Early MINI cooper oil leak?

I was changing control arm bushings on my friend's 02 MINI on the weekend. He called me today and said he has an oil leak from the back of the engine one the passenger side. I know he got an oil change last week before the control arm work. Any ideas? I'm trying to figure out if it was something I did or the dealer that did the oil change. I'm going to look at it tomorrow, but now I'm going to be thinking about it all night.

It's very easy to install the filter cap on cock-eyed, although the result is usually more of a gush than a leak. If the o-ring on the cap gets buggered a bit during install, it can cause a leak. Those are first things I'd check.

Unfortunately, there are many other places (pretty much everywhere) for a Tritec to leak oil as they age. The MINI is definitely "British" in that regard.

That does sound like the oil canister. Maybe the o-ring tore when refitting. I once thought my MINI was leaking engine oil from the passenger side, but it turned out to be the oil-filled engine mount. Check to see if there's oil on the frame rail in front of the mounting.

I ended up going over and checking it out. There is a drip from the oil canister every 2 seconds or so. Would this likely be just a an o-ring issue? Are the o rings something I could get at NAPA and be a relatively easy fix? Or would you recomend he just takes it back to the dealer (Kia ) that did the oil change and tell them to fix it?

A new o-ring is usually included with a new filter and should be replaced with each filter change. I've never looked for it by itself. Chances are, buying one would probably be more difficult than just buying a new filter.

Personally, I wouldn't let a Kia dealer anywhere near one of our MINI's... but then again, I don't trust many MINI dealers either...

Does the mini use a canister filter or screw on? I know my mercedes takes a gasket and two crush washers per oil change and to get the canister installed correctly is a bit of a pain. Some filter kits don't include the copper crush washers so I have to take the old one, heat it red hot and dip it into water to anneal it.

I don't think you can get the o-ring by itself, but I would buy it from the MINI dealer, anyway.

The o-ring fits around the top of the threads, problem is, there are two different grooves it can go in. One is right, one is wrong. No, I can't remember which one. You could probably search for a picture.

When putting it back on, tube that goes up the center of the filter is spring loaded so you have to put quite a bit of pressure on it while getting the threads started. It's a bugger to do (and probably why the Kia dealer messed it up.) Not impossible by any means if you're aware of it.

Hopefully, they did a full synthetic change and not normal oil.

FWIW you can screw up the o-ring on two separate occasions and run them dry and still not destroy an engine......

-Rob

Now it's a real Mini

I have a 2003 S with about 90K miles, and it has a leak, or multiple leaks, at the "back" of the engine (actually the right side, near the front cover, or somewhere around there). I've replaced the oil pan gasket and the oil pressure switch (and of course the filter and filter housing o-ring) over the past six months or so, trying to make the small oil leak go away. No luck yet. Unfortunately, the leak sends oil to the driveshaft, which slings the oil around a bit. i can't tell where the leak is coming from. All I can say is that driving the car makes it drip a bit more, while letting it sit makes the dripping stop. Any ideas? If it stays at a few drips a week, I may just leave it alone.

benzbaron wrote: Does the mini use a canister filter or screw on? I know my mercedes takes a gasket and two crush washers per oil change and to get the canister installed correctly is a bit of a pain. Some filter kits don't include the copper crush washers so I have to take the old one, heat it red hot and dip it into water to anneal it.

It's a canister. Part of what makes the Tritec filter fun is it's location: buried around the back of the engine at an angle where it's hard to see. When I change the filter, I use an inspection mirror to check that it's threaded on straight and the o-ring isn't buggered before final tightening. While I've done this a number of times since 2003, I don't do it every day, so I like to be safe and take my time. I've found that when I work on the cars more often, I'll usually thread it on right the first time.

One thing I've discovered is if you change the oil in a MINI with only the front wheels on ramps, oil will drip out of the canister housing when the cap is removed and create all sorts of fun oil "leaks". It's best to drain the oil with the car level.

I recently noticed Canton makes a remote adapter than bolts on in place of the entire filter assembly. In my mind, this would be a god-send on a track car, easily allowing for an oil cooler as well as larger oil filter options.

The Tritec doesn't have traditional main bearing caps. The entire bottom half of the block assembly is the bearing cap. They can leak at this joint. For obvious reasons, resealing this junction is rather difficult. There is an oil-coolant heat exchanger under the oil filter which is another leak source.

mw wrote: Are the o rings something I could get at NAPA and be a relatively easy fix? Or would you recomend he just takes it back to the dealer (Kia ) that did the oil change and tell them to fix it?

I've used the NAPA gold oil filter and o-ring with success. For $8, get the whole enchilada. Unless you know for sure one of the techs has euro car experience, stay away from the KIA dealer for anything more.

Here's a thorough how-to from a MINI owner. Torque settings and all.

Ian F said: The Tritec doesn't have traditional main bearing caps. The entire bottom half of the block assembly is the bearing cap. They can leak at this joint. For obvious reasons, resealing this junction is rather difficult. There is an oil-coolant heat exchanger under the oil filter which is another leak source.

I'm pretty sure the leak is coming from the heat exchanger, but thanks for pointing out a leak point I had not thought of!