05 Mini where's the oil?

[Harley95]

Hi Guy
My 05 100,000 mile mini seems to be using about 5 litres of oil per year approx 2,000 miles i am thinking maybe the rings are worn or the valve guides need replacing but the exhaust gasses look ok is there a pressure release valve that could be faulty ?

Regards
John

[Draxindustries1]

It's the PCV valve located in the cam cover at fault.
The cam cover needs to be removed for inspection.
It's an easy DIY job. Sometimes the cover itself can crack and you may have to replace the cover as well..

[ttrjs]

R56 gen? Valve cover and PCV diaphragm notorious on these. Could be rings but often it's the above. Google " mini high oil consumption"

[Draxindustries1]

PCV valve repair kit on ebay are only £10 - £15 ..

[The spinner of plates]

If it’s an 05 R53… standard.

[fozzymandeus]

The spinner of plates said:

If it’s an 05 R53… standard.

This. Prodigious thirst for the stuff.

[The spinner of plates]

fozzymandeus said:

The spinner of plates said:

If it’s an 05 R53… standard.

This. Prodigious thirst for the stuff.

And to run salt in the rounds, the world’s most annoying and torturous dipstick.

[s m]

ttrjs said:

R56 gen? Valve cover and PCV diaphragm notorious on these. Could be rings but often it's the above. Google " mini high oil consumption"

05 reg will be previous gen to R56 - R50/R53

[Brooksay]

Who's Guy?

[President Merkin]

Blimey, some of the replies. The PCV unscrews from the rocker it's circled here:



It's a captive ball bearing allowing a one way flow of gases.It can become blocked over time & you can clean it out with any solvent. At 100k, you are more likely to have worn valve stem oil seals & piston rings. Replacing those are possible for a competent diyer, piston ring replacement is actually a bit easier than the valve stem seals believe it or not & if it were me & it was a while ago, I'd replace the big end bearings at the same time. The caveat being that to replace the rings you have to remove the cylinder head anyway, in order to take the pistons out of the bores, so may as well do both at the same time.

But the PCV is the first thing to try, two minutes with a spanner. I can tell you I bought my R53 with 85k on the clock. It was burning a litre of oil a week. Cleaning out the PCV improved things but not much. Renewing the rings & seals cured it completely. It now has 95k & burns no oil at all.

Edited by President Merkin on Saturday 5th November 08:21

[Harley95]

Thanks for your reply part of the PCV was broken so it just pushed into the rocker cover i have since got a replacement from BMW now i just wait and see if the change helps. Do you know of a good back box that goes onto the Mini exhaust mine broke off i have kept it and the replacement one is noisy somebody must make a slip on back box that that does not tell people i am arriving.