2009 MINI Clubman S

Started by MiniDave, December 16, 2016, 05:06:14 PM

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MiniDave

What about Amsoil?

I buy Mobil 1 because MINI requires synthetic, and I can buy it for $25/5 quart jug at WalMart.....sometimes only $22.

Yes, I did my valves at 50K, I'm almost at 100K now so I may be taking a look at them soon......only recently I've started noticing that oil smell you describe, I figured I must have a small leak somewhere....these engines have an issue with the oil filter housing being made of plastic and leaking after a while I hear - so I figured that must be where it's coming from - but I haven't really checked.

What about oil consumption? Mine seems to be going thru a quart about every 2500 now, it used to go 5K or more without using any noticeable amount
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jeff10049

That seems like a lot of oil use I change both cars around 5k and there is never any noticeable use. 220k on the 2004 and 95k on the 2013.

I have heard that the n14 can use some oil compared to the older tritec or newer n18 but if you didn't have oil use before something changed.
I don't think the n14 cars we service at the shop use oil but the customers may be adding oil that I don't know about. 

Your oil smell could be the turbo supply line at the turbo the o rings at the banjo can go bad.
If/when you need the oil line get it from Detroit tuned.

I hear good stuff about Amsoil some people swear by it. I have no personal experience with it we have some customers that bring it in for there cars they seem to be doing fine on it although we change it at a reasonable interval and don't do the Amsoil 25,000 mile service thing. 

It would be interesting to see if a brand change helps oil consumption I have had that result before. Maybe brand X is better at keeping seals like valve stem seals soft but the competitor's brand is better at keeping oil control rings free and changing it up for a while might be a good thing.





MiniDave

I had my Clubby in to the Dealer for a $20 oil change (can't pass those up!) and they did an "inspection" while they had it up on the rack. It's been leaking oil lately so I was anxious to see what they would find.....They came up with three things, starting at the top - the valve cover, next the oil pan and lastly they found the right side axle seal is leaking.

Frankly I think it was only really leaking from the axle seal as the oil pan and valve cover both have o-ring seals and I've yet to see one of those leak. But, just to make sure I decided to start on the top and change the valve cover seal first.

$62 later I took the new seal home and started pulling the cover off.....it's not too difficult and I was pleased to see the engine under the cover looked very clean. No sludge, no mess at all. I cleaned up the cover real well and put it all together. It started right up and ran sweet, so I took it around the block.... when I pulled back into the driveway it was idling rough as a cobb. Moral of the story, if it ain't broke don't fix it! And if it is broke, get someone better than me to fix it!   ::)

It got dark so I haven't had a chance to see what's bugging it yet, whether I left a hose loose or what......
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jedduh01

Small time work world!
  I just replaced VC gasket and Serp belt on a friends friends 2011 MCS JCW 6SPM with 60K on it.
  Shouldn't be much but at 100K,  perhaps the coils didnt like being disturbed.   Or an air leak somewhere.. That valve cover was surprisingly easy to do for BMW.  I bet too her oil pan is leaking ( it was pretty wet ) but we started up top for sure with the VC because you could also smell it.

I also replaced the Serp belt, and that was a joy. I liked seeing how the Waterpump is driven by a counter pulley to the crank pulley by the outside of the belt.  Pretty neat design.  Then the belt tensioner has a hold back pin built into the tensioner.   Compress tensioner (not easy without the right tool) but done and pin holds in place.  Replace belt / unlock Pin and go! took longer to remove the wheel liner.



MiniDave

I had my water pump replaced last summer at about 90K, they replaced my serpentine belt at the same time, it was the original and still looked fine......I was surprised it looked as good as it did.

The reason I don't think it's the oil pan leaking, it's a steel pan unlike the previous design which had an aluminum one with the o-ring seal - in my experience it's rare for these to just start leaking. Odd too, they don't use a gasket of any kind when they pull the pan, just RTV I'm told.

On the supercharged cars they had trouble with the crank sensor leaking, the oil would run down and follow the lip of the pan around and made it look like the pan gasket was leaking - it never was but I know some mechanics who got well changing oil pan gaskets on them.

These engines are built differently.....so I'm not sure what could be leaking on the back side of the engine where I'm seeing all the oil - supercharged engines had both the oil filter housing and the oil cooler on the back, these have neither  It could be that axle seal - but then it would be a different smell to the oil than what I'm getting. I need to get it up on a lift and check it out better.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Finally got around to sourcing what was bugging my MINI, after I changed the valve cover gasket the idle would sometimes go to hell, and it would set the check engine light, codes would vary but it was usually P300 - general misfire.

It was pretty easy to see what was wrong - the breather hose had come out. It snaps in hard into the valve cover and I hadn't got it all the way in.

The valve cover and upper parts of the engine are still clean and dry, so maybe it was leaking tho I saw no evidence of it when I got he cover off. Still smells like oil burning so I'm betting it's the axle seal but till I can get it up in the air to fix it, it will just have to leak.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad