From the seven initial leaks of my 2006 mini R53, I have two remaining. I would love some advice as to what I am doing wrong.

1st: Power steering reservoir to high pressure line. It leaks out the top of the line where it meets the reservoir. I replaced both lines and reservoir. It only leaks at the top of the line (base of reservoir on one side. I have the screw-to-tighten clamp on it. Is it as simple as just making it tighter?

2nd: Oil filter housing to oil cooler. I replaced the oil filter housing gasket but continued to see oil collect at the base of the oil cooler (not the oil filter housing bolts). I replaced the two ring gaskets but continue to see small amount of oil collect on the oil cooler side. I did not use RTV, just swaped the rings and tightened btorx bolts to 9NM. Is rtv the answer? Or tighter?

Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated 😊

 

Reservoir - probably as simple as tightening it. Just be careful not to break the reservoir. When you replaced did you happen to look for any cracks in the reservoir? I don't think it's a very common thing, but just covering bases.

Oil filter housing - those gaskets are a PITA. They're VERY easy to not get right. I had to do the job twice on my e46 when I had it, and I had to do the job twice on the Mini. Very unlikely that tightening is the answer - probably gonna have to do the job again. Some rtv to hold gaskets in place is a good idea.

 

Regarding the power steering leak, in my opinion it is a function of the ultra-slippery viscosity of the Pentosin fluid. And, once the hose connection has been disturbed one or two times for some reason it just never seals properly again.

 

I've got the same leaky connection and it appears to be a crimp connection at the fluid reservoir. How hard is it to remove the clip & replace the steering hose? This seems like its going to be a really messy job.

 

You need a pump/extractor to remove the fluid in the line and the reservoir. You can buy a hand-operated pump thru Summit Racing (or eBay) for something like $12. Comes with long tubes you can insert into the power steering hoses to extract as much as possible. You're still going to get some seepage when you disconnect the lines at the bottom but you'll minimize it by using the pump. You'll have to pry off the crimp connector. Since you're replacing the hose anyway you don't need to worry about damage. I would suggest replacing the crimp connector with a more traditional screw clamp. Removing the connections at the reservoir is quite a bit easier than the connections down at the pump. Good luck.

 

Thank you all for the input. I went ahead and tightened the screw clamp a half turn more and have not seen a drip. It feels 'to tight' to me. That said, all appears well.

The oil cooler leak required the use of rtv in addition to making sure the gaskets were perfectly in place. I placed the gaskets into the groove on the oil cooler side, rtv'd them in place, and then tightened onto the oil filter housing. The car is still on blocks, but it's much closer to being on the road.

 

It's not that messy a job, even without pumping out the lines. I took the bottom of the hose off first and let it drain into a pan. It splashed a bit, but nothing too bad. The clamps suck to remove, and I replaced mine with screw-types, so I can tighten or remove them if needed in the future.