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R60/R61 Stock Problems/IssuesDiscussions related to warranty related issues and repairs, or other problems with the OEM parts and software for R60 AND R61 MINI Cooper and Cooper S MINIs.
Sometimes when I’m driving I’ll notice a burny smell/like something just isn’t right. Not sure if this is normal or not, I know it’s probably not. I was looking around the engine bay and noticed that inside the silver thing the arrows are going to, it is cracked around the cap/seal. Not sure what they are if that might be it.
i also just got my oil changed two days ago and the engine cap had some gunk on it that I wiped off to see if it reappears. Thank you all for your help.
*Picture is not my car*
"the silver thing the arrows are going to" are the shock towers. The rubber bit on the inside is the actual shock mount. If those are cracked, they need to be replaced before your handling goes all wonky.
If there was "gunk" on the oil cap, the monkeys that changed the oil might have gotten oil on the exhaust. That could be the source of your smell, but it is near impossible to diagnose a smell over the internet. (almost as difficult as diagnosing a noise)
Yes the rubber on the inside is what is cracked not the metal. What can I google to find the parts themselves and is it difficult. The smell comes through my air vents into the cabin. It’s not from the exhaust.
The smell can indeed be burning oil from an oil change (burning off the exhaust). If it doesn't go away in a week, or change with recirculate on, keep looking.
My guess is oil on the exhaust, or something like that.
The suspension bits should be OK to drive on, but you'll probably want to take care of it sooner rather than later. Just keep an eye on those shock mounts until you can get them replaced.
Ok thank you for the help, is it a dyi job? I don’t have a lot of mechanical experience pretty much just oil change and changing brake pads is about it.
In theory, changing the suspension is not a difficult job, but definitely much more difficult than changing oil. There are how-to's out there, and you will need some specialized tools.
I think you should leave any repairs (other than an oil change & maybe the brake pads) to those who do it for a living or know exactly what they are doing.
Michaelh
No need to carpool yet!
That mount is beginning to fail though, so I'd arrange to get them both changed when you can.
I'd use an independent MINI garage & have them check for 'mushrooming' of the towers while they are in there.
Meanwhile, tighten up the 3 bolts on the top of each tower - it looks like at least one of them is loose.
'Mushrooming' is the top of the shock towers being pushed up - the 3 bolts should be perfectly vertical (& tight!).
It's a very common problem & there are many threads on here - just search for 'mushroom' & you won't be kept in the dark.
Sorry, I don't know about the cost, but it's not huge.
I did this a few months ago on both sides. I ordered the LEMFORDER strut mounts from ECS it’s not a hard job but it takes a few hours. If it’s your first time I would book off the whole day for it. You’ll also need an alignment afterwords since you take both shocks off. Check newtis for step by step. The only special part I used was the shock compression tool that I rented from autozone.
If you haven’t worked on cars before though besides oil changes I would suggest you take it to a shop. If it’ll take you the good part of a day to do it your time might be worth more than paying an Indy shop to do it.
