I have, rather quickly, developed an oil drip. Appears from the bell housing area on a Aisin transmission.
is there a possibility it could be the oil cooler seals?

Really don’t want it to be a rear main seal, but that is the area.

For those who have done the oil cooler seals, where did your oil leak manifest itself?

Thanks for any tips!

 

Now that you've noticed it, get in there and try and see if its coming from anywhere up high. Might have to move some stuff out the way. Then, clean up the engine REALLY good and regularly check (daily) for where it might be coming from. Hopefully, you can find the leak source.

 

Most of the time its the oil cooler connection. +1 I would clean as much off and then inspect. Most of the time and on my old r56 it came down the front, in the middle of the two halves.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...placement.html

R56 Slow oil leak under car - North American Motoring

 

Just a repeat of what others have offered. Clean up all oil. Use Brake Cleaner in an aerosol can and you'll likely need more then one can, and lots of paper towels.You want the areas where a leak might be completely clean and with no oil residue.

Start engine and let it idle. Arrange so you can observe at least the suspected oil cooler fittings/lines and oil cooler proper.

And look at where the bellhousing and engine join. Any oil leak sign there makes the rear main seal suspect #1. But if you see oil leak sign from the oil cooler area well, maybe the rear main seal is ok. You'll have to fix the oil cooler leak. Clean the oil away again and run the engine some more to 1) Ensure the oil cooler leak is gone; 2) Ensure the rear main seal (or some thing else) is not leaking oil.

 

Did a clean up last night, will do a run and observe.

If it is the oil cooler, which area has better access to view?

Sounds like a easy answer, but I do have a probe camera, and both via the oil filter area and turbo side are difficult to observe.

I will be trying later today or tomorrow.

 

Up near the housing, you have to get around the downpipe heat shield to really see it. Maybe a probe camera with a twisty neck can see it.

 

Definitely a housing seal. Just started, so not a lot yet.

Parts ordered, will update with any relevant discoveries.

 

Housing seal I take to mean not an oil cooler related leak?

If so could be a rear main seal. I have had 2 cars (not MINIs though) manifest a RMS leak. One was covered under the warranty. The other I had to pay for.

But the tech told me he wouldn't know for sure it was the RMS until he dropped the transmission. With these engines there were other areas an oil leak could appear.

As it turned out in both cases it was the RMS.

Just a head's up: The old seal will have worn a shallow groove into the journal. This is normal. If you put the new seal in where it lines up with this groove the new seal can leak after a while. So the new seal wants to be installed square and without cocking it first one way then another and not quite as deep as the old seal. This is so the new seal rides on the unworn portion of the journal.

 

Yep, my haste in posting again.

This is the oil cooler housing.
The snake camera revealed a good amount of oil in that area.

Good tip about the old seal and grooving. Groovy post, thanks.

 

Never mind wrong thread.apologies

 

Happened again similar thread evidently.

but if you are doing the oil cooler you may as well do the oil filter housing!