow up when I have time to pull er off

 

finally got around to pulling the vacuum pump off today with the bad weather and being sick outta my way. My leak definitely seems to be from here. I think the o-ring between the pump and the head is fine, though I did pull it out and flip it since it seemed a little flat on the one side. I believe the leak is coming from the cover held on to the pump and from what I've found online, there's another o-ring. Is there any where I can order this other o-ring.. I think I read that it was orange.

 

Well what I can offer is that the dealer doesn't have the inner o ring for the vacuum pump. We have to replace the whole unit when it starts leaking.