Hi everyone,


I am new to this forum and have been having cold start issues with my cooper the last few months. The tensioner and all the cold start issues I see on the forums here have all been done but all my cold start issues happened AFTER these were done and now when it cold starts it had a few drops of oil of some sort on the floor. It is in an unheated shed for the winter but I take it out for drives throughout the winter depending on the weather. Does anyone know what this might be?


I really have no idea what I'm doing.....


Thanks!

 

You need to give the symptoms such as hard to crank, rough idle, etc. Could be a weak battery from storage . After it runs a while does it start easier? Does it do it every day? There may be a simple explanation in the details.

 

Ya I had the battery tested a little bit ago and I am bringing it in tomorrow to have it tested again. What worries me more is the drops of oil. If there is anything else I am missing, give me a shout. It does idle rough but gets better as the day goes along. Course the colder it is the worse it sounds. I dunno, just worried. I've replaced so many parts on my mini and honestly, I don't have the money to fix it... again. Had steering motor problems, vaccum pump issues, vanos system issues, etc., etc. I was hoping for a year with no problems! Thanks!

 

The drops of oil is to the front driver's side? If so it is the turbo oil feed lines. They tend to leak due to the o-ring . I'm about to change mine this weekend. As for hard starts if you have no warning lights it could be the battery . Are the post clean and tight? Where are you having it tested? How old is it? An easy test is to put a battery charger on your battery next time you try to start it cold. If it still does it then its not the battery. I would recommend you buy a small 20/6 amp charger just to help your battery during the cold winters. I don't know where you live but it sounds like cold weather is the norm for you. The battery charger is cheap and a better way to test the battery, plus you can always use one at home.

 

Hello,


Ok so after going through the mini and dropping die into the oil, it looks like it might be coming from the vacuum pump. Is that possible? The turbo feed lines are all dry, the oil filter gasket is dry. This is turning out to be more than what I bargained for. Any info on the vacuum pump would be great.

 

Have you checked the oil filter housing for leaks? This is a common problem with the rubber gaskets failing and the oil filter housing does warp a little bit with time because of where the mounting screws are located.

 

The other thing to look at is the valve cover. I had a leak in the front corner behind the turbo. I fixed this before I realized that the main leak was the oil filter housing. The gasket between the housing and engine block was leaking.

Honestly, if the turbo oil line is not leaking, don't lose sleep over the oil leak right now. Keep checking the oil level. When you get a chance, get a can of brake cleaner and wash down the area that has oil on it. That way when you run the car next time you may have a better chance to isolate the exact spot that the oil is coming from.

Mike

 

We will keep checking to see where it is coming from but I was also told that the oil filter housing is a 6 hour job! OMG! Is that true? If it is the valve cover or the vacuum pump what does that entail?

 

Yeah, replacing the gaskets on the oil filter housing is not fun. The worst part is that there is not much room to work and the heat shields are tough to remove.

If either your turbo oil line starts leaking, or the oil filter housing is leaking, do both at the same time. They are right next to each other on the engine.

The valve cover is not a big deal to replace, probably 30 minutes with cleaning.

I've never done the vacuum pump, so I can't describe or predict what that involves.

Mike

 

Replacing the vacuum pump is ridiculously easy, 3 bolts is all that's holding it to the head, all you would need to do before installing is line up the vacuum pump with the camshaft key and install the 3 bolts.