Hi all,

I had a massive oil leak which caused the low oil pressure light to come and cover the top of the gearbox with oil.

The front and lefthand side and rear of the engine were clean and dry however the gearbox side of the engine was covered in oil from top to bottom and all over the gearbox, so much so that the gearbox webbing mouldings had collected about 0 5cm of oil in several places.

i feared the head gasket had gone but no oil and water mix in either the oil or the coolant.

I bought a new replacement oil pressure sensor as this sits at the top of the head and seemed the obvious cause, as the rocker cover gasket was clean and dry.

Today I disconnected the oil pressure electrical sensor from the physical sensor , internally it was covered in oil when it should have dry - as all electrical connections should be.

I replaced the oil pressure sensor with a new one, some £7 and cleaned the electical connector and clipped them together.

Fingers crossed.... when I started the car, no lower pressure oil light came on and bingo the problem was solved.

I had read lots of posts on here about horror stories regarding oil leaks. My finders are (apologies for the obvious here):

1. Oil flows downhill
2. The generally is no oil stain where the leak is as the constant flow of feesh oil cleans the area, the dark oil marks are far away from the leak where the oil has collected dirt and grime and emulsified.
3. Think logically and don't panic
4. check every connector and sensor and do in order and be thorough

In my case the obvious and cheapest fix solved the problem.

for info the car is a mini clubman cooper r55 1.6 with 107k miles on the clock.


Thanks all

Simon