I just had my S serviced, new brakes for the 2nd time, oil change and brake fluid change. No problems came driving it around for a short while, but suddenly a small puddle of oil showed up under my car in the garage....my car does have quite a bit of work put into the engine in performance, but also including the h & r coilovers, camber plates, sway / stress bars, control arms, etc... Since my car is so low, chances are they may blame the issue on me, but I do not think that I could have done anything such as cracking the oil pan and such...what else could be the problem?

 

Maybe they just spilled some oil when they changed the filter and the spillage is leaking out. Can you wipe off as much as you can and then keep an eye on it to see if it keeps leaking?

 

Put some newspapers under the car to see exactly where its dripping. Then look up to find the source. It could be a loose filter (it happens), a lose oil plug, or something much worse but you need to find the source. And just because a drip is coming from one place does not necessarily mean that is the source ... you got to backtrack up to see if its falling from a higher place.

 

i think they just spilled oil when removing the oil filter. is it motor oil?

on a cold engine, you can swipe your hand under the oil filter to check
if it's leaking. if not, i would check the drain bolt. then, i would also
check the frame area under the oil filter where the tech probably spilled.

 

Find the source and get back to us, I'm betting some oil spilled when they cange the filter, and what got in the engine bay is just dripping down. Some watered down simple green and a few paper towels and it's likely you'll never have known oil was there. If it comes back then you've got something a little more serious.

Drain plug 35NM
Filter 21NM
For your reference.

 

You can also get a very slow leak if the tech at the dealer broke or pinched the o-ring on the oil canister while re-installing it.

This is what happenened when I got my first "free" oil change at Global Imports in Atlanta. It would only leak when warm and they were incapable of determining where the oil came from and sent me on my way. After wasting an entire day of my life and 5 hours of driving, I went to my local independent BMW/MINI mechanic and it took him 10 seconds to find the leak once he had it up on the lift.

Of course I had to pay to have my local mechanic fix the problem that the incompetent dealer caused

 

maybe they just didnt tighten the bolt to the oil pan enough

 

At that point I dobt the bolt would be in at all. 35Nm is next to nothing, of course I'm a bit cynical about that cause I've got to go back to the dealer for the third time this week because mine was set to well over 100Nm.

 

I had a slow oil drip. I assumed it was the just the filter but the dealer changed the oil pan gasket. No drips after the fix.
The dealer was Global in Atlanta.

 

also, if you have an Alta intake, check to see if there are any
puddles under the cone filter. mine was a REAL dripping mess.

 

Yep, I just started a leak on my '03 MCS. Dealer fixed it free of charge.

 

That's what happened to me. Just a tug with a wrench and voila! No more leak. I guess it's better than having the gorilla tighten it with an impact gun...


P.S. Nice location, everytimeidie - I should move there and act like I own the place!

 

You should, I'll be on the lookout for your MINI, and somewhere around 2 weeks ago I was in Santa Cruz because i was visiting a friend in San Jose

 

Could be the O-ring. Had the same problem on my 03 MCS. First, the dealer told me that it was the spilled oil... Of course, it did not stop after a week... Then, they said it was the O-ring and put a new one. Still leaking. Lastly, they said the oil filter housing needed to be replaced. I wonder who destroyed it in the first place?!?!?!

 

This happened to me twice. The first time it was the oil drain plug washer. I think they're some kind of plastic. Dealer replaced it, no more leak. The second time it was the oil dipstick tube O ring seal AND a front crankshaft seal, both replaced under warranty. My car is an 02 MCS. Good luck.

 

The same thing happened to me as well after my first oil change, took it in and it was a damaged o-ring when they changed the filter. They said this is common, so why not just change it when the filter is changed every time??

 

The procedure IS to replace the oil ring also - one comes with each OEM filter.