I've got a little oil puddle under my car and it is making me grumpy. The location, initially was more toward the front and I could actually see oil dripping down the front of the motor. I think I fixed that but...there's another oil leak more toward the back of the motor now.

What I have done:
Changed turbo oil line
Changed oil filter housing gaskets (fixed front oil leak)
Changed Oil Pressure switch
Inspected and re-torqued Oil filter housing cap
Changed the totally over-engineered thermostat housing and feed tube
Inspected and re-torqued oil pan.
Changed valve cover
Resealed valve cover
Changed turbo pressure regulator
...and a butt-load of other stuff.

My last under-car inspection revealed a shiny and oily thingamabob that I can't identify. From the bottom, you can see it as pictured in the attachment. I've added a red arrow pointing at where I think the oil leak is coming from. But I don't know if the aforementioned thingamabob even deals with oil/has oil running through it. If it does, looks like a new o-ring or whatever seal is in there would fix it. If not ??????

I put a blue arrow showing what looks like a nipple that needs a hose hooked to it. Can someone tell me if there is a hose missing?

Related problem maybe? I think this oil leak is causing my oil light to come on at idle (below 1K RPM). I drive the car for about 30 minutes until it is nice and hot, then the oil light starts to come on at idle/when I stop at a traffic light.
That "boop-boop-beep" then oil light, is starting to wear at my sanity.

Help...

 

First, have you checked your oil level to make sure you aren't low on oil. The blue arrow may be some sort of breather fitting. The red arrow is disconnected from port under blue arrow unless something is hiding behind the hose with the tie wrap on it. The red arrow might be the hose on this diagram below. They normally have a ring with two barbs that engages the lip of the fitting. Being plastic it may be broken and sliding off or someone removed it for something (starter?) and didn't install all the way and it came off on them. You squeeze the ring to unlock the hose and slide off. 11-15-7-605-186 is the part number and you can view what the part looks like there.

 

Agree with Pelican. It looks like the hose fitting is broken where it attaches to the intake. Another observation would be your ccv is leaking oil into the hose and dripping on the ground.

 

So, it does have something to do with the oil...
But, yeah...It's leaking...so I'm always getting low on oil. I just top it off every few days.
Since I have 120K miles on my MCS it seems that a new hose might be in order....which I just ordered from Pelicanparts.com.
I'm hoping that fixes the leak.
Thanks!

 

If your getting a lot of oil down that hose you may need a new valve cover too as the ccv is built into the cover. How do your spark plugs look? Are they black and/or oily looking?

 

You're welcome and thanks for the order. Be sure to clean off the area well when you install the new hose to rule out any other leaks that may be happening from that area or somewhere else, as grussell stated. We do have an oil leak diagnosis DIY here that can help you pin point where common oil leaks for the R56 come from.

 

For such a "simple job" it was really hard. Took me almost an hour to get the old hose changed out. I inspected the old hose and it didn't really look overly worn, so we'll see if it helps.

I did notice that there seems to be a lot of oil residue from the right corner of the valve cover and upon closer inspection, there seems to be a little hole drilled into the aluminum lip of the cover but I can't confirm if it goes through or not. Was thinking it might be some pressure plug or something but it is kinda small. Knowing Mini, they would engineer the heck out of a pressure plug. Which they did on the top back of the new valve cover...
Would be interested to know if other R56 engines had this little hole though.

I changed out the valve cover about 6 months ago and I hesitate to spend another $300+ on the same thing. I may have to though, since I still get the idle oil light when the engine is hot. I got it before and a new valve cover fixed it.

@Grussell - The plugs are OK. I'm getting oil residue on top of the valve cover but not a whole lot. Just enough to make me wipe it up every few weeks.

Pelican, I may be hitting you up for a new valve cover soon. I think I want to replace the other breather hose first (inlet?) that extends from the air intake to the right side of the valve cover. That one seems old and used. The way it just slips on and that plastic "U" snaps over it is highly suspect to me. Seems prone to leakage. Can you give me a part # for that hose?

I gotta say, I love this little car and even though it is a pain to maintain, it's a lot of fun to drive. And I do get a sense of pride when I replace a failing part (and there have been quite a few).
DIY Iv'e replaced:
Valve cover
Turbo pressure regulator
Turbo oil feed line
Oil filter housing gaskets
Oil filter (obvious)
Thermostat housing
Thermostat feed pipe
Water pump
Rear brake pads and sensor
Spark plugs
Ignition coils
Breather hose

I bet I did a few other things that I can't even remember...but that's the way it is with my Mini. It's a love - hate relationship.

 

Congrats on getting the job done even though it was a bit tough. It's always rewarding when you are able to get things done yourself. Be sure to clean off all the oil residue and keep an eye on it to confirm where the leak is originating from. Since you just replaced it, I'm curious. Maybe post up a picture of what you're describing so I can take a look at it. Are you talking about the intake hose from air flow meter to the throttle body? #10 below, which is 13717555784 here. #16 is here 13717570673. Can post up a picture to confirm so I can get you the correct part. Let me know if you need anything else for this project as I am happy to help.