I had my 2009 in for it's oil change and a couple of bit of recall work, and the service called me late in the day to say there was a leak, or a seep, from a oil filter gasket. Though what the paper work said was oil filter housing gasket. Which makes slightly more sense. What didn't make sense was that it isn't covered and would cost $800 to fix.
Anyone else familiar with this issue?

Exact wording:Oil filter housing starting to leak coolant

 

Sounds like a good time to find an independent MINI mechanic.

 

Guessing you've been to Jackie Cooper. Take the South Sooner road down to Norman and visit with Eurosport at 3050 NW Blvd just west off I-35 or Mickeysgarage at 2320 Industrial Blvd and get a couple other opinions.

 

It's labor. They have to put your bumper in service mode, remove part of the exhaust system, and disassemble a good bit of the front end to reach that part. You can do it yourself if don't mind dealing with oil AND coolant. I did my oil feed line (which is in the same area) but I was a bit brash doing it as am only an amateur repairman.

 

Yeah I didn't doing my own service when I drove a '78 B210, I think I will let the pros handle this one.

 

Got it in one. I will look into that, thanks.

 

So Does anyone know what would cause an issue with that gasket, or why it wouldn't be covered by an extended maintenance contract?

 

What would cause the gasket to fail? I'll quote m'self from another thread: "If it has more moving parts than an anvil, something will go wrong." and "If there's a 50/50 chance that something can go wrong, 90% of the time, it will." Why did the thermostat housing gasket fail for me twice? An indie shop replaced it with a silicon type gasket that has held tight for the last 40K miles.

 

Yeah, I should know better, I used to work on steam systems, and anything hot and under pressure will eat a gasket eventually. I was mostly fishing for whether anyone knew of a common issue with the thing.

 

I had the exact quote from the SA at Grand Rapids Mini in Grand Rapids, MI, where I had my 2008 clubman in for the aux water pump and heat shield recalls . They told me that I had a cracked oil filter gasket, and was quoted for $1560. I told them to go screw themselves. Since it's a high pressure area, you would think oil would be all over, but there was not even a drop on my garage floor. I had the car at 3 different independent garages, and they all confirmed nothing wrong. Go figure!!!

 

To replace the gasket is quite the amount of work. You need to remove the downpipe to get to it and drain your coolant and oil. It was easy only because I'm doing a turbo upgrade and it was the last thing in the engine to come off. But it definitely not an easy task.

 

Factory Mini extended or 3rd party?

 

Factory maintenance/3rd party service. The person at the dealership said that replacing a gasket wasn't maintenance, but a repair. But the service contract, that I almost didn't buy, covers that part. yay! (with a deductible)

 

After all is said and done including a wee chuckle, that particular gasket failure is very rare IMO. Following this and a couple other MINI forums for the past 5 or 6 years this is the first failure of this type I've seen. Coulda been others that I missed but who knows.