Hi all,

I usually top off the oil between oil changes because my MCS is thirsty. My last oil change was at a MINI dealership where they did are more thorough check and the car came back clean. I topped off the oil a few weeks ago and did a poor job - some oil ran over the engine as I wasn't aiming right. The wife just took the car for an oil chance and they mentioned the engine gasket was leaking.

Could the mechanics have gotten confused by the residual oil that I spilled when I topped it off? I'm just asking because the MINI dealership didn't mention the issue before and I would assume they'd know more than the mechanic my wife took the car to this morning.

Cheers,
Dertef

 

What gasket, the valve cover? How many miles on the car? How much of a leak are we talking about? The VC will eventually leak, but usually not too terribly.

 

Correct, the valve gasket/cover. "It's a little wet/oily" to quote the mechanic. The car has 113k miles on it... Maybe I'm overthinking it and he wasn't that familiar with MINIs, which is why the dealership didn't bring it to my attention.

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

Clean the engine and see if the oil comes back.

If you decide to wash the engine, wrap the electrical connectors with aluminum foil to keep water out, it molds to the connector easily and is easy to remove afterwards.

Dave

 

At 113k, I wouldn't be surprised if it was seeping a little oil. IIRC, you have to replace the entire valve cover rather than just a gasket. I'm not sure if you can buy just a gasket alone.

 

The head cover gasket set is available, it includes the gaskets around the spark plugs.

It costs about forty bucks.

 

#2 in the picture. Part #11127572851

EDIT: I was assuming the N14 motor