I have a 2008 Cooper Base 129,xxx miles (1.6 Liter). I am noticing a very small oil leak somewhere on my engine, and I can also smell it burning. I have been on Mini Parts Direct searching for gaskets, but I am wondering if I could forego Original Mini parts, and do something like the Victor Reinz gasket set that is listed. I have no idea what the maintenance history was on the car before I bought it, so I thought while I was having the mechanic do all of the gaskets, I thought it would be a good idea to look at the timing chain, guides, and tensioners.

I would appreciate anyone's input on anything else I might need to be checking on while I have the engine apart fixing my small oil leak.

Thanks in advance

 

Victor Reinz=garbage.....I stop using anything they make after having to warranty so many oil stand, valve cover gaskets, etc....

 

Genuine, elring, corteco, and some other are good. Fel-pro the main crank seals seem to last the longest.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2008-...s/Valve_Cover/

 

I'd first determine the cause of the leak. You can buy an inexpensive bore scope from amazon that will bluetooth link to your phone/ipad. Easy way to seek out hidden issues without tearing everything apart.

 

ECS and Texas are spot on above. I have a 1.6 2008 too with 150K miles. I have needed to do the crankshaft seal, valve cover gasket and timing chain tensioner bolt. All are easy DIY projects if you are handy. Since you smell oil, I would assume it is high on the engine and contacting heated surfaces as it drops lower. I would look closely around the valve cover gasket first. Then make sure your timing chain bolt it updated and tightened to torque spec. The oil filter housing gasket also tends to leak although I have not needed to do this on my car.

 

Lancaster,
Did you happen to find info on doing the crankshaft seal here or on the interweb? Mine is leaking and I'm beginning to smell the oil burning in the cabin. Need to do soon.

Thanks,
-J

 

I wound up having a shop do my front crank seal. They quoted me $250 total, @$100/hr labor and I think it's a $35part. That tells me it's a DIY capable job. Looks like ECS Tuning makes a puller and sells the seal. I had them do mine because of the burning oil smell and I wasn't certain that seal could leak that badly. The smell issue wound up being the oil filter housing. Apparently MINI used square faced seals on this housing, which has both oil and coolant flow through it. Mechanic said the material plus being a square cut contributes to these seals failing, seems like a common issue. Anyway, the exhaust pipe is directly below this, thus the burning smell. That repair was fairly expensive because they have to remove the turbo and replace a turbo line and another seal. I should've looked the repair up, because it's also a DIY job if you're handy. Most of the cost from the shop was in labor time.

 

There's one thing about having owned a couple of Jaguar V12s - it puts any future oil leaks into perspective. Mini dealer says mine has a huge oil leak. I think it's minuscule.

If a British car stops leaking oil, that usually means it's run out.

 

The R56 is not a british car. This more a french/german thing you are driving. The Mini can easily be made leak free, and it's worth it. Keeping it leaking means deferred maintenance on those, and it won't go well.

 

Yes, but it's made in Britain, which means it's subject to the UK laws about compulsory oil leaks.