Hi fellow Mini owners/enthusiasts.

I recently purchased a 07 Mini Cooper S (90k miles) and noticed an oil leak from underneath the engine.

I got a low oil light and a check engine light the other day, so I filled it with oil and some Lucas Stop Leak.

Both lights are off but the oil is still leaking.

When I drive for an hour or so, I see the oil dripping every 20 seconds or so when I park it. But after a day of not driving, the leak seems to stop or the leaking rate slows down significantly.

I’m afraid of spending a lot of money on repair, and am wondering if this something I can fix myself.

I do not know much about car maintenance/repair, so I would very much appreciate it if you could share some knowledge regarding this issue.

Thank you!


Oil dripping from underneath engine.

After one night (the dark area).

 

You have been cursed with the mark of the Mini. Kind of like the old VW joke, "If is not leaking you are out of oil". On my 07 MCS I have changed out the valve cover gasket, the turbo oil lines, the oil pan gasket, the vacuum pump, and the oil filter housing seals. They were ALL leaking. No more leak... for now.
You can do them all yourself if you have the patience. Not hard just a little time consuming. And do them all at the same time. Otherwise you will be re-doing a lot... like I did.

 

If you won't be able to do the work on your own, do yourself a favor now and sell this car you just recently purchased. These cares are great fun and extremely reliable ONLY if you are willing to do the maintenance and repair on your own (and enjoying doing it). Otherwise, you've just bought a money pit to throw your hard-earned cash away. The dealership charge is ridiculous and mechanic shops will also charge a premium to work on these cars due to its confined space design and the trouble they have to go through to fix these cars.

For an 07 MCS (12 years old car), if the previous owner doesn't care enough, and in your case it looks that way, you'll need to address the following:
- Valve cover gasket
- Water pump and water pump seal
- water pipe seal between water pump and thermostat housing
- Thermostat housing and gasket
- All the oil and coolant lines to and from the turbocharger
- oil-filter housing gasket (this is where your leak comes from, this needs to be done every 50-60k miles)
- Auxiliary coolant pump
- brake booster pump
- high pressure fuel pump
- If you hear rattling sound on the passenger side of the valve cover, you'll need to do a timing chain/guide replacement (EVERY 10-year old 2nd gen MCS must go through this, or you'll just be looking for trouble down the road)


The above list are what you need to keep an eye on. Normally when I first buy an used 2nd gen MCS, I would go straight to putting the car in the garage for a month going after these things, if I don't replace them, I at least take them all off and examine their condition, then determine to replace them or put them back, also wipe away all oil gunk and coolant drip marks so that after this, I can always locate if there's a leak and where do come from can be seen easier with a clean engine bay.

 

Thank you very much for your input and advise. It cleared up a lot of my questions.

I’m wondering if it would be dangerous to drive it temporarily, even if the oil is topped off before driving?

 

Not unless you let the level drop too far. Keep it visible on the dipstick and you should be fine - for now. All these cars leak.

But, +1 on changing every gasket and seal on the motor when you get the chance. You have time to learn how to do it yourself - plenty of resources on here and elsewhere on the web (YouTube for example). We all came here at one point for the same reason (welcome, by the way). Consider this: no matter how expensive the right tools and parts cost you to procure, it's still going to be FAR cheaper than taking it to a pro garage. Plus, you keep the tools and share your knowledge when it's over.

And must say, that was an impressive puddle for one night. Even my old American big block V8 hoopties didn't cough up that much crude on the daily (although some burned it). That said, put a pan underneath the car for now and check the level every day until you know for sure how fast it's leaking.

You can clean up that stain with some kitty litter (note: get the non-clumping kind like Tidy Cat) before it sets in; throw it down and grind it into the oil with your foot. You don't want to know what it takes to remove old oil from concrete. I had to do it once. Never again. Brutal.

 

I forgot to mention I also changed out the turbo with all coolant lines and aux coolant pump, the timing chain set (guides, chain, gears, main seal), Vanos, and valve guide seals to stop the oil burning.

You are gonna love your car. We all do.

 

The year and mileage tell me it’s the oil filter/heat exchanger housing gaskets. There’s two sets, 1 that mates up to the block and the other is the gaskets between the oil filter housing and heat exchanger. I happen to be in the middle of another rebuild and here is a couple of pics of the assembly in question. When the gaskets go, it pours out like you’re experiencing. At 90K, you are well beyond the life of those gaskets.
The bad part is it’s below the turbo, which means you have to remove a lot of stuff to get to it, as well as drain the oil and coolant to replace the gaskets. It’s a mess to clean up because the block and everything below/behind it is coated in oil.
The one positive is the actual gaskets are really cheap. The round/oval gaskets are the gaskets between the housing and the heat exchanger, the others go against the block.