Hey guys, just took my car in due to an oil leak. A few hours passed and the shop called me back with what they had found, they said that I have a pretty bad leak from my rack and pinion and that my oil pan gasket was bad. Is $1500 a reasonable amount for them to charge me?

 

I have an 06 diagnosed with the same problems. The dealership quoted me about the same to fix. I called a independent mechanic who works on MINI's in my area and he will do it for about 200.00 less. Shop around.

 

Thanks stewie, they just found that it was actually a bad rack and pinion and the cost has jumped up to 1500, is that reasonable

 

I'm finally going to replace my pan gasket next week. The pan gasket at the MINI dealer is $54.00 which isn't too bad. However to avoid the same problem again, I'm going to try a Victor Reinz pan gasket from "The Parts Bin". It might still be the same one used by the factory. The part number is different than the gasket at the MINI dealer, which is made in Brazil.

The change-out is labor intensive. I'm expecting about 8-10 hours being that I've never done one before. Fortunately I have use of a car lift. Here is a link showing the process with lots of photo's to assist:
http://r53minicooper.wordpress.com/2...s-r53-summary/

 

Mini ison its 3rd or 4th revision on the oil pan gasket....
Imo get the newestoem revision....
Aftermarkets are copies, usually made in batches that sit around....usually not current revisions....the part is cheap....the labour is $$$$....false sense of economy to do otherwise imo.
The ps hose...no big issue...Waymotor works sells them for much less than oem....just devil with the proper fluid or the rack will fail from the wrong fluid....

 

PS the oil pan gasket has changed quite a bit...both in thickness, ribs, etc....all to tryto prevent future leaks....mini knows there is an issue...they are improving the part. That is why the old gasket # has been superseeded a few times.

 

Thanks for the responses. I asked the parts manager at MINI if there was an updated gasket as the old ones were known to fail. He looked it up and it wasn't showing a revision or replacement number. He gave me p/n 11.13.1487.22.1 It's the same p/n as minicarparts.com. After posting my comment this morning I looked it up at Pelican.com, and the p/n is different. Pelican lists Victor Reinz as the OEM for MINI. Pelicans price was under $20.00!!! I'm betting they're all the same manufacturer? I'm not price conscious on the part....I want the best I can get, as it is labor intensive. I want to do this project one time only.

I've had good luck with all of the on-line parts suppliers that I've mentioned. And I've always been treated very well at my local MINI shop. Sure the labor seems high but they back parts and labor for 24 months.

I do most of my repairs for the enjoyment and escape from the daily grind.

 

Finally got around to replacing the oil pan gasket last week. It took about 2.5 hours at a leisurely pace. Pretty straight forward, pay attention to the torque settings and the torque sequence. Having the car on a lift is almost cheating.

Also did long overdue replacement of the low speed fan resistor and replaced the thermostat just for kicks.