At 21,000 mi. on my 05,I noticed a very uncharacteristic oil mark underneath the right front fender;(cancel the reservations honey, I'm crawlin' under the mini!) After 90 minutes of samping, searching,checking levels and finally reading the shop manual, low and behold the right side motor mount is hydraulic, and it's leaking?! The major amount of oil was on the body frame below the mount; curious because any motor oil leak would have to leak up, not likely. The oil had a defenite rubber tire smell and was always cool regardless of engine
temp. I

 

Thanks for the post ... same thing just happened to my '05 MCS Cab @ 17,250 Mi... mount showed oil all around it ... dealer fixed it in a day ...

 

my 05 at 15,500 or so has the sqame thing-but getting it repaired appears to be the same nightmare anything else is in this part of the world-bring it in an dleave it, we will get to it-sometime.....its 80 bucks, I will likely buy it and do it myself. better than being without my car for a week while some butcher isnt working on it at the dealer.

 

Welcome to the club! Mine started at about 8,000 miles.

Steve

 

This seems to be a common problem with '04 and up models which use that motor mount. Since it's a warranty issue, I'd have the dealer fit a new one. In case the replacement still has the same problem, you'd be covered for a repeat occurance of the problem.

 

Add me to the list

 

Mine leaked on my 1st Mini (05). Had it replaced under warranty with no further issues (that I know of). My current 05 has 10K with no problems.

 

mine was leaking at 2,000

 

my 05 leaked, i noticed it at 15K miles. My question is how do I get the dried/baked-on fluid/oil off my engine mount?

 

Here's another passenger side Hydraulic motor mount leak. My 05, 30,000. Just noticed today but it looks like it's been leaking a while. Here's a couple pictures of it.

 

So I just heard about this problem on Sun. was at the dealer today and saw another MINI having their mout actually replaced. Can't tell if I have it cause I've always cleaned the engine at regular intervals, I'm going to let that area get a little dirty and see if mines leaking. I heard that a slow small leak was "normal" which just doesn't sound right to me.

 

Well, mine has finally run out of oil at 30,000 miles and now the engine bounces up and down when I hit bumps. I guess I'll replace it now.

Steve

 

I think I'm a member of this club too. I have some oily residue in that area, and I've recently developed a slight "hollow sounding" rattle when going over mild bumps (like creeping through a gravel parking lot) I can also induce it by blipping the throttle just a tad.

Rawhyde

 

I was a member. Replaced under warranty within an hour. They also replaced the belt because the fluid got on the belt.

Make sure if you take yours in that you have them check the belt as well.

 

Can someone who has had this done report what it stated on the invoice? Is there a TSB?

 

Here is an image of my invoice

http://www.geekshocker.com/images/invoice_mount.jpg

 

Wow, that was fast! Thank you

Doesn't look like it was handled under a TSB but I could be wrong..

 

I don't think it was. They never mentioned anything about it being a reoccuring problem.

I did ask if it was because of my driving style or perhaps some nasty potholes that have owned me. The SA just said that some mounts just come from the factory faulty and that it had nothing to do with either of those things.

Most motor mounts, he told me, should last up to 150k-200k miles before starting to break apart.

Hm...

 

Mine just went a couple weeks ago, 2005 with about 15,500 miles.

 

In an ironic twist my motor mount went out not long after posting to this thread Only 8k or so too, fixed under warranty no probs.

 

I had heard that the motor mounts were different between an '05 and an '06. Does anyone know if you can tell visually from the outside? My wife's '05 was built in 05-05 and my '06 was built 01-06 and the passenger side motor mounts like the same to me. Thanks in advance!
No leaks at 10.2K miles on the '05 and 4.5K miles on the '06 (knocking loudly on wood).

 

They changed in the '04 model year sometime so everything after that is the hydraulic mount.

Steve

 

Mine just went again for the SECOND time....this one was replaced only three months ago...

If it happens to you, make sure you clean the oil off quick, otherwise the heat of the engine will bake it onto the paint....

 

Damn! Me 2. Jan. '05 MCS with 40,000 miles.

 

I had my passenger side upper mount replaced last week during my 10k service, it had been leaking lightly since about 6k miles.

The 10k service and the mount replacement were both done in about 2 hours. I had the work done at Nick Alexander in L.A. and was quite pleased with their service. The service manager knew exactly what was going on and said they had plenty of replacement mounts in stock.

This is evidently a very wide spread problem with '05s and '06s, it sounds like if you have one of these year models you can plan on it. Numerus SCMM members have discussed it on the MINI Maniacs board, too. I have to wonder if MINI figures it is a lower priority -- not related to safety -- so isn't doing a recall, instead opting to replace them at service time.

I hope the new part fixes this once and for all, although it sounds like some here have experienced it multiple times.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but are we in general too rough on these little cars??

Best,

-- Don