Ok, after my oil leak suddenly got worse dealer had me bring her over and leaver her. Thirty minutes after leaving the dealer they called me and said they'd found the problem, a solenoid valve was leaking. My question is is there a solenoid valve on a mini that would leak engine oil ? The first time it leaked several months ago they fixed it by replacing a o ring on the oil pump and that did seem to fix it. Started leaking again a few weeks ago. Starting to get a bit aggravated

 

Did you ask them to be more specific?
Which side of the engine was the leak.
A "solenoid valve" is an electro-mechanical device.

- Erik

 

Leaks from right (passenger) side of car toward front of engine

 

There are solenoid valves in the variable timing system, so yes this sounds right.

 

the vanos solenoide is located above the timing tensioner. this could leak engine oil from the valve train.

 

"tech found oil leaking from wire to oil pump solenoid valve. Necessary to replace oil pump solenoid.
Removed axle carrier and axle. Removed oil pan. Replaced oil pump solenoid valve. Revealed oil pan and reinstalled axle assembly. Topped up with 4.5 quarts of oil. Retested and found all ok this time"

Well, I hope so. Man it was sure great to get back in he mini after driveing a rental Chevy Aveo for four days. What a horrible car.

 

At T ***:

My wife bought her 2011 MCS hardtop this past Sept and it presented the same leak you are describing. Although her car was a certified pre-owned lease, we did not expect a car with 14k miles to have oil leaks. We brought the Cooper back to the original dealer "Universal City Mini" and even under warranty they gave us the run-around and told us that there was no leak. So we decided to take the car to a different stealership to have it checked. We brought it to Calabasas Mini. We live in California, just in case you were wondering. The first time they replaced Mini part# 11417585447 which is a gasket ring. We took the car back and it seemed that the leak had disappeared until only a month later (Oct 2011) the leak presented again (under the passenger side of the engine under the oil pump solenoid. We took the car back to Calabasas Mini and the cause was a faulty oil pump solenoid. So this time they replaced the solenoid valve, oil pan gasket, and gasket ring. My wife was annoyed driving the rental car for almost a week while they worked on the car. So we get the Cooper back and think that all our troubles are gone. Mini had changed a few parts, so we were convinced that the oil leak was gone. We were wrong, after driving approximately 3000 miles it is now 12/30/11 the Mini had presented the leak again! IN the same spot! We are genuinely concerned and are thinking that we have a lemon. We gave Mini the benefit of the doubt and had them look at the car today. It was quick, they actually replaced the oil pump solenoid again, gasket ring again and the oil pan gasket again. We got the car back today and are keeping our fingers crossed that the leaks will stop. We are getting frustrated as this car is still new! What are your thoughts? Also FYI, our 2011 MCS hardtop was originally sold in Ohio earlier this year. I noticed that you live in North Carolina. I am beginning to wonder if there was a faulty batch of Mini Cooper S models that were shipped. My VIN# is WMWSV3C59BTY11913. Does it share any similarities with your VIN?

Also too bad about the Chevy Aveo,

 

Build date on mine was October 2010. Maybe a few bad ones got out that month.

So my car is 13 months old. Problems have been.

1. Slight vibration at 60 MPH. Fixed by replaceing two of the run Flats.
2. Oil Leak one, Bad Oil Pump O-ring, dealer replaced and all well.
3. Oil Leak two, Replaced Solenoid valves and oil pan gasket.

And let me say Hendrick Mini of Charlotte has been fantastic, the best folks I've ever dealt with. You know, two minor oil leaks, that to me is really not that bad. My car has no rattles, everything works, never thrown any engine codes and is the most fun vehicle I've ever owned. Yes the horror stories I read on this board scare me, so much so that a month ago I was fixxing to trade it in on a 128. But I backed out of the deal, just could'nt do it. I hate the oil leaks but they appear to have been fixed so I guess I'll be keeping Red.

 

My oil pump is being replaced today. Jobcard says "oil leak on oil pump harness - replace oil pump". It is not the first 2011 the dealer have seen with this problem.

I checked on RealOEM. The oil pump on the MCS LCI has a solenoid, the previous one didn't. The leak was very small and intermittent and you can still drive the car but its a hassle to take the car in. My car has done only 5000 miles.

 

My car is leaking oil out of the same place as yours. The rear solenoid. We do share the TY in our VIN's. Was your car made in 09/2010? Can you tell me what you have experienced with the car since? I've had the radio module draining the battery - so they replaced it - and now the speedo rattles terribly. The door armrest speaker covers rattle and buzz, tailgate rattles, suspension clunk over minor bumps, warped scoop, squeaky clutch pedal, AC compressor failed, and many more.

 

Under warranty?
Hood scoop may be covered if you complain.

Rattles in the dash were not there before the radio replacement, make them take it apart and reassemble it correctly. They clearly left out some clip or screws.

Clunks in the suspension could be many things, and again, if it's under warranty, talk to the dealership service department about it.

Squeaky clutch could be something simple, it could be the master cylinder.


Not to downplay a bunch of (small) issues, but if it's under warranty, why are you not at the dealership with the list of issues? ESPECIALLY the one they caused with your speedo rattling.

 

It's been to the shop so many times. They always say the problem is "fixed" although it isn't. I have been to the dealership at least 20-25 times in the last 7 months for all these problems. The people at Flow Mini of Raleigh, just don't give a rat's as* about fixing the car correctly. The next closest dealership is two hours away, and owned by the same company. Then, after that, I would have to drive to Charlotte (2.5 - 3 hours) away, and there is no guarantee that they are going to fix the car. I've just gotten to the point where I am at my wits end with the car. Yes, it is under warranty, and I have not spent money on fixing the car, but I have spent tons of my time away from work, which is costing me lots of money. They just don't fix the problems, and there is nothing I can do. I have contacted MINI USA, and they basically said it's up to the dealer to make it right, but that doesn't mean anything.

 

Pathetic how they seem to not fix your issues at all, but MINI USA won't come down on them at all.

 

Tell me about it. I even contacted BMW GROUP Germany and I finally got a response. They sent a customer support engineer, and he delegated to the dealership for me, but the dealership still didn't fix my car. I dropped my car off today and made them look at it. They said it was the oil solenoid near the oil pan, and they just happened to have the parts in stock (although they denied it being a common problem.) they are "fixing it" now and should be done by the end of today. I won't be surprised if they just spray it down with water to get rid of the existing oil and think I won't be checking the engine bay on a daily basis. They are replacing the Solenoid, seal, and wiring harness that goes to the DME. I was told the oil had seeped up the harness, but not all the way to the DME. Don't know if I believe them about that. Only time will tell.

 

I drove a 2013 JCW today, didn't feel much faster than what I've got now, and the dealership wants 46K for it. The sticker is 39 from mini, but flow has added 7K in "addons". I laughed when I saw that price.

 

Dang man. If you trade up for a new car, sounds like you should go non-mini. It's a shame I have so much fun driving my S, but I'm in a similar boat. My dealership isn't nearly as shady as it sounds like Flow is, but these cars flat out are NOT reliable. And their common problems(like the one's NOT recalled that completely brick the motor [vacuum pump]) are not at all cheap or small.
Apparently this solenoid leaking is a common issue.
-High Pressure Injection pump that will cause the car to not drive or at least not well
-Water pump failing causing overheating, or worse issues if it seizes up
-Thermostat/Housing that is WAY over engineered and expensive, but commonly fails
-Timing tensioner
A: Being run by oil pressure and dependent on oil level to do it's job.
B: Being of such a major failure that it can cause the entire timing system to get damaged and need replacing or worse.
-the R53 mushrooming strut towers that somehow wasn't a recall item. That's structural!
-Excessive rear camber from the factory eating tires far too quickly and my SA saying "yeah it happens" when I complained that the car was unmodified and I needed new tires less than a year after purchase because of excessive cupping of the inside of the tread.

I could probably go on and on even more, but the bottom line is these cars are hardly worth the fun they provide if you need a reliable daily driver. And it's not simply "The more fun the car, the more maintenance costs will be associated". They're MAJOR design/parts failures. It's pathetic.

 

I think the way I'm going to go, is to just get an F56. It's going to be more BMW than the R56, and the R53. No more Peugeot engine, and BMW cutting costs to make these cars. The new one is supposed to be a MAJOR step ahead. I talked to one of the engineers from BMW and he said the quality is night and day from the previous cars. I'm going to wait to drive one and see what I think about it, but I'm hoping the F56 hasn't been dulled down like the new F30 3-series. I had no problems with my Civic SI (2009 model coupe) but it wasn't as fun as the MINI. The Mk7 GTI is also on my list of potential next cars. I almost went GTI this time, but the little MINI just won me over. The Mk7 is supposed to be the best all around hot hatch yet!

 

I won't be buying another wrong wheel drive car after the MINI I compromised on that when buying it, and love the fun, but I'll find a fun RWD again after this one.

 

Just picked up my car. It's a 2011. According to the service log, they replaced the timing chain tensioner, seal, oil pan solenoid, a bunch of gaskets, and some other jazz. It says they replaced timing chain tensioner because of leaking and service bulletin. I didn't know there was a service bulletin on the N18 engine for timing chain tensioner.

 

Sorry to hear about your ongoing problems ChiliRed. Not confidence inspiring when I hear comments like this about Flow Mini. The Raleigh dealer is the closest one to me (140 miles round trip) also. I was in there monday for the heat shield and cam chain recall (recall was the word they used), and had the heat shield work done along with the complementary wash job. They had to order the cam chain assembly and are supposed to call me next week to schedule the work. They said they would have a loaner waiting for me when I drop it off. Hopefully everything goes smoothly.

 

Flow MINI has been fine for me and have gone above and beyond in addressing the few issues I had with my MINI.

 

Good to hear. This is the first time I have dealt with them and have no complaints at this time.

 

what year is yours? The service people just don't seem to want to do anything but the bare minimum to keep the car running for a few weeks until something else goes wrong. I thought about driving my car to Winston Salem because I had to take my car to the Raleigh dealership so many times, and they didn't ever do anything correctly.

 

The raleigh or Winston location?

 

I've had to take my car to the Raleigh location 20-25 times in 7 months. Most of the time for the same problems that were "fixed"