Ok I've posted this on MINI2.com but didnt get many responses so its not very assuring to me.

Is this a problem? Theres like what seems to be two leaks under my car... I jacked it up last weekend to fix a fog light and saw this.

The red circle spot looks the same as what I had before but not as bad where it was a bad engine seal got it fix when the car was about 3000miles now it has 29,000 miles. Could it be bad again?

Heres the original post on the leak.

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...ghlight=engine

The Green circle is a brand new "leak" I've never seen that before. And what is that the crank case? How worried should I be?


Thanks in Advance!

 

Hey your leaks look like mine. I just discovered them today. ony of my leaks actually drips and the fluid is red. I am sure it is transmition oil. or something. Taking my car in monday to have it checked out. I only have 700 miles left on my warrenty. Man discovered just in time. If I didn't decide to change my oil this week I would have discovered it to late. I will try to post a picture of mine so we can compair.

 

WOW glad you found it then!

Yes please post a pic so we can compare. What I'm afraid is this is just the early stage of it and later it'll be dripping later...

You actaully have BOTH leaks too both leaks that I have? or just one of what I have?

 

Well, at least that settles the "Is it German" or "Is it British" debate....

 

found this just yesterday while trying to change oil...oh yeah and the damn plug is nicely stipped now as it's waayy too tight.

that first pic is the paper towel and the oil drips that it soaked up...there were 3-4 bolts, all in a row, that had varying degrees of drops oil built up.

the third pic may actually show some of the size of the drop. haven't noticed any oil drops where i park my mini.

but i shall definitely be taking her in to servicing. maybe i can get a free oil change at the same time, as i just passed 36k. and have the service guys install the fumoto drain plug instead of that damn oil plug.

 

and one last pic showing some of the spreading?

 

That area around the tranny on mine is dirty black but I don't think my tranny is leaking. Or maybe, not now There are no wet spots. And I have about 1000 miles left on warranty.

 

Whose last pic?

I cant really tell from your pics how they are similiar to mine...

 

Yeah I have the same thing...60K on the motor. I recently pulled the head (see pics on 'blown spark plug!' post) and found the identical marks under the motor on the oil pan.

While everything is out I think I'm going to do a oil pan gasket as well...can't hurt.

 

So whats the real reason for these leaks? In 28.5K miles I've had like TWO now...

 

EBMCS03 it looks like you axle shaft seal might be starting to seep a little fluid. and as for the leak on your oil pan (the red circle) that looks like an oil pan gasket. however you might want to try and get a better look along the edge of the pan to make sure that isn't just risidual oil from the first leak. it is fairly common for the oil pan gaskets to leak along the back edge. axle shaft seals are also somewhat common leak points however not as common as the oil pan.

PatW if your leakins red fluid that is most definatly auto trans fluid. if you have had a recent Inspection 1 it could just be residual fluid from when it got changed durring the service. however if it has been leaking an extended ammount of time it probablly is a leak. it also could be at the axle shaft seals.

 

Thanks for the information. I will take a look and see what i can see.. I'm about 1200 miles to service 1 the 30K miles inspection. So I'm going to wait till then to take it in. I have 1 more year of warranty but man... since this is the second engine leaking probme already I dont know if I want to keep this car a day past warranty!

 

I just noticed tonite that i have the same seepage on the green circle below. what am I looking at? the tranny case?




Mine's not too bad, just got dust accumulated on the oil, right on the bottom.
no dripping...and it looks more like motor oil than anything else. i know it wasn't
like that when i did the oil change back in Feb.

(i re-checked my oil filter tonight and it is not leaking).

 

Ya I think thats the tranny case. I took it into the dealer and mentioned it during my Service 1. ~30K miles service. they said its normal its just seepage overtime. Said it was fine. *shrugs*

 

Same on mine also, for a couple years...

The origination point for me is the valve cover (backside, driver side)! My MINII dealership confirmed this, and replaced the gasket, twice. The last time they noticed that one of the rubber doughnuts was missing for the bolts... I'll check again soon, but I think I still have a leak from that area...

 

EBMCS03, TonyB - thank you both. I guess i'll just clean her up and make
a little effort to see if i can trace where it's coming from. but I won't
sweat it.

 

The middle of the three pix shows my situation as well, as of a few weeks ago. As described above, a very slight leak at the engine-transmission joint, no drops of oil in the garage. The dealer put a UV dye in the motor oil, and a on a 2nd visit determined the leak was from the transmission. Replaced the transmission and the rear main oil seal, under warrenty. I suspect these leaks are not uncommon, but so slight that most go unnoticed. If you complain, though, the dealer will fix it!

 

This is what I expected them to do but they didnt. All they said was that it was normal seepage.

 

Just a FYI, I had an oil leak that I traced to the crank sensor. Over time the o-ring flattens and allows oil to seep past when crank case pressure rises. It looked like it was coming from the oil pan gasket when viewed from beneath the vehicle but actually was dripping from above.

 

i cleaned up the oil last night and took it out for a spirited spin and
rechecked, but no sign of any seepage. im not sure where it's
coming from. The oil is confirmed not to be tranny oil so
i'll just monitor it. I might have dripped some oil when i did the oil
change back in Feb and it slowly migrated to the bottom of the case?

 

Mine has been leaking for a while now and the dealer said it was the oil pan gasket. Had to order one as they have been going through them on a regualr basis. Makes you wonder.

Mine has oil all over. I've got the power steering fan cover and it was thoroughly coated with oil.

Never had any drops on the pavement though!

 

yeh, mine was only on the bottom of the tranny case... my oil pan is
completely dry.

 

arrrrrr... found the source of the damn oil. ATLA CAI air filter! god dammit.

yep, Alta saturated the foam filter with too much oil from the factory.
it dripped onto the bottom housing making a puddle, then the oil just
migrated down the opening, down the tranny case making a huge mess.

took the darn intake apart and completely off the car, cleaned her up,
put her back together. i wrote Alta about this and told them to reimburse
my 2hours by sending me a free UNI cleaner kit for the foam. i had to
dig deep down to get the tranny case clean.

But im glad it wasn't the motor or tranny or anything that was directly
related to my MCS. i knew i didn't drip anything when i did the
oil change a couple of months ago.

 

Wowo really... its your CAI filter oil? that must have been alot. I know thats not what it is for me. but oh wells.

 

It's a foam cone filter with oil on it. the oil is suppose to trap the pollen and
dust in the air while air passes through it. they just put waaaaay too
much oil.

i read someone putting too much oil after using the filter cleaning kit and it
dripped down the tranny case... i skeptically checked under the Alta filter
cause i hadn't needed to clean it yet, but sure enough found a puddle of
oil.