Good Evening All -

My wife and I purchased a 2007 R56 Mini Cooper S 6-speed about 2 years ago. The car is great to drive everyday, in fact my wife prefers taking the car now on a daily basis. Recently having some oil pressure issues and would appreciate your insights to help us diagnose potential causes.

About a year and half ago we had the infamous 'death rattle' so I took it in right away to get fixed. We had a local indy mini shop perform the following at ~80k miles:
- Timing chain replacement
- Timing chain guides replacement
- Water pump replacement
- Valve Cover Gasket replacement


The car was running good since then, however burned a fair amount of oil (along with some usual oil leaks). I check the oil fairly often though sometimes it would run too low (forgetfulness!). Recently out of the blue we got the oil light on in the car, and when checking the oil level, the oil level was more than mid-way filled on the dipstick. I suspected oil pressure issues and began researching potential issues. As a result I recently replaced the following last week:
- New valve cover (was leaking around edges and appeared to have potential PCV issues. Timing chain looked in good order with the valve cover off).
- Oil filter housing gaskets
- Both turbo oil lines
- Aux water pump (accidentally broke plastic inlet when removing oil filter housing)
- Oil Change with Purflux filter and Mobil 1 5w30 synthetic

I took the car on a test drive and ~10-15 minutes into the drive I got the oil light again. I believe it basically occurs when I push in the clutch (and revs drop) or when I come to a stop idling. I do not currently see any visible oil leaks.

Suggestions on what would be causing this or other areas to check next? Is the oil pump chain a likely culprit? If so, how difficult is it to check the tension of the oil pump chain? Oil pressure sensor would seem too odd considering needs the car to warm up before it throws a CEL(?).


Greatly appreciate your feedback - Cheers

 

Subscribe to hear how this is figured out

and Welcome to the forum

 

I ran into the same/similar situation with the low oil warning going off. It was a bad pressure switch. Easy fix, at least for me. Hopefully yours is just as easy.....

 

i'm leaning towards the switch too.

also, how often do you change oil?

 

I change the oil every 5,000 miles and check the level once a week.....

 

I am having the same exact issue. I replaced the oil pump. now the lights only comes up if I am on idle!

 

I've never had the oil pressure problem, however I did get the rattle last summer. The top chain guide was broken but I caught it just in time. I replaced the top guide and tensioner only, but decided I should pull the oil pan and look for the missing plastic pieces from the guide. I found one jammed into the oil pickup screen. I couldn't even see it, because of the way it's shaped...I just poked around with a pick and felt in there and worked on it till it came out. I'm wondering if the mechanic who did your chain job checked the oil pickup thoroughly.