R53 2006 - steering column noise and oil leak

[mb450]

Picked up a 2006 Cooper S (the supercharged version)

It's pretty sound except for two issues that have me stumped.

1. Steering column possibly rack, possibly something else.
Only happens when the front axel is loaded, wheels on the ground and when stationary or moving very slowly
Turn the wheel left or right around 30 degrees and there is an audible metallic knock.
Had a look underneath. Everything appears in order. Pas fan is siezed - due to oil lead more on that in a minute.
Wheel bearings don't have any wear when rocked horizontally or vertically.

Not sure if it's the rack, the column or something else?
Anyone experienced this?

2. There is a nasty oil leak -across the back of the block, on the clutch housing side looks to much higher than the sump gasket possibly even higher up than the starter. Doesn't look like it is the rocker cover gasket. It's. It doesn't appear to be an old leak as the oil is fresh and returns after I've clean it up. Any ideas?

Cheers

[CarsOrBikes]

leak will be the rear main, just fixed the same problem on mine, knock can be many things, check all mount points and the top mounts for splits too.

[mb450]

Is the rear main a DIY job? (not a complete amateur, have had our rangerover engine out and rebuilt myself)

I'm guessing get it high enough and it's not a huge problem? Drop the subframe then split the clutch housing?
Should I think about replacing anything else whilst I'm there - clutch appears fine but not really familiar with the mini clutch in terms of feel.

Edited by mb450 on Friday 11th March 23:23

[mb450]

Well it's all kicking off on Thursday.

Taking it into a ramp place near bristol then getting my hands dirty with:

New (recon) steering rack
Tie road ends
Main crank seal (doing the clutch at the same time - its only on 48K miles but seeing as it's all going to be apart.
New oil pan gasket
New chain tensioner
and a 15% reduced pulley

Edited by mb450 on Tuesday 22 March 21:00

[helix402]

Have you booked the ramp for Fri too?

[mb450]

Yep with the potential to have it over the weekend too!

[mb450]

Went ok today. A few issues with stuck ball joint but the steering back is ready to go back in and on the subframe.
Clutch housing has one bolt remaining so cracking on at 8:30!
The outer ball joints are a right pain in the neck.
Can't recommend ramp it up in Bristol enough - really friendly good facilities.

[smn159]

So did you manage to fix it?

[mb450]

Yep all sorted.
Had to wait on two parts from bmw (gasket for supercharger intake pipe and a new vacuum pipe for the MAP sensor) which meant it raced a bit but now those are sorted it's great!

[smn159]

mb450 said:

Yep all sorted.
Had to wait on two parts from bmw (gasket for supercharger intake pipe and a new vacuum pipe for the MAP sensor) which meant it raced a bit but now those are sorted it's great!

Excellent

[mb450]

Cheers! I have to say I'm never doing a mini clutch again.
It's not that it's particularly hard per-se it's more that it's an awkward shaped gearbox/transmission and getting it to line up took 4 attempts and 3 people. Two people to align it/support it and one to turn the driveshaft to get the input shaft splines to line up. On other cars it's just been a case of get it somewhere near lined up and give it an almighty shove. Wonder if the low mileage on the car meant that the transmission etc is all much less worn so doesn't give as much.