I just bought a 2007 Mini Cooper S. Had it checked out at a shop that specializes in Mini and BMW's. A few minor things like a broken brake sensor and needs a new battery. But here's the big ticket item:

ENGINE OIL FILTER HOUSING SEAL IS LEAKING OIL AND SATURATING ENGINE OIL-PAN & TRANSMISSION BELL HOUSING. RECOMMEND REPLACING OIL FILTER HOUSING SEAL AND RECHECKING FOR LEAKS (MODERATE OIL LEAK)

The shop said it would be $1035 labor and $35 for the gasket to replace it.

OUCH!

Since I'm not familiar with this particular garage, nor with how expensive Mini's are to fix, I can't tell if he's gouging me or if this is reasonable. Any opinions out there? Also, how hard is this to do myself? I have tools and I wrench on motorcycles, but I don't have a car lift nor any experience with Mini engines...

Thanks.

-Dan

 

Here's a picture he took of the leak...

-Dan

 

Don't know your car well, but that sounds way overpriced. Look on YouTube for some videos on the job, probably DIY or at least get an indication of real price and complexity.

 

Yes they do leak but cant tell from that pic. there is an oil line to the turbo needs looking at and the vacuum pump. It can be done with the front on the car but its hard to get the parts clean enough i would take the front off, plus it might be best to do the whole oil filter assembly. I still dont see 1,000 for the job even with the front coming off but shop rates are expensive. be sure to replace the turbo oil line if the front is off (braided kit nice).

If the plan was to try the work with front on I would guess its more of a price for a job that they dont really want because of the super tight fit. The trick with working on these is getting the front off, once its been learned they are quite easy to work on.

before work begins at these prices get a compression test to be sure the engine is in good shape and the blow by isnt to high.

 

We charge $450 labor and $156.95 in parts for our Super Kit, which includes: braided stainless steel feed line, MINI return line, MINI filter housing gasket, MINI downpipe gasket and clamp, new MINI banjo bolts w/ crush washers, a MINI heat shield for the feed line.

Detroit Tuned Turbo Oil Line Super Kit

 

That's high for an independent garage, for JUST the housing gaskets. That is about what the Mini dealer charges, though. I was quoted $1800 for lines and gaskets at the dealer. I did it myself with the Detroit Tuned Super kit in about 14 hours over two days. But I'm a slow worker and **** retentive about stuff, and that included an oil and coolant change, It IS time consuming, but not hard. There are literally a hundred threads on the oil filter housing, oil cooler and oil lines to turbo replacement, which ANYONE with a lick of sense would have done all at the same time, if paying to have it done. Just do a search on Detroit Tuned Super Kit. It's the best way to cover all your bases. A competent Mini centric garage like Detroit Tuned does the whole shebang for about $700 (including oil & coolant). Out inCali, there are plenty of good shops, but they all seem to be a little pricey. But yeah, it's not a little easy thing to ignore.


BTW, it is totally impossible to tell if the leak is JUST from the oil filter housing, OR the oil cooler, OR the turbo oil supply line, or any combination of them all. They all leak down along the same surfaces. In fact, the stealership told me it was all of them PLUS my rear main seal, for which they quoted and extra $275 to replace. I have an '08 MCCS with only 50k miles on it, with constant 5k oil & filter changes, so I was pretty dang sure the RMS was fine. Nary a drip or drop from anywhere near the RMS after I did all the other oil leak work.

 

Thanks guys for the info. I'm calling around for quotes now.

When I got the car out of the shop, suddenly it is leaking a LOT more than it used to. (It sat in front of my house in the same spot for two days, after a long freeway journey bringing it home, and not a single drop of oil. Now it left two big drops in the 10 minutes it took me to put some cardboard under it.) They claim they didn't do any work near where the leak is, but my suspicious mind wonders if they did something to "encourage" me to have them do the repair. In any case, I'll get a few more quotes and probably try a different shop just to be sure.

I'd really love to just find one shop I trust and go to them for all my repairs and maintenance... I had one for my Saab a few years ago and it was great, he got all my business, his rates were really low, and he did top-notch work. But he only does Saabs alas.

-Dan

 

if the top of the turbo oil line at the banjo bolt gets moved about (even looked at cross eyed) it will degrade. Its probably not an intentional kind of thing. Turbos are by nature hot running devices and the gaskets around them take a lot of abuse. I do think if you find someone who works on Mini's they can see right away the situation and give you a fair price and more importantly do the whole job well.

If you can, an upgrade to the intercooler is a nice addition even if you are not thinking about performance mods it helps keep the intake air temps down.

Oh please be sure that the fluid is more oil, the radiator coolant tank may have been moved to get a better view it has a hose connection on the bottom that needs to be just so or it can leak. The coolant tank gets moved to change the oil filter so this is standard procedure.

 

chad over at Detroit tuning sale's a very well put to gather kit! 175 or so! the job can bit a little pain in the butt but nothing to hard! just put it in service mode!!!

 

I just bought the kit from detroit tuned and plan to do the work this weekend. Looks like a well put together kit.

 

$1035 seems like a bargain considering my dealership just quoted me $2300!!! my
07s only has 51k miles. Any shops in the SF bay/south bay area want some business??

 

Wow, that's a bit more! I finally got it done a few months ago, at a non-dealer shop. They did the housing replacement for like $750, but then noticed it was still leaking, and so ended up replacing the oil pan gasket as well. I can tell you what it all cost if you like -- I'll have to look up the records when I get home from work. And I had some other work done at the same time, with the total being around $2K as I remember for everything.

-Dan

 

it cost me $100 for gaskets, fluids, and coffee. it took about two short days.

 

It's relatively easy. Mine was parts, a few days and beer.

 

Just got mine done at a Mini mechanic (not dealer) - oil filter housing gaskets & oil cooler gaskets
Oil filter gaskets $25
oil cooler $32
Labor $427/95(hourly rate) = 4.5 hours
total cost was $480

seems reasonable based on what everyone is saying.... and the fact that it requires removal of a fair amount of parts to gain access.

 

That is really good price. I just replaced the turbo, which is about the same effort, in about 7 hours. Two years ago I replaced the seals on the oil cooler/filter housing and took about 12 hours. This time around I was much faster putting the car in service mode and back again.

 

Thought I had solved all the oil leaks. Just got this when I had a check at the dealer. Might be the death sentence for me as I’ve already put about $2000 in the car...

 

I think there are few write ups to replace that seal. Newtis.info has some steps to do it. Sometimes I replace it when I do the timing chain.

 

Yep, front seal DIY is here:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...st-post-2.html

 

thanks!
this job is way above my pay grade and my friend whose a good wrench and just helped me replace shocks (Thanks ECS, cup kit and Blisteins worked great!) said I used up about a years worth of favors.
that plus all the special tools it looks like this job needs are too much for me.

Trying to figure out if it’s time to walk away...I thought since timing chain and thermostat were done that it would be too bad. But so far for my $6500 clubbie I’m in another 2K with vacuum pump, valve cover gasket and shocks....aargh

going to check with another mini mechanic here in town to see what he would want to fix both seals.

that other thread talked about a felpro seal, where do I get one of those?

 

Welcome. Glad to help and support the MINI crew.

Let us know what you do, but if you can get a guy to DIY or a fellow MINI owner whom has a garage it can help save $$$. Vacuum pumps we have in peirburg for around $114 ish.

We now carry both those fel-pro gaskets BS 40721 is the Rear Seal and TCS 46127 is that front Seal. Front seal is the one one the timing side.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2007-...s_-and-_Seals/

 

HI all,

I have a non turbo with likely oil filter housing gasket leak. At first glance it appeared the non turbo has easier access to the oil filter housing bolts. However I removed the upper heat shield and started to remove the lower heat shield but it appears there is a third heat shield that is sandwiched under the exhaust manifold and extends down behind the catalytic (it's hard to see anything in there). This heat shield seems to be blocking the oil filter housing bolts as I can't see or feel any except the top bolt.

Anyone have experience with a non turbo filter housing? Is exhaust manifold removal required?

Looked through the FSM but it does not really show this area.

Thanks!

 

Highly recommend putting the car into front end service mode. Not that hard and makes the job SO much easier. Plus you can see everything.

 

If you have moderate wrenching abilities, these cars are super easy to DIY. If you put it into “front end service mode” everything is at your fingertips. The dealer, or ever some of the specialists rates are exorbitant. If you can mow your own lawn, you can work on your Mini!

 

I will be replacing the oil filter housing gasket soon on my non-turbo 2008 Clubman. For those who have done it, do you recommend I replace the exhaust manifold gasket with its attached heat shield and new nuts too or can I get away with reusing the old one? Car has 68,000 miles on it. Also, is it best to go OEM for the gasket set?