Hi everyone.

2 days ago, I did an oil change using mityvac. The car is R56 Cooper S. I also changed the oil filter and put a new oring. After the oil change I started having leakage issues from the oil filter housing/cap during driving and idling.

A friend of mine, who's more skilled than myself, took a look, and decided that the cap might have been overtightened. He was right, after he put the cap back, the leakage disappeared during idle. This morning, after the drive to work, I notice the leakage again. A lot less this time, but still there.

I will take the car to the MINI dealer, get a new filter cap (I also broke a little piece that pushes the filter to the housing) and have them put the cap back and torque it exactly to 25nm...

Anyone had similar issues?

 

Luckily that cap is under $30. As long as you didn't crack the filter housing (some BMW models experience this as a common) you should be fine. And if you did crack the filter housing, that part is $124 on parts dot com.

That specified torque sounds too high to me. But I haven't changed my Cooper's oil filter yet (still running on the last dealer oil change)

 

We checked both the cap and housing, nothing seems to be cracked. In anyways, how a plastic cap can crack a metal/aluminum housing?

My friends theory is that if you over tighten the cap, the oring is pushed hence not sealing the cap.

 

The filter cap o-ring was included in the filter kit right? Try your old seal if you have it still. Or get another filter kit and try a new o-ring.

 

Yes the filter cap o-ring was included in the filter kit (which is OEM MINI filter kit). I can't try the old seal, I am at work, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

I dropped my filter housing on the first oil change, must have hit the concrete just right because it broke it.

A new housing cost me about $80 at the dealership. The parts guy said the stock them because they get broken rather often.

I suspect yours just got the "o" ring out of place on the first try. Easy to do.

Remember to put some oil on it after you install a new one so it can slide smoothly to its seated position. If you don't oil it it can catch and deform as it drags on the oil pump housing.

Get a new cap, a new ring, put some oil on it and torque it back in place, it'll be fine I'm sure.

 

Does the filter itself have to be place the same way the old one was. Placing the new one upside down, can that impose a problem? Just wondering.

 

Maybe..? The filter looks identical both ways.

 

Mystery is resolved. Apparently, the o-ring is not supposed to be all the way up to the 'head' of the cap. The shop foreman fixed it. He said, the o-ring needs to be where all the treads are finished. He said there's a groove there, and the o-ring should be there.