Engine Drivetrain 1st Gen Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Replacing the Crank Sensor O-ring - R53 - Discussion

Cough "Stealership" Cough

 

I'd be willing to bet that 99.9% of the oil pan gaskets that have been changed on 1st gen cars were not needed, the oil was coming from the crank sensor and following the lip of the pan.

You will not spill any oil out of the crank sensor hole, it's WAY above the oil level, even if you tip the engine.

I've replaced a bunch of these o-rings over the years, and not one car has needed a pan gasket after drying up the oil coming from the sensor.

 

Mine was super easy to do.
Called Helix
Scheduled Appointment
Paid a small bill for them to do it and my hands stayed clean. :lol:

Support you local independent MINI shops.

I support Helix with my business and Dragon food and homemade Christmas cookies.

If you think about it your mechanic has your life in their hands when they are working on your car because if something fails "at speed" you many not be around to long.

 

Glad I found this thread. I'll be doing the same thing soon. Hopefully, it's the root cause of all the oil around my oil pan and I won't have to replace the oil pan seal...which I already ordered.

 

Glad you ordered it, because it's a MINI, meaning that your oil pan gasket is also leaking. Unlike the Crank Sensor Seal, you will need to drain the oil to do the pan gasket, unless you are a BOSS (kidding. Boss or not, you'll get an oil shower if you try).

 

Glad to see I am not the only one using the ratchet strap method. Just need to be careful though, I have seen people overstress the upper mount this way.

Good write-up

 

Thanks for contributing this to the library.

 

Nice write up!

Thanks....

 

Thanks agranger, I will be doing this in the Spring, you have just saved me some time and grief for sure.

 

Nice! Thanks again for another great write up.

 

And another great write-up added to MY library!

 

Nice write up I changed mine while replacing the water pump last year. One thing I was wondering why drain the oil when changing the o ring? When I did mine the oil didn't leak out. I wouldnt think the level sits high enough to come out of the hole. Is it because your tilting the motor?

 

I started to do this repair by this method. Being my first time in that area, and with a significant amount of grime in there, I decided to put my car into 'service mode', which was more work, but not difficult. I would say that if this is your first time doing this job, I would recommend the 'service mode' way of going about it. Thanks for all the great pictures on this repair. It was all very helpful!

 

The 10mm bolt that secures the crankshaft position sensor... is there a torque setting for that?

I did utilize the extra space and view by tipping the engine back using this method, even though I put the car in service mode. I have big hands, and no hoist, so it was helpful.

Also, it was good to get the power steering cooling fan off and see how full of muck it was... it is very easy to take off, and it needed a good cleaning.

 

10mm bolts do not need much torque. Clean bolt & use some 242 loctite.