All, any help would be GREATLY appreciated! this is a 2010 mini-s... I've got some sort of leak below the front of the engine... it's not radiator fluid... but not sure what it is... see pictures below. this is underneath the front part of the engine.

 

First of all, what I'd do is clean up the area there then let the car run and the check for the leak......
What you have located in that area is the oil cooler housing and the auxiliary water pump.....

 

Yoshimura, are those items (oil cooler housing & auxillary water pump) difficult to fix?

 

The silver aluminum piece with fins has two sets of gaskets.......oil cooler gaskets and adapter gaskets....
the black piece is the auxiliary water pump......that just unbolts and replace the hoses....
The oil cooler housing is a little more detailed but not hard...... you need to put the vehicle in service mode.
Then loosen exhaust, down pipe and remove heat shields......once off the housing can be separated to by
taking out the torque screws to change both sets of gaskets...

 

I just bumped up a post for you check that one out above should help you out.........

 

Yoshimura 1, thank you... I've cleaned it up and will run a week and see where leak is.... and will be doing some research on what to do whether oil cooler gasket or auxillary water pump... if auxillry water pump, are saying to replace pump along with hoses?

 

As long as the hoses are good you can reuse.......

 

You really don't need to drive it for a week to diagnose the leak one day or few hours......
have you checked the oil level as well?

 

Well I cleaned it up and now I'm further confused... I'm not sure if same leak or another one... the picture below is an underneath picture of leaks since I cleaned it... it seems(?) to be leaking more now... or there's another leak? Arrow 2 down from top (under nut) seems to be the area where it's leaking and dripping on rest of spots...

 

Oil filter housing gasket i bet. Look up the front side of the engine under it.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...cement-10.html

 

Check and see if the rear crankshaft seal is leaking.........spray some brake cleaner around the area.
Put the car on jackstands and check the area with a light while vehicle is running.......The leak
will definitely reveal it's self.......

 

All (and Yoshimura-1), after doing some research, I seriously think based upon my picture and what the youtube video from Mod Mini below says, that's it a leaky oil filter housing gasket (thank you ECSTuning). So... right now I'm pulling the front end off and will be replacing (1) oil filter housing gasket, (2) oil feed line, and (3) oil return line. My question is, since I'm this deep into it, should I go ahead and replace the (4) auxillary water pump? And yes, Yoshimura-1, it HAS been loosing a little oil, maybe that in itself has identified oil filter housing gasket. Hopefully this will fix the problem!

 

Glad to help. Yep follow the diy on the forums and you will be good. You can do the aux pump while you are in their, a little insurance. Also when i did mine i did flush the oil (oil change) and did the coolant flush.

 

Gotcha... wish me luck!!!