My wife damaged the tranny pan of her R56 Mini at a gas station somehow (see photo). As of now there are no leaks. Does anyone know of any good reasons to replace the pan... or could it just be left as-is without a lot of risk? I'm thinking that it's probably OK, but just want to be sure I'm not missing anything.

 

Is her car an automatic? That looks like the engine oil pan to me. The transmissions don't really have an "oil pan".

It's hard to say if it's a problem to leave it as is. If it's not leaking now I'm sure you've disturbed the gasket between the oil pan and the engine block and it might start leaking eventually. But you can keep an eye out for oil spots and catch that before it becomes a larger problem. My biggest concern would probably be that you've disturbed the oil pump pickup and potentially put a crack or something in the pickup. If the pickup fails you're looking at toasted bearings and a new motor. Perhaps someone else can chime up exactly where the pickup is in the oil pan so you can figure out if you've potentially hit it or not.

The good news is that replacing the oil pan in these cars isn't super difficult.

 

Hi. Yes her car is auto and it is the transmission pan that is damaged.

 

definatly the trans pan. I cant tell much by the picture. I would buy a gasket and fluid and drop it to view the underside before i got a new pan.

 

The gasket is reusable, a silicone molded one. One of the bolts is difficult to get at, torx head right above a tube. The procedure for filling the trans is a bit involved, but not too bad if you are comfortable with tools.

I'm trying to remember where the pickup is, I think that it is right in the middle of the pan.

Mike