I just read in the owners manual that ONLY MINI DEALERSHIP TECHS ARE TO CHANGE THE OIL



I WONDER IF THIS WILL AFFECT WARRANTY.. IF I TAKE IT TO JIFFY LUBE.
QUESTION?? ANYONE GO TO JIFFY LUBE AND AT HOW MANY MILES FOR FIRST CHANGE (I AM NOT GOING TO GO MY MINI RECOMEDATION OF 10K MILES)


THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

Ask Jiffy what oil they are going to use and comparing that with what is recommend by searching NAM...

 

First, there is nothing wrong with the recommended length. Secondly stay the heck away from Jiffy Lube and find a decent mechanic if you do plan to get it done early. Lastly, it won't void your warranty unless it is done incorrectly causing a loss of oil that kills the engine. If MINI does it you have a better chance of a warranty repair. Doubt Jiffy Lube will help you without a large fight.

 

I have never gone the BMW distance for an oil change. 7500 miles seems to be an acceptable interval by those knowing. I am comfortable with 5 to 6 thousand.
From the experiences of those using Jiffy Lube, I would steer clear of them and pay a bit more to a shop that services MINIs. The site below has a list of independent shops in Hawaii that may help.

 

I have and I have had the oil tested with nothing found wrong with it. Americans are just obsessive with the 5K oil change.

 

N16 and 18 engines are way different than ours.

Their's has to be checked and changed more often. One of the reasons for the timing chain stretch ect. is due to the inability of the oil to properly lubricate and cool it.

Additionally, the oil lubrication feeding tube for the turbo will become blocked with shellack from old oil and then the Tubo's bearing will fail.

For the R56, change the oil every 7-8K miles.

Just because the dealer is willing to "pay" for a change every 15K doesn't make that gospel when to change it.

 

From the initial intervals, it sounds like MINI are using full synthetics. (yes they are using full synthetics from MINI usa website) I went to full synthetics on my old car around 25,000 miles (it was totaled around 90,000). The first time I did it, I didn't know any better. Got the full synthetic oil change but not the full synthetic filter!

With a discount chain on the oil-change, you don't really know what filter they're putting in. The filters designed for full synthetic oil also last the length of the oil change period. Regular filters can start leaking at some point after 3,000 miles because that's all they're rated for! ask me how I know! Same with the type of synthetic oil they're using!

It's free from MINI as part of your car purchase!

 

 

I have seen very few engine failures on NAM due to oil changes made at the MINi recommended timing. I have seen lots of engine failures on NAM due to lack of oil in the engine .

Big difference if you ask me.

I have never had an engine failure because of oil in any of my cars. It seems to be a rarity nowadays.

Pat

 

I agree with most of the posters here: STAY AWAY FROM JIFFY LUBE

I do all of my own oil changes (about every 7500 miles), and considering how simple it is and my blatant distrust of all major lube/tire places -- have you seen the people they hire??? I think a lube tech gets paid maybe $8 an hour, with no experience necessary. Just picturing them walk around my car and lean over the bumper to get under the hood...it makes me cringe. All I can picture are their metal zippers and tools scratching up my paint. No thank you! They just don't take care of our cars like we do... I would take it to a local shop I trust, not a national chain.

As far as the warranty is concerned, I would make sure quality oil is being put in your MINI (recommended oil is posted on the miniusa website) and that the oil changes are done as recommended, or more. I recently took my MINI in for a timing chain/tensioner replacement and didn't hear a word about my do-it-yourself oil changes. She had 38,000 miles when she had the replacement done, and has never seen a MINI repair shop in her life, for an oil change or otherwise.

 

I was told 1yr or 10k miles for an oil change with 5w30 full synthetic(castrol, Mobil, royal... Quality!)

I wouldn't go to jiffy lube but a competent owner is capable for changing his/her own oil.

Just be mindful of the cartridge insert, oil level(especially an S), get the magnetic drain plug and use quality oil!

I plan on 5k for my first change since buying the car at 87k miles. I will be checking the color and smell of the oil at every fuel stop and that will determine my new interval.

Happy motoring!

 

Been hearing that but I know a lot of MINI owners overseas that follow the change that have had no problems. Sorry, still not totally buying it. If you are a daily driver with no track I still don't see a reason to do the early oil change. If you are getting sludge, there is something else going on that needs to be investigated as it shouldn't be happening like going to Jiffy Lube and getting cheap oil.

 

Don't go to Jiffy Lube unless you want your oil drain plug stripped out, and reinstalled without the washer.

 

 

What's the longest you've gone between changes, though? My MINI's onboard computer has recommended oil change intervals as long as 23k miles, but I've never left the oil in that long. I did have the MINI oil tested after about 9k miles once, and it was pretty well knackered. The Total Acid Number had overrun the Total Base Number by a wide margin, the flashpoint had been lowered by over 100 degrees, the fuel dilution was at about 1.5%, and the wear numbers from piston and bearing alloys were high.

I've since settled on changing the oil mid-way through the countdown cycle, which works out to about 7500-8000 miles between changes. It's also easy to remember - change the oil when the countdown reaches 7500 and again when it reaches zero.

 

15K or one year. Nothing more, nothing less. To date I have not heard of a sludged MINI or one that blew because of the oil being used too long. What I have heard is engines blowing (R56) because people fail to keep it topped off.

Most of my friends overseas drive a lot harder than we do here because they can but an oil change can cost them about 200 Euro so they are more likely to go the long haul. It is cheap here, but most people are simply wasting good oil.

What oil were you using? Are you tracking the MINI? Sounds to me like something else was going on because a quality oil should not have been done at 9K.

 

I've had ~10k analyses done on both the OEM MINI oil and also on RLI BioSyn 5w-30 with similar results. This is on a first-gen 'S'. It's possible that the fuel dilution was contributing to the poor performance, but I've also seen a lot of MINIs with similar dilution numbers, so I don't think that there's anything necessarily amiss with my particular car.

I did have a few autocross sessions on the oil, but no extended high-speed track runs or anything like that.

It's also entirely possible that Terry Dyson is just very conservative with his analysis and what he'd like to see. It's likely that I could have kept doing 10k mile intervals forever with no significant damage to the engine. My point was just that depending on your driving habits, "following the recommended schedule" could mean that you're stretching oil change intervals out to almost 25k miles, and I personally wouldn't be comfortable with that.

I know that you should also have the oil changed annually, regardless of how many miles you've driven, but there was a period of time where going 23k miles on a batch of oil wouldn't have taken me 12 months, so I would have gone the full 23k before changing it.

I do agree with you that following the recommended schedule probably won't lead to a catastrophic failure, as long as you keep the oil topped off between changes, and that slugging or coking points to a problem beyond just the interval you're using. But I'd also like to keep our two MINIs for a *long* time, so I'm interested in more than just avoiding outright engine failure.

 

I would never go back to Jiffy Lube or any other oil change place. I lived in San Diego once and didn't have the tools to change oil on my Tacoma pickup, so took to JL, they made a big mess. Never again!!

There are plenty of people on this forum that changes their own oil. There will always be a debate about how many miles in between. Some people say 5000, 10000, 6000 or whatever. I don't believe there's any DEFINITIVE proof on a magic number. I think part of it depends on the driving condition, motor, and other factors. The milage interval at which you decide to change your oil is whatever lets you sleep at night. My dad taught me to change engine oil at every 3000 miles when I was growing up. So that kinda stuck to my head. For my Mini, I changed it when it got to 1000 miles, some people say you need it, some people say you don't. It doesn't matter what other people think. I know I'll sleep better at night if I change it.

And moving forward, I'll be changing my own oil at 5000 intervals.

Changing oil is really easy. You'll need the right tools, which are easy to acquire. If you don't want to pay the dealer and can't manage it yourself, find somebody that you trust and have him/her do it for you, then take that person out to lunch.

My $0.02....

 

Fair enough... Here in the USA, oil is fairly cheap anyway so if you can afford to do it then go for it. I'm just trying to dispel the myth that people think that the oil or filter can't go the distance as it simply isn't true. As the poster above mentioned, his dad taught him to do it at 3K and that is what has stuck in our brains. Technology has advanced greatly in this area over the years.

 

I only briefly touched on my actual oil change theory in my previous post, sorry, I was tired. :-)

With all of my vehicles(there have been over 20 since march 2005) it isn't a mileage or time question with the oil... The oil will tell you when it is ready. It truly is the filters that give up before the oil does. When the filter is full, you start to bypass and not be able to filter the oil as well. At this point the oil gets dirty and also is easier to be subjected to thermal breakdown.

Amsoil did a study (not 110% on details but very close) where their oil went over 20k miles... The secret was changing the filter every 2k... And yes, use the right filter.
A K&N oil filter will not filter as well as a wix or Mobil 1... It isn't designed to, although all three are built in the same building.

There are 3 colors of oil in the usage cycle.
The beer theorum:
1st- miller lite/ bud. new oil from the bottle. Light brown, purple, etc. Very clean and see through.
2nd- a nice amber. This is the normal color of oil for a couple to many thousand miles usually. Depending on conditions, etc.
3rd-Guinness... Change the oil! The filter has stopped doing its job and the oil is full of crap!

This is why I peek at the stick at every fuel stop when I first pick up a car... To let the oil tell me what the interval is.

My previous vehicles, intervals:
-NY 89 Mazda 323 186kmiles std oil 3500miles
-NY 89 Mitsu Montero 2.6l 135kmiles std oil 2800miles
-AZ 99 Audi A4 1.8t 176kmiles syn oil 3200-4000miles
-AZ 92 Nissan 300zx n/a 135kmiles syn oil 2600-3200miles
-AZ 00 Chevy Blazer ZR2 165kmiles syn oil 2400-4000miles

This is just my personal example and as can be seen, the ZR2 was offroaded and would need to be changed sooner just like the 300zx when it saw track duty in summer... Both in hot, dusty Arizona conditions.

I hope this helps even just one person. To hell with actual recommended intervals, go over them and you are in default of warranty but I for one will always change when needed (sooner) and know that my engine oil is always capable and ready to go cross country, to the track or even just onramp grand prix! :-)

 

I used the OBC times changes on my 2010 M3 (usually around 15K) and I never burned oil and the results from Blackstone looked fine. Granted, that car took 9 liters of a synthetic blended specifically for the S55 and only available through dealers but it still went 15K between changes and that engine is FAR more stressful on oil than the N14.