Welp I'm going to be that guy who creates an account on a forum and then immediately posts about his cars problems :(

I've been tasked with some maintenance on a 2006 JCW hatch and I'm looking for help identifying leaks i found while underneath the car. From what I've read some possibilities for the leaks are: power steering ( I just dont know exactly where these cars tend to leak), the clutch slave cylinder, and possibly the rear main seal. The oil drain plug may be leaking very slowly but thats an easy fix.

Here are the pictures I managed to take, hopefully there is enough here to help diagnose.

Thanks for anyone willing to help.






notice the oil on the upper part of the arm




Car has around 60k miles.

 

Looks like its leaking from the power steering lines or the pump itself.

Also, as you stated maybe a secondary oil leak coming from the pan area.

 

check with your local MINI dealer for the power steering leak....may be covered under the recall ....you will need to give them your VIN

It may have been done already, but if not, it will save a lot of $$ so you can fix something else on the car

Bryan

 

Your power steering pump and/or hoses are definitely leaking. If the clutch slave cylinder is leaking your obvious tell would be fluid loss. That leak should also be easy to see on the slave cylinder itself. The oil on your pan could be caused by either a bad seal on the drain plug, an oil pan gasket, or it could be coming from above (crankshaft position sensor o-ring). When the o-ring leaks it drips down the front of the engine, then is blown back along the underneath of the pan. Spray everything with degreaser or brake cleaner, drive it, then reassess.

 

I had the power steering leak, and it looks very similar. Mine was clearly leaking at the top of the straight hose. I also replaced the hose clamps with worm gear clamps so I could get them a little tighter. The trade-off is that they could loosen over time, but I tend to check hose clamps when I’m under the hood anyway, so am not worried.

The leak on the oil pan is harder to diagnose from the pics. It looks to me like it’s coming from the front of the engine and blowing back to coat the bottom of the pan. It could be the oil pan gasket, but also could be the crankshaft sensor o-ring. The o-ring is a little left of center, if I recall, which is where your oil seems to be, too. I recently replaced both, since I misdiagnosed my leak as the oil pan gasket, until I took more parts off and saw that the oil started at the crankshaft sensor. I did the gasket anyway, and it wasn’t that hard a job.

 

Thanks for the response, I think your onto something with the crank shaft sensor because it did seem to be coming from the front of the engine.