Hey everyone,

I have been doing a lot of research on this problem, and have tried to fix the 2 main known causes of leaks, but am still having the same issue.

I have a 2007 Cooper S, 6 speed. Basically for the last few months I have been getting oil drips under the engine in my garage. Normally not a huge deal, but about 3 weeks ago, I started getting a fairly bad oil burning smell after it warmed up through the vents, and if I sat and idled for a while I would get some smoke coming from the engine bay.

When I would pull over and check out the engine bay, the smoke was never coming from anywhere I could determine, just wafting up from the top of the bay.

About 6 months ago I replaced the gasket on the oil pan, as that was a common area for leaks, and the amount of oil around it led me to believe that was the culprit. Still had a leak after that was done.

Then upon further inspection, it looked like maybe it was coming from the turbo feed line or return line, which I replaced on Saturday with the Detroit Tuned kit. For the first day after, everything seemed great, no drips, no smoke, no smell. As of today I have another 2 drips, and a bit of smoke in the engine bay.

Currently at my wits end trying to figure this leak out, any other suggestions as to what it could be?! Thanks in advance.

 

I will try and post some pictures tonight. Most of the oil pools around the passenger side of the drain pan and above it. Just getting to my wits end right now, trying to figure this out.

 

If it's like mine, it is probably the oil cooler gaskets. It leaks when parked and runs done onto the exhaust pipe.

 

Thanks Redhotz. Is there any DIY threads about replacing this part? I can't seem to find anything when searching for the oil cooler gasket, looks to be more so for 1st gen.

 

The oil cooler is on the driver side of the engine, I have the same leak. I had a leak on the passenger side of the engine. The dealer fixed a seal on the timing chain (adjustment bolt?), charged me about $80. This was a while ago, and I don't remember the details. The dealer got nervous when I described it, because the seal can fail rapidly once the leak starts.

I have a leak at the bellhousing area, nothing on the passenger side of the engine. The dealer diagnosed it as the oil cooler and/or oil filter housing. I guess that some BMW gaskets have durability problems, and this is supposedly it. I couldn't spend $550 to fix it.

Good luck,
Mike

 

Ya, I just can't seem to pinpoint the leak is the issue, but something near the passenger side makes sense. I can do the work myself, its just making sure I don't do the wrong thing a third time (though im happy I did the other 2 pieces already, as I know they are prone to failure).

Cheers

 

Could be the banjo bolt on turbo oil line sprayin up onto the exhaust and dripping on the ground. You will need to remove the heat shield to inspect it. Mine was actually spraying on to exhaust manifold and causing similar problems.

 

It looks like the oil cooler gasket replacement requires that you remove the front bumper ( service mode). Do you need to drain the radiator? I read two topics on putting the Mini in service mode but it didn't say anything about it. Do you need to drain the radiator and motor oil to do the oil cooler gasket replacement?

 

I would think that you need to drain the coolant to do the cooler seal repair. My guess is that you could loosen the oil filter to allow that to drain into the sump, you shouldn't have to drain the entire oil system.

Hopefully someone will chime in who has done this job.

Mike

 

Hey everyone,

I have finally got the gaskets I was waiting for (takes a while to get them to Canada sometimes). I have the gaskets for the Heat Exchanger/Oil Cooler and Oil Filter Housing to replace, but can't seem to find much information on this site or elsewhere about the actual repair.

Can anyone that has done this give me a quick idea on what was needed to be removed? Do you have to put the car into service mode, or is it like the turbo oil lines where you have to take all the heat shields and downpipe off?

Any information would be great!

Thanks in advance

 

I did not put my car in service mode when I did this, but it would probably make it easier to replace the heat shields. If you could get the heat shields on and off without being in service mode, then I wouldn't take that step.
I took some pictures and made a thread in the 'how to' section. Basically, once you remove the heat shields and downpipe, you can get to everything, just like the turbo oil lines.

Have fun,
Mike

 

I put my car in service mode because I had some other upgrades/repairs, and it definitely makes things easier to see and install. It's a small pain to remove the wheel fenders (Bentley recommends having extra clips - they're right), but once you slide it out initially, it's very easy to put back together (or return to fix mistakes). The Bentley video and manual complement each other, as it's obvious they assume you have the book, because they omit those steps in the video. Everything they said to disassemble wasn't necessary, I discovered - probably varies from MINI to MINI.