I took my Cooper in to resolve an oil leak and they had to drop the transmission and replace the rear main seal in the engine. According to the Service Mgr this is the 1st one they've seen on the 2007.

 

Sorry to hear about the problem, but glad it's a warranty issue. How many miles on your car before the symptoms began? Anything unusual like strange noises/vibrations?

My dealer had to replace my 6 spd tranny at 200 miles. The new one has almost 5k on it and is working perfectly.

Thanks, and good luck!

 

Have you or anyone else added or changed the oil? Most rear main failures are from too much oil... :/

That being said, it's also entirely possible the seal was faulty or installed incorrectly at the factory.

 

I noticed it while having an break in oil change done at 1800 miles. There were no other indications of the problem.

 

No, the leak was noticed during its first oil change.

 

I recieved my MCS on May 19th......it was back at the dealer two weeks later to have the rear main seal replaced. at first I thought it was cosmoline melting off the engine.
after the seal was replaced is when all the fun started. I began to have all sorts of transmission problems after that.

 

What type of problems?

 

the first problem was a loud knock from the trans at idle in neutral. they first replaced the fly wheel, then the clutch and throw out bearing, and finally the whole tranny. About 800 miles later the famous 3 - 2 squeal reared it's ugly head. Thats where you shift from 3rd to 2nd and it lets out a banshee howl.

 

Ugh, I hate those damn banshees.

 

I have had my rear main seal replaced when the car had 10,000 miles on it, and now it needs it again with 22,000 miles on it. This is a standard 2005 Mini, no-s, not convertible. I'm sorry I bought it.

 

Carey, you're in a '07+ thread...

 

I have also heard this banshee howl. It only seems to appear when I let out the clutch too slow at too high of an RPM. I have adjusted my shifting to eliminate this noise. Let me know if yours is the same please.

 

I found that I shift better when in sport mode, so that is what I drive in 100% of the time. I rarely hear the noise now.

 

Ditto. (I've never had the noise, though.)

 

Can anyone give me a ballpark of cost for fixing a leaking rear main seal? Should I have the clutch replaced at the same time? Car has 44,444 miles on it. Clutch seems fine.

 

Might as well replace that, the fork, pivot, throwout bearing, and guide tube while it's all apart. That's a lot of labor to take the transmission off!