I did my research online, but apparently not enough. I cannot get the oil cannister cover to screw back into the cannister. It is getting late, and working in a poorly lit garage has persuaded me to post this in hopes of receiving an answer by daylight.

I removed the old filter from the cannister cover, cleaned everything up, removed the old O-ring, oiled and installed a new O-ring, then pressed the new filter in until it 'popped.' When I tried to screw it in place, I managed only a fraction of a turn before the threads locked. I know that I should be able to get several turns before resorting to the socket wrench for final tightening.

I checked for ideas online, and tried several. First, I removed the filter from the cannister cover. Concerned that removing it ruined it (does it?), I put another new filter into the cannister first, and then tried screwing the cover over that. This did not work at all, as I could not get the threads to engage until after I pushed down so hard that the filter "popped" into the cannister cover just like it did the first time. From there, I lost all the supposed advantage of putting the filter into the cannister first.

After several tries, both by myself and a more mechanically inclined friend, I removed that filter as well (and I don't have a third one), and tried taking the suggestion of doing 'practice' screw-ons without the filter in the way. I also tried the idea of spinning the cannister backwards and "waiting for the threads to drop." I sometimes thought I felt something when I did that, but it never resulted in a completed threading.

What am I doing wrong? Is daylight going to make this all better, or do I have a real problem here?

Thanks,
Phil

 

It honestly took me probably 50 tries before I got mine back on the last time I changed my oil. The first time it took 2.

I'm not sure what to tell you, other than that pretty much anyone who has changed their oil themselves feels your pain! Keep trying!

 

Make sure you seat the filter in both the cannister & on the shaft sticking out of the filter housing assembly. Take the filter pop on the shaft a few times, and then pop it in the cannister a few times. Remove the old O-ring and replace. Lube up the new O-ring with a dab of the new oil.

Hardest part? - the new O-ring on the cannister made it a little hard to hand torque. So the first 10-15 minutes I was worried that I could only turn the cannister about 1 1/2 full turns. Was afraid I would strip the housing. So I took the O-ring off, and then hand torque'd to get a feel of how the cannister should spin on. Put the filter on, O-ring, and then hand spun it about 1 1/2 turns. Used the socket to spin it on after that. Torque'd very slowly too. That way you can start to feel if you're going to cross thread.

Filled with 5 quarts. Fired up the MINI. Felt around the oil filter housing, no leaks. No leaks from the drain plug. drove it around the neighborhood a few times. All is good.

 

Nope, won't ruin it. You need to pop it into the cannister a few times, then pop it on the shaft in the housing a few times too. You'll be good to go...

 

It simply is not easy. Getting the canister on frustrates us all. The only thing that gets me through it is knowing that I will eventually get it. I have tried a brand new canister as well as some fine finishing of the threads with abrasive string. No difference. I have 70,000 miles on Artoo and have changed the oil myself every 5000 or those miles. 14 oil changes. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes not. But in the end I get it done.

Take a deep breath and know that it is not your fault and that nothing is broken nor will you likely break anything. It will go on in the end. Trust us.

Rich

 

Knowing that I have not and probably cannot damage the filter itself is re-assuring. I also like the idea of removing the O-ring as part of the 'practice' process.

It does not matter, of course, but the one suggestion that really confuses me is the one where you put the filter in the cannister first, and then screw the cover over those two pieces. That seemed to leave me further from the goal than any other method.

 

Another small tip is that you should turn the canister counter clockwise until you hear and feel a small pop. This will align the grooves thus allowing you to now turn clockwise to tighten it. This nifty little trick works on a lot of differnet things.

 

The first time I did mine, I got it all done, started up the car, and after a few seconds, starting hearing a hissing sound. I shut the car off, and it was then that I noticed the thirty dollars of mobile 1 coming from underneath the car. I cross-threaded and cut the o-ring. Had to get another case of oil, and re-used the old o-ring.

 

No, it's a multi-step process. Press it on the the shaft sticking out of the filter housing, (a few times. slide it on, slide it off). Then take the filter and press it into the cannister, (again, a few times. Slide it on, slide it off). Then put the filter in the cannister and go do the assembly process. You have to "ream" the filter on both ends to get it "fit" and ease the assembly.

 

This was the part that finally did the trick for me. Still, there were some moments of doubt. When I removed both the filter and the ring, the cover verily flew into the threads; I could practically spin it in. When I put the O-ring back, I could not hand tighten at all.

So, herewith is my small contribution to some future Complete Idiot's Guide to Changing Your Mini's Oil:

The first thing to know is that it is not just you that is the problem; this is truly a bad design. You cannot see what you are doing, and you can barely get tools to where you need to do it. The penultimate step is putting the oil cannister housing cover back onto the cannister. If you do it wrong, you will cross-thread the two pieces, after which you may have a variety of serious problems.

So, you want to make sure the threads are aligned, but you cannot see what you are doing, and they do not want to fall into place voluntarily. Further, both the filter and the O-ring are going to conspire to make your job more difficult. Try it with both items out first, and you'll see how easy it can be. Try it with either item in place, and all of a sudden nothing wants to line up. The filter seems a little too big for the space, so you have to push past that to get the threads to connect. As you push, the filter is going to do its best to compress unevenly, with the result that the threads just won't line up. I found that compressing the filter a little more after it popped into the cover helped to reduce this problem.

Still, the instructions I was reading told me that if I could not hand turn the cover several turns I was doing something wrong, and I never got close to even a half rotation of the cover before it locked up on me.

The key to understanding how to solve the problem is to understand the O-ring. When you take the old filter out, you will find that once you get the cover loose, you can unscrew it the rest of the way by hand. That may lead you to expect the same degree of easitude when you put the new filter in place.

You might expect that, but you'd be wrong. Consider this: The reason you have the O-ring in the first place is to complete a seal. The reason you replace the O-ring each time is that the old ring has been flattened by compression, and it just isn't as big as it was when it was installed. As a result, it may break, or it just may not seal as well as a new ring.

So, a new ring has a greater circumference than does the ring it replaces, and that skoosh more rubber is going to get in the way of tightening the cover. You need to use more force than it took to unscrew the cover, but not so much force as to crossthread same.

Once you have the cover, O-ring and filter put together and lubed, try screwing it in by hand. If it goes a good distance on its own, you are home free. If it locks up quickly, you need to figure out what to do next. The question is whether you are cross-threading, or simply meeting resistance from the O-ring.

Feel around the "lip" of the cover. If you are crossthreading, you'll be able to tell that one side is much further in than the other side. Put a wrench in place and try, gently, to turn it. You will find it takes a lot of strength to turn it at all. You do not want to learn just how much strength, just that it won't turn easily.

Unscrew and try again, and keep trying until it feels like the lip cover is roughly aligned with the cannister. Put the socket in place again and start turning. It will take a little muscle, but not a lot. Keep turning until it either gets too hard to turn, which suggests something is wrong, or until it is fully tightened and, viola, it is finally time to add the oil.

OK, this is a lot more verbose than it needs to be, but if it helps some other poor idiot like me, then its worth it. And if it doesn't, it might at least help me next time.

 

Its funny. I found this suggestion last night, and was sure it was going to solve my problem. I felt the little pop, turned it the other way, and it locked up every time. It was the discovery that it is OK to use a little bit of wrench in the early stages of tightening that did it for me.

 

I think the filter is just a bit big for the space, and that flattening it down a tiny bit more after the 'pop' is what does the trick.

Look at me, I've just completed the first oil change of my life, and now I'm an expert!

 

Whovous, congrats! you're an oil changing veteran now! welcome to the ranks....

 

Anyway, thanks all for the suggestions. The job is done, and next time is going to be a whole lot easier.

 

Same thing here... thank god i re-cheked for leak befor i turn on the car, thats when i noticed that i had messed the new o-ring.

 

im sure you guys are already doing this, but i finger coat the
o-ring with fresh oil before putting the canister back on.

i feel for the flat section of the threads on the engine side
and align the canister's flat thread.

i then use a short handle wrench and slowly and gently
turn cw making sure im not cross threading.

then just tighten snug.

done.

 

Man, what is the point? Why does BMW/Mini persist in this design? On my '97 318Ti at least you could see what you were doing and had some room to work.

Haven't they heard of the typical integrated filter in a disposible canister?

Works great for 98% of all the other cars on the road.

It is frustrating when they do such silly things to such good cars.

 

Not another one of these canisters, I had the same thing on a Mazda 3. And when you never dealt with one before, had to call the dealer to find out what the housing looked like. Guessing a black housing on the Mini to?

 

I've changed the oil myself twice sofar and both times were a big time PITA, but got it done with more time and patience required than on all previous cars owned:impatient . I too had problems with visibility and access room and out of desperation removed the heat shield above the exhaust manifold. Just remove three 13mm bolts and the access is vastly improved. Am considering having it done by the dealer next time no matter the cost. I'd like to chitchat with the engineer who fathered this POS design .

 

Just did my oil change yesterday for the first time on my '06 S. I indexed my filter cover by drawing a line at the 9 o'clock position, with a permanent marker, from the edge of the nut to the outer edge. I used a 36 mm socket with 1/2" drive. You may be able to use an end wrench also, but I already had this socket from a previous car. Because of the close proximity of the filter to the car body I found that I could only turn the filter cover one turn, by my index mark, and still get the socket off. A shorter socket or thinner socket wrench might alleviate this problem, but is not necessary because after the one full turn I removed the wrench and turned the cover by hand.

It turns pretty hard but if you grip it firmly it is not hard to do. Watching the index mark as it came around, I found that exactly 2 more turns removed it. Index mark started at 9o'clock and ended there as the cover came off. Next I jacked the car up on passenger side and removed the drain plug with a 12mm end wrench, completing the oil drain. Next replace the drain plug and let the car down.

Next I took the new oil cartridge and slid it on the shaft on the motor two times to ensure an easy slip-on when I spun the cover with filter back on.
I then put the cartridge into the cover, seating it all the way in, and slid the assembly onto the oil shaft lining the index mark up at the 9o'clock position just like it came off. Push it all the way on then turn it by hand 2 full turns, by counting index mark as it comes around. Next put socket wrench on and tighten 1 more turn with index mark lining up at 9o'clock same as when it started. SIMPLE and foolproof!

Put 5 quarts of synthetic oil in and you're done. One thing I forgot to mention is to lube the new o-ring with a slight amount of oil rubbed on it before you replace the cartridge cover. If you follow this method I think you will find it easy to change your own oil with no worries of cross-threading the filter cover because a wrench is not needed to restart the complete first revolution of the cover.

 

As it turned out, my magnum opus did not help me the next time. Instead, the next time I changed the oil myself, the cannister cover went on as if it was designed to go on easily.

Sadly, I am now on my next oil change (I also paid for one somewhere along the way, I think) and it once again just ain't working. I've just reread my Idiot's Guide, and we'll soon see if it helped this idiot or not...

 

Sounds like the oil filter/canister is about as brilliantly designed as the power steering pump and fan.

 

I feel very confident if you do this, it will be a snap.

Just like the others have said, push the filter down into the cannister to spread the bottom hole in the filter,

Remove the filter and now fit the filter onto the cannister cover and leave it there.

Use grease, not oil and coat the new o-ring, also grease the inside top inch of the cannister and here is the trick, put some grease on the center hole of the lower part of the filter. Now it will all just slide right in, ready for hand turning a couple of turns. The grease is the secret. Just plain ole wheel bearing grease.

YD

 

"Use grease, not oil and coat the new o-ring, also grease the inside top inch of the cannister and here is the trick, put some grease on the center hole of the lower part of the filter. Now it will all just slide right in, ready for hand turning a couple of turns. The grease is the secret. Just plain ole wheel bearing grease."
Yup. Makes a major difference. Good call, YD.
-skip-

 

Yeah, but I was smart enough to pay someone else to play with the fan when it needed attention.