Tonight is a very sad night for me my mini is being towed to crown mini of richmond, it appears that I have lost most of my oil.

 

Did you have a oil change recently?
I ask because they may of not put your oil plug in all the way.

 

Yup, I had my very first service that morning.

 

wow.. .seems to me Mini mechanics are damn near worthless

second mini dead from oil change in less than 2 weeks....

 

Did Crown change the oil? Please PM me if they did.

 

Not for nothing, but reading about these oil change issues, just readresses the fact that most any car make techs are worthless. Are the idiots doing the oil changes and they save the experienced techs for the difficult jobs?? I've been changing my own oil and doing my own maintenance since I got my license at 16, and I've never forgotten to tighten anything! It's an oil drain plug now, what is it next, the lug bolts??

 

yep....

I check everything now... these BMW mechanics are the worst I have ever dealt with. My car runs worse since I took it in... sigh**

 

I argue this point all the time. Folks I work with say it takes too much time and effort to change their own oil. No less than 3 people here have had issues with folks not putting enough oil back in, too much oil back in, and no drain plug.

Recently - my brother in law had his tires rotated at Sears. He called me at work a day later complaining of a serious vibration. I told him to check his lug bolts - sure enough he could loosen them all by hand.

 

Normally I do the oil change myself, but I thought that I would use the dealership cause it was free.

 

It appears that you have learned the hard way that despite being "free", some things often comes at a price. Sorry to hear about the oil pan, that really sucks!

 

Changing the oil & Filter in the MINI is a very easy, I have gotten it down to 10 minutes and I change my oil every 5k miles and zero mess. I have installed a Fumoto valve. MossMini sells them, I found another source out in the mid-west, because I needed one with a nipple on the end. This allows me to hook up a 12" length of hose and it drains with no mess. Check it out here http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...eIndexID=38633:smile:

 

I changed my oil myself at 3500 miles, but will take my '04 Cooper to Sterling in a week or two once its service light comes on (10,500) as part of free maintenance.

I'll pay particular attention to their quality of work, given recent light over other dealerships haphazardly performing service. The dealership is 35 miles away... I don't want to be caught stranded on I-66 with a LOW OIL light on my way home.

--Chris

 

I have had good luck with Sterling. For anyone else who has had a BMW Dealer change the MINI's oil and screwed something up, don't hesitate to call MINI USA immediately! For one thing, they are very attentive to dealer performance issues, alot more than you can imagine. And, for your trouble, MINI USA might just do something nice for you... well, if someone let all my oil drain out... I'd want a new MINI!

 

Last time I had Sterling replace my oil I needed a breaker bar to remove the drain plug!

 

what was the outcome of your issue with your loss of oil?

 

It was towed to the dealership and they fixed the issue. They said that it was a faulty o-ring. So far I have not had any problems since I got her back. I also, called miniusa and let them know about the issue as well so that at least they are aware.

 

Yet another reason to switch over to a Fumoto valve. Easier to drain the oil , no worry about cross-threading the drain plug , never have to worry about service tech putting the plug on with impact wrench . I don't see a down side

 

Does it sit lower than the oil pan?
I'd really love to relocate the oil filter.
Changing the filter on a BMW engine is so nice and easy.

 

Steve,
CHeck out the Fumoto valve site, http://www.fumotovalve.com As for relocating the oil filter, let me know what you come up with. I have learned to live with it and it just not bother me anymore. Here are the pic's.....

 

By them stating that it was faulty, more times than not, it means the tech didn't take off the remaining o-ring left from the old oil filter....that is a common thing when changing the oil filter, you need to make sure the o-ring comes out with it..if not, as soon as you seat the new filter and o-ring, it will sit on the old one as well, and not seal...that sounds like it might have been more your problem definitely...Glad you got it taken care of...this is another reason I also have always changed my own oil...I'll be sure to inspect my new/used Mini this week when I pick it up...I've read good stories on here, but I've also read some pretty unbelieveable horror stories as well about MINI techs....better to be safe than sorry I guess

 

The only problem with this theory is that the MINI uses a cartridge filter - essentially the innards of a "standard" oil filter inside an aluminium housing. The only o-ring involved with the filter is the one on the screw-in housing and it's not likely that it could be doubled (although there are some awfully creative idiots out there )

It could be that the o-ring on the filter housing was bad, but more likely it was torn during installation, thus causing the oil leak.

 

Ahh, gotcha....well, I guess that's a little more "piece of mind" when it comes to the oil filter then...thanks for letting me know about that...I thought it just used the same standard oil filters that are used on many other cars...good to know. You're right about the creativity though, never put something like that past anyone

Tony.