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R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 5:30 pm
by Minidave
This seems to be a fairly common problem on the turbo motors, the oil feed line that goes into the top of the turbo has a swedged fitting with an o-ring seal, the o-ring gets dried out from all the heat from the turbo and the line leaks.

We tackled this job today on Counterfit_Mini's car, she bought the line kit from Detroit tuned, which has an actual stainless steel braided line instead of relying on the o-ring to seal it. The line itself is not expensive, but putting it in the car is a major PITA job!

You have to remove all the heat shielding, the downpipe and then the shield behind the downpipe in order to reach the end of the oil line that attaches to the block. No wonder Baron gets $800 for this job!

Probably the hardest part is finding all the screws that hold the shielding together - that and trying to figure out how the two ox sensor wires unclip - hint - the one on top has a clip on the side that you push in on while you pull up on the plug, the one on the bottom has a red "cap" that you pull straight out to release the plug.

Another major PITA is the band clamp between the downpipe and the headpipe or second cat.......it's made of stainless and it's stiff! You have to expand it to get it to slide over the joint - Tip #2 - slide it to the back rather than onto the downpipe - it will be much easier to reinstall.

Tip #3, remove the studs that attach the downpipe to the back of the turbo, otherwise you may not be able to get the pipe off the turbo, there just isn't enough room - typical for MINI. One thing you do not have to do is "service mode", it really won't help that much.

We had one of the studs gall when trying to remove it, fortunately it damaged the stud and not the threads into the turbo, a good tap cleaned the hole right up and a little copper anti-sieze made the new one go in easily. Replacement studs from Baron are quite a bit shorter BTW.

A good tool box is a must for this job, you'll wind up using a bunch of different extensions and other tools just trying to reach some of the more difficult screws.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 7:11 pm
by davester
good job Dave & Steph -- well done :D

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:15 pm
by Counterfit_Mini
Save $800 up and pay the dealership to do it. LOL It is really a pain but it goes back together faster than it came apart. And putting in this new line there's nothing on it that will go bad like the o-ring on the stock line. The worst part was taking the heat shields off.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 6:01 pm
by minicoopers43
I bet it will go a lot faster on the next MIni we change it on.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:28 pm
by Counterfit_Mini
I'm sure it will since most of the time it was trying to figure out where the bolts to the heat shields were. And cooling the engine off.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:30 pm
by Minidave
So Stephie, no leaks so far?

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:33 pm
by Counterfit_Mini
None that I've seen so far. The car sounds better too with the new exhaust gasket in.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:20 pm
by Minidave
Yay! :mrgreen:

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 6:40 pm
by dsopoci
I may be up soon for the turbo line replacement. After doing it once, about how long do you think it will take to do it the second time?

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 6:56 pm
by Minidave
Couple hours.....

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 8:10 pm
by MiniManiac
Since you have it all off, you may want to just go ahead and replace the gaskets on the oil cooler and oil filter housing. They are next to go :)

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 8:20 pm
by dsopoci
I will just need to compile a whole list of parts to do it all at once then. It does not sound like it is something that one would want to take apart twice.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 8:37 pm
by nine5raptor
I have a cat less dp sitting in the garage. I should look st doing the line at the same time. This is something I had to do on my talon too at one point. Same type fitting on top.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:08 pm
by boxer
What the heck, Baron wants $800.00 for a couple of hours of work? That's crazy. :evil:

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 8:55 pm
by MiniManiac
boxer wrote:What the heck, Baron wants $800.00 for a couple of hours of work? That's crazy. :evil:
It took me a little longer than a couple of hours. I think the mech time is a 4 hour job, maybe 6? Goofing around, it took me 6 hours from start to finish. MiniDave is a pro, so his times are a bit quicker :).

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 1:02 pm
by nine5raptor
Is it worth going to the place in Olathe to use a lift? I'm thinking the shields would be easier with the car up in the air.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 3:24 pm
by Minidave
A lift would make it easier, but it's not necessary, almost all of it is done from the top of the car including the shields......but it won't hurt. Tell Dave I sent you if you go to DIY Olathe - he's a great guy and will help you anyway he can!

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 8:17 pm
by dsopoci
MiniManiac wrote:Since you have it all off, you may want to just go ahead and replace the gaskets on the oil cooler and oil filter housing. They are next to go :)
I just ordered all of the lines and suggested gaskets from Detroit Tuned. I was hoping to put this project off but it seems to be getting worse. The smell of burnt oil is no good...

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:38 pm
by dsopoci
Completed my oil line replacement. I hope I never have to do that again. I think the worst part was the oil cooler and oil filter housing gaskets. Of course, the heat shielding too. It took me a good full day by myself to complete this project, if I had the money I would have gladly paid someone to do it.

Re: R56 Turbo Oil Line Replacement

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:52 pm
by Minidave
Now you know why techs make what they do......that and having to deal with us customers! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: