Well this sucks. Car just hit 90k miles and has started to blow blue smoke out of the exhaust at idle. I thought it was just the PCV but my mechanic put it up onto a lift and we saw fresh oil coming from somewhere towards the front of the engine (about 20 minutes of drive time). I opted to take the car home for now to do some research rather than have the mechanic just do some exploring.

I've had the timing chain done, there's no knocking, and the turbo isn't making any undue noise.

Anyone know what it could be? I can't think of anything that would cause an internal AND external leak...

EDIT: Check engine light is NOT on

UPDATE:
Mechanic #2 found that the oil filter housing had a bad gasket (just n14 things). But after letting the car idle for an hour saw no concerning amount of smoke coming from the exhaust. He said the pressure level in the crank case was fine and saw no fouling on the spark plugs.
So one issue has been fixed but the other sadly remains a mystery. Maybe he'll see something as he's taking it apart. (can't believe how hard it is to get to the filter housing gasket)

 

Quite possible two separate things that just happen to be occurring at the same time. A 2010 model will certainly be getting older, and will start to show some maintenance items. Your first course of action would be to wrap your head around doing some of the upcoming items on your own, and not paying a mechanic to prod around on the car. You will save soooo much money doing chores on your own, and you'll get a better feel for what the car needs and wants.

I have always believed a smoky exhaust at idle was a sign of bad PCV system. At your car's age, I would look into replacing the cam cover, since the PCV system is integral to the cover.

For the front oil leak, this one might take some poking and prodding to see where it might be coming from. A couple of places would be the oil filter housing where it mounts to the block, or the turbo oil feed line. Either one isn't an expensive fix, but the location will make it harder to get to without removing a bunch of stuff.

 

They added UV dye to the oil and had me drive it around for a week. I've got a black light, where would I expect to see oil coming from if it was either of those two issues? It looks like the oil feed line for the turbo would likely be leaking where it taps INTO the turbo itself (which I conveniently covered with another heat shield last year).
What about the oil filter housing?

Also I see that Detroit Tuned has a full kit for both of those issues. I may just place an order.

I don't mind diagnosing engine issues on my own, but I'm not confident enough to work on it myself.

 

I just spoke to a shop and they said the check engine light would be on if it was the PCV. And its definitely NOT on.

 

I don't buy that. I would expect a CEL if there was a massive PCV failure or leak.

 

So then could it be a partial failure somehow? Like I said, I'm really only seeing the issue at idle, and the car doesn't idle very often.

 

The PCV system in the Mini engine is designed to both remove excess crankcase pressure, and to provide some level of oil separation from the ventilated gases. If you are getting blue smoke at idle, my assumption would be that the cam cover is not effectively separating the oil vapors from the crankcase tubing. That is purely my assumption based on similar experiences.

 

I appreciate the help! I'm going to take it to another spot tomorrow that will hopefully ACTUALLY look at the car.

 

Quick update:
Good news is the external leak was the gasket for the oil filter housing, so nbd.
Still waiting on confirmation about the blue smoke. New mechanic says he tested the crank case pressure and didn't see anything abnormal.

 

If your PCV is original I can almost guarantee it's due. My 2012 started consuming more oil this year and when I replaced the valve cover the PCV rubber was hard as a rock. No CEL.

Not saying it's definitely your problem, but if it's never been replaced probably worth trying.

 

I tried going through my repair history (from mini) to see if it was ever replaced. Not sure its been done in the past 50k miles so maybe?
That being said, the mechanic didn't see any fouling on the spark plugs. Did you find that on yours?

 

I didn't, no, just increased oil consumption. Valve cover gasket was starting to leak a bit anyway so I just replaced the whole thing.

Also, I forgot that you've got a 2010, which is different from my 2012. The PCV system is different and I'm not really familiar with the earlier cars, so not sure if they have the same problem.

 

You may not get any spark plug fouling, since the engine is a direct injection. The PCV will foul the intake valves and cause a bunch of carbon build up.

 

So mechanic #2 did the oil filter housing gasket and I took the car on a road trip over the holiday weekend. I had 0 issues, no smoke @ idle and the engine idled at normal RPM. It doesn't make any sense but it seems like the filter housing gasket leak may have been causing some other issues?

Side Note: I have no proof of this, but I suspect mechanic #1 did something to cause the insane amount of smoke I saw. He kept trying to tell me he was going to have to take the whole engine apart and likely replace the piston rings. (also I NEVER saw as much smoke as I did after he did the "oil change")