Oil filter housing seals
 

So my oil filter housing seal(s) seem to be leaking alittle.. I am mechanically inclined and have been working in the collision repair industry for about 27yrs now.. this repair will cost about $1300 if I have a reputable mini/BMW shop do the work.. what am I looking at if I do the repair myself which I'm leaning toward doing for the fun.. any info??

My mini is a 2012 countryman a 2 wheel drive

That’s a very common problem. You should also consider changing the turbo oil lines (get the Detroit Tuned kit). There are lots of writeups here to guide you. When I did mine, along with a new thermostat and water pipe, and I put my car into service mode. The work is time consuming but not that difficult.

If you are mechanically inclined like you said, this should be a walk in the park for you as long as you're patient with the work. You'll need to put the car in radiator support service mode, that'll get you room to access all the bolts and parts out of that little crank-tight room between the engine and the radiator fan. Then all you do is piece by piece remove heat shield, turbo, plumb lines, bracketing, downpipe, more bracket pieces, and finally you'll see the heat-exchanger and the oil filter housing. you will realize how bad the design is in the first place. By force dynamics, those bolt positions for the oil-filter housing is in some bad locations, but that's how they made it. But yeah, it's quite easy if you know how to remove and put it back together. The parts for the gaskets are only 30-50 bucks depending if you go after market or genuine Mini. You should also look into buying the repair kit because you'll get all the new bolts along with the gaskets. When you put everything back, be sure to follow the torque specs. Especially with the filter housing and heat exhcanger, don't over torque it and strip the bolt threads. I've done plenty of these so far, always feels good to know that there won't be anymore oil leaks afterwards.

Be smart to replace some of the oil and cooling lines around that turbo charger, too, and their banjo and copper washers, you'll hit many birds with just a few stones that way. Good luck buddy.

Thank you for all this info.. is there anything that I will be removing that may have a tendency to break, I can always return things if I don't need to replace them, but would like to have on hand just incase.. better to have'em and not need'em, than to need'em and not have'em

Newtis.info

Realoem.com

What are the torque specs for the housing bolts? I would think they couldn't be anymore than 25 nm

Everything you need is in these links. The first is how tos amd the second is part numbers and cross reference parts and such.

Thank you so much! just saw those links 5mins ago.. I'm forever grateful

Curious as to why I should replace the oil and cooling lines around the turbo?

And is it possible to fabricate a bracket for added stability to help with weight distribution for those 3 bolts and the poor design?

Reason you would want to replace the plumbing lines is because they are commonly probelm-prone parts. I'm saying that solely out of experience of servicing quite a few 2nd gen mini's so far. And those plumbing lines are jammed between the engine wall and the turbo manifold/DP. It's subject to very high temperature through several thermo cycles. Those are highly probable components to fail, too. While it may be easy enough to get the turbo and down pipe out, then access the filter housing, you might as well replace those plumbing lines while you're there. Next time something happens, and it just happens to be a bad plumbing line, you'll cringe thinking about all this work again, LOL. That's how it usually is for me. Wheels off, Radiator Support Mode, remove all that crap between the radiator and the engine just takes time. Do it all at once is the way to go with these cars with such little room to work with.

I don't replace those plumbing lines every time, but I do replace them at least once, then after the car gets more than 50k-60k miles again, I'd choose a good day to do it again. Preventive service is better than actual heavy repair.

Good point! I take it that I should also get a down pipe gasket aswell?

For downpipe, the metal sheet gasket between turbo and the upper downpipe joint should be re-usable, though in many repair instructions I read that you should replace it. It's metal and if it's holding it in I don't see a point of replacing it.
The lower gasket where the downpipe hooks up to the exhaust pipe is another story. The gasket between the two pipes is a spring clip and that can easily get worn from pipe movement, but I've been using the same worn piece on my car and I just don't see anything wrong so far. On my wife's MCS, I replaced it with a new one, and also don't see anything peculiar for a benefit. The key I think is the condition of the clamp. These clamps can get rusted and the bolt threads can get fused up to the nut. In that case, I'd recommend it for a replacement. If it still functions, there aren't any need. These downpipe gaskets/clamps won't affect your oil or coolant routing components, so it's up to you. The way I see it, that's a place I can skimp for some minute savings. But I won't bet with those plumb lines behind the turbo as I've mentioned from past posts.

Doing this now. Have done it without service mode. A little tighter but possible. Be sure to replace everything from the coolant lines to the turbo oil in and out. Don’t forget the aux coolant pump. If you rCarefully remove the turbo cartridge and heat shield you can retorque the exhaust manifold bolts. Have fun. My bolts kept coming loose. Turns out I had a warped exhaust manifold. Fixed it too.

Oil filter housing
 

When you change the seals in the oil filter body, take the filter and the cooler to a machine shop that huilds engines and has a flat stone. These crap things warp and no seal will keep it from leaking. They can paint the sealing edges with dye and you can see the warp. The torque I use is 10nm for the housing to the block, and the cooler to the housing. And 8 no for the aux pump to the housing. Also I had a oil leak and when I tore the engine apart the return oil line had a big slice in it. It was new. Go figure. Also, I use the stock oil line with heat shield wrapped around it and shielding between the banjo fitting and the hot side of the turbo. This is important. So is letting your engine idle for a few minutes before shutting it off. Shutting down a hot engine too soon results in “coking” which will kill off even the OEM oil line rather quickly. DR

So what does the radiator support service entail? A/C recover and the entire front end removed for complete access?

It's just a matter of removing the front bumper and unhooking some of the bolts in order to slide the front end support outwards so you can gain access to that room between the radiator and the engine. You can get there without the whole front end to come off. AC condenser need to remain somewhat in place during this procedure.

Few other videos but this is the idea for service mode

So then I take it when it swings out it, the opening will be on the drivers side.. any other crucial info needed.. like parts that are prone to break due to poor design, etc. That I should invest in given that I will be doing this work on a Saturday and the mini dealership parts dept is only open till 4pm

Not really that many parts to worry about. The only ones I'd be concerned with is the fender clips, they tend to break quite easily if you car has some aging to it. Part number is 07132757821.

The fender clips/ wheel arch trim clips can be removed without breakage by leaning inside the arch and use pliers to gently squeeze the tabs and push through, never broken one yet.

I work at a collision repair shop and have plenty of those clips