Oil leaks on startup but is then fine?!?

[1987jdh]

Hi everyone, first off let me introduce myself and thank Joloke for telling me about this forum!

My name is Joel I'm 22 yrs old, 6' 5.5" tall and I drive a white J reg mini Mayfair automatic (circa 27k on the clock) called Mertyl! She is my first car and I absolutely love her.

The problem: about 6 weeks ago I changed the oil and oil filter and all of the seals (all proper parts from mini spares, 15w-40 mineral oil as stated in my original rover owners handbook). Until about a week ago everything was fine, but now when I start her up for the first time of the day about two table spoons of oil leaks out of the cannister on the end closest to the engine (i.e. not where the nut is). I check again when I get to work (30-40 min drive away) by which time the leak has stopped? I check again when I start her up later in the day to go home (approx 8 hours later) and there is no leak, and if I go out in her again when I'm home from work I check again and there is nothing. But the following morning when I start her up for the first time of the day the saga begins again?!? My thoughts are that it could maybe be the temperature of the metal, i.e. it contracts when cold allowing a small leak and then expands when hot and fills the gap where the leak is coming from? I don't think the cannister is too loose or it would be leaking all the time, or would it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[francis]

I have the exact same problem with my car (look for my thread about this). The filter is collapsing and doesn't fit very tightly, and the oil leaks on startup and on reverse when cold. The filter continues to collapse over time, and I have to tighten it every other week, otherwise it would leak more and more, and eventually leak all the time.

If you're lucky, your filter is not collapsing, but only not tight enough. But otherwise, the only option is to find a replacement.

Good luck!

Francis

[francis]

Is your car also leaking on reverse when cold? Mine is literally pouring when on reverse, so I have to be very careful, otherwise I would loose all my oil. I understand the oil pressure is much higher on reverse, and probably even higher with the cold 20w50, so that would explain that leak. Perhaps the pressure is also very high for a few seconds on startup, and that could explain your leak.

Maybe your filter is tight enough for normal use, but not quite tight enough to cope with extreme pressure. Another problem I had was that the bolt felt very tight, but then I found that I could still rotate the canister by hand. The problem was that the canister had collapsed so much that the bolt became too long, and it hit the bottom of the hole. It felt tight, but it wasn't.

[Admin/Founder 2]

Just a tip but once you've wound the bolt in you will feel the bowl locating itself when it does and the bolt head is just touching finger tight on the bowl you really need only turn it on one turn,two maximum but no more

It doesn't go tight as such,as long as the filter bowl is located snugly against the Filter Housing thats what matters,the centre bolt never really tightens up if it does you've gone too far

My Partner Sam tightened ours too tight and we crushed the filter housing and it wouldn't seal

However we located another replacement filter housing thanks to a tip off from minisniper and its now fine

Im no good at removing or tightening the sump plug as I'm a weakling

So now when we do an Oil Change i deal with the filter (as I'm gentle) and Sam has a little more strength to get the sump plug off then back on so deals with that end

It may be that it just needs the O rings replacing?

The Large One Oil Filter Bowl to Housing comes with a new filter and should be replaced every time

The little one Located under the Bolt end doesn't necessarily need replacing every oil change though they are so cheap that it wouldn't hurt to get a bag in and replace them every time

Mra Minis do those ones

Huggz
Jodie