Hey Guys, Changing the oil over the weekend and while taking off the oil filter cap with the 25mm ratchet bit the head of the cap itself cracked and pieces of the hex head came off. Fortunately not enough that I could not get back on. There was a story by a guy on the sewing site who had flat out cracked the entire piece. Had not and was not cranking on it. Think I had it pretty close to the 18 lbs torque recommended. Coming off the 36K initial warranty so this is only my second oil change that I've done personally. Not sure what MINI tech's do Biggest contributor I believe was cold weather. It had dropped below 32 the night before and was about 40 when I did the service. My R56 has 40K plus on it and I don't know if the plastic gives on the filter cap and I should consider it a 'consumable' but just a heads up.
We had the oil in my wifes 09 changed couple weeks ago and when our mechnic took it off the filter just fell out. It is suppposed to be held in with the clips but one had broke off! He was able to get it to work and then decided to order some of those "cheap azz" plastic covers, as it looks like he will be selling alot of them. Some one needs to make a aftermarket metal one.
I came across this today. It looks like pre R56 might use a metal oil filter cover? Could be MINI went to plastic on the R56 for cost savings. It would interesting to know if the metal unit would work on the R56. http://www.larsonhome.com/content/static/docs/mini_oil_change_instrux.pdf
Looks metal to me and alot more sturdy. The R56 has a 25mm hex and Maybe a *little* easier on the swear words dealing with it but the trade off?? I'll take a pic of the crumbling one after my next oil change. Heres the schematic from pelican parts The image got cutoff by Pelican. As I said I'll post pic of crumbled one in about 4900 miles
The big question is....... Will the metal cap have all the same sealing surfaces when used with the R56 oil frame module (for lack of a better description)? Somehow the two would need to be compared. It wouldn't work if the paper oil filter cartridge wasn't sealing properly. The first time I changed my oil at 2000 miles, one of those little spring tabs broke off. :mad2: