As recommended by many people on this forum I did a post break-in period oil change at 5500kms in Edmonton. 120 bux for the pleasure, and they forgot to reset the oil countdown indicator.

Moving to Vancouver Island, I finally got around to asking mini victoria to reset the counter correctly. (at ~11k kms) Since they didn't make the mistake they charged me 12 bux for the privilege [instead of sending the bill to edmonton], but compounding the problem they didn't reset the counter to the right interval and the car is now counting down to inspection 1. (25,000 km from now)

As far as I can tell if mini recommends that the oil be changed within 15,000 to 20,000 km, then this indicator is way off and the car should be counting down to oil change 1 in another 10-15k ... instead of the ~5k it _was_ reading before being taken to Victoria.

Have any of you guys had problems with getting the counters set correctly after doing a break-in period oil change?

 

The original place you had your service done was correct to not reset the service indicator. You shouldn't have had it reset after the "break-in" change, because now the car, and the dealers think that you have had your first scheduled oil change and wont be doing you're "free" one at ~10 to 15000. Instead you (they will say) you have to wait until the indicator says its time. I don't think there is any way to back set the indicator.

Good luck

Nik

 

The counter is based on driving style etc. Has it changed at all since you've been driving it (substantially I mean). Sorry no first hand experience since I've always waited for the computer and they've gotten it right. If you do an in between oil change as you've done then you shouldn't reset the counter - let them pay for it at the regular interval instead of postponing it.
Am I understanding correctly that the interval is up an additional 10k?

 

So, you're saying that I just got billed 12 bucks and bilked out of a free oil change?

Ya, that sounds about right for my experiences with MINI.

11k on the car and I've had nothing but trouble.

Rear hatch gas springs replaced TWICE, (6 trips to mini) over 12 business hours missed from work.

new power steering fan (they found that one not me when i took it in for the break-in oil change),

ALNOSS problem (shifter position sensor is out of calibration)

ongoing roof rack problems (caps dont go on right cuz rack wasn't installed right, had em redo the install, still sealant everywhere) Mini victoria broke one of the rack caps when washing the car (but its not really their fault, the lil plastic things in the caps become brittle in the sun and break every time they're on-off'd it seems) [ive gone through a pack of replacement caps already and will have to get more i guess]

Plus, I think the speedo is inacurate by about 10% (doing 90 it reads 100) but they say there's nothing wrong.

So far I'm not a very happy MINI owner

 

It's been counting down happily since I had the oil changed. It read 15k when the car was first turned on, i had the oil replaced at ~5500km counter wasn't reset kept counting down. As of yesterday it was reading 4800 (11k on the car now) or so left to oil change 1 and I asked them to correct Edmonton's mistake (assuming that they were supposed to reset the interval + 5500km when the oil was changed)

They reset it, not by adding 5500k but by pushing it to inspection 1... its now counting down from 25k. Leaving me to wonder, when do i get the oil changed? I would assume at 20-25 km odo reading (but the counter now says what will be 35km odo)

 

Ok, I was understanding correctly then. Sorry to say but they just did what you asked and that's the only way it works. Edmonton didn't make a mistake, they shouldn't have reset the interval. It was counting down correctly before you took it in to have it reset. There's two ways to tackle this. See if they will do it when it orginally would have been done which get's your originally scheduled free maintenance. However, that may not be worth the a pain. It would not be detrimental at all for you to wait until the computer says its time (I'd go in the interval allowed before which down here is up to 1,000 miles early). In a sense you're back on schedule with what Mini/BMW thinks should be the interval.

 

If I wait till inspection 1 (what its now counting down to) the odo will read 35,000km... I had the oil changed at odo 5500km. Thus if i wait, it will be 29,500km between oil services.. That seems _way_ high, no?

 

I'm having to do the math in my head which I'm no good at but I will say that the first one usually comes out to around 10-12,000 miles (US) and the all subsequent ones generally occur at slightly longer intervals - 15,000 miles or so. You effectively have had the initial short interval so following ones will have longer intervals. That is if you trust the system. That is a great debate on here. I personally have decided to trust the car and Mini engineers. I think there is enough anectdotal evidence of high mileage cars that have gone this route and a few that have had their oil tested at a lab using the long intervals that got good results. In the end, it's your decision whether to trust the computer or not. How long is 29,500 km in miles anyway?

 

18.5k miles approx.

 

PS, I feel your pain about the nuisances. Mini has a high number of these but in the end I think it's worth it. I doubted that for a while (through several posts about what else I met drive instead) but in the end it was worth it. Might be the particular car too. Was it assembled after a heavy drinking holiday. I know my parents were always mindful not to get cars made on July 5th done here in the states

 

Also, inspection 1 will now be at 35k instead of 40k... which probably isn't a big deal, but its nonetheless incorrect.

 

That is a little on the long side StormTide but within reason. I bet it adjusts down as you drive it as well. Drive it spiritedly occasionally and it will bring it down a little to

 

Probably not re the inspection 1 but that'd be something I'd work with the servicing dealer on maybe moving up slightly.

 

I'll do that, thanks tex. These silly computers should be way more servicable. You'd think if someone went to do MORE maintenance, and pay them for the service that they wouldnt want to discourage this by having it mess with your counters. For me, if i hadn't reset it, it would have wanted me to change the oil again 10K (6200miles) after the break-in replacement, which isn't right either.

I would have expected 5500k, 20,000k or 25,000 and inspection 1 at 40,000k... or at least thats what I thought I was getting. Instead I got 5500k, ??(none)??, and 35k...

Ever wonder if MINI is using hazing theory to build brand loyalty?