Hello, first time poster, third time owning a MINI.

I recently purchased a 2006 MINI Cooper S Convertible through a private sale, car has 86k on it. When I purchased it I was told "... We bought it from an elderly gentleman who could no longer drive it. He had it well maintained and we're driving it now with no issues. There is an oil light and gauge that goes on and off. He had it looked into and they couldn't find any problem other than perhaps an electrical glitch." The car has been driven at least 500 miles since I've owned it and today I finally got around to tackling the issue, thinking it was a bad sensor, or a non-OEM oil filter. I did an engine flush with STP, replaced both the sensor and the filter, and added new Mobile One Synthetic 5W-30 oil. Took it out for a spin and the same result happened. After about a mile the oil pressure gauge suddenly drops to zero and the red oil light will also come on. It will do this when accelerating for the first few miles or if you come to a complete stop. I don't hear any other sounds and the power doesn't change when driving it or when the light/gauge comes on. I want to believe it is an electrical glitch, but I also want peace of mind to know I am not doing further damage. I have read through some of the past threads were the sensor and oil filter usually corrected that issue, but it didn't work for me :-( I'm not sure it would be possible to do an oi pressure test, because it only happens after you've driven the vehicle.

My question really is this... if the pump were failing, wouldn't the Check Engine light come on, as a code would be thrown to indicate it's broken? Thank you in advance for your help and recommendations! I also have an email out to the shop that serviced it last to see if they can give me any idea of what tests were performed (hate to throw money at this if something like an oil pressure test was already done).

 

Your oil drainback valve could be broken which causes the dummy light to come on at idle. There is a suitable replacement for said part online made by Dorman. Another issue is that the sensor itself can be bad. My car is doing the same thing but I already replaced the valve and the oil seal. Apparently the sensors can leak oil and it can come out of the sensor plug. That's what I'm doing next. Godspeed

 

Just confirmed with an oil pressure test that the oil pressure is indeed low. Awesome 😡