...it did not go exactly how I planned.

First off, I've been a bit overdue on an oil change (16k miles since last oil change ), so I was getting really eager to finally change the oil. So I ordered an Oil filter from Moss MINI and it arrived a few days later.

Fast forward to today and I'm excited to get the oil changed finally. So with the assistance of my dad, I get the car up on ramps, get the Oil pan out, unscrew the drain plug and drain all the oil, and take off the oil canister with the filter attached to it.

Then comes the process of putting the canister back on. This took about 15 mins to get on because you have to get it just right or you will risk damaging the threads. It was a pain, but we finally got it on there. Then we screw the drain plug back on, put in fresh new Mobil 1 oil, and put the cap on. Job done, right? Uhhh, not quite.

So I get in the car, start her up, and almost immediately my dad saw Oil leaking out, and so I quickly shut the car off. We come to find out that the leak came from the Oil canister, which we thought was odd considering we made sure it was on correctly. So we had to take it off and then found out what was the real problem: The O-Ring (the one that came with the new filter btw) broke and essentially did not seal the canister.

So at this point we had no choice, but to use the old O-Ring that was previously on the canister. It apparently had some wear and tear on it, but it was all we could do at this point. So we take a risk by putting the old O-Ring back on and hope for the best.

So, we cleaned up the mess on the floor and on the car, started the car up again once everything was taken care of and thankfully no oil leaked. So we topped it off with another quart of Oil (that is about how much leaked out) I took it around our neighborhood and nothing bad seem to happen. I consider my dad and I lucky this time and hope we do not have to do that again.

My dad and I came to think that the O-Ring broke because of the little episode of trying to get the damn thing on there to begin with. All that fussing and turning the canister most likely made it snap when we tighten it up.

So that was my first experience of changing the Oil in the MINI and definitely one I'll learn for the future. I'll make sure I have a spare O-Ring on hand in case something like this happens again and I'll never change the oil at over 15k miles again. The Oil Service indicator still said I had 2700 miles to go, but there was no way I was waiting until around 20k miles to change the oil.

Now I wonder, has this happened to anyone else besides me?

 

The last time I ever trusted the OEM filter from the dealer, happened after 3k mi of driving (check your oil regularly, even on "new" cars). Ever since I've been using Puraltor filters, that have O-rings that actually fit!!!! (Funny concept I know, hope that BMW/MINI engineer is taking notes)

After you get some practice that canister does go on in about 10-30seconds, and you'll have plenty more leak free oil changes after you get the "science" of it down.

 

Yes practice and lots of fresh oil on o-ring and seat to let the o-ring rotate as you torque the canister up!

Jeremy

 

Yep. When my dad and I put the old O-Ring back in, we put some Mobil 1 oil grease around it and around the holder for the canister and then it went in in less than a minute. It's also reassuring that I'm not the only one who has had this happen before.

 

I'd be more concerned about the 16k mile oil change interval . I'd love to see an oil analysis on that...

Fuel dilation: 5%
TAN: 6.5
TBN: .05
etc etc... lol

 

Oil and filter change every 5000 miles for my MINI.

Jeremy

 

Also happened to me using OEM filter and a o-ring. It was well lubed w/ Mobil 1. The ring appeared to have broken at what I perceived as a seam. Lovely little mess to clean up

 

Yeah, we got a sample of the Oil and we'll send it in for analysis to see how good...or bad the oil has become.

The thing is the MINI has not had any problems despite the oil change interval. I know 16k miles is a bit pushing it but there was a period of a couple months when I was going to take the MINI in to get serviced and then I said I wasn't and then I said I was. So finally after a couple months of debate, I finally got the Oil filter and said I was going to change it myself.

I remember calling International MINI in December when I was at around 8k miles since the Oil change and they said to wait until March to get it taken in (since they do oil changes every 15k miles or one year it seems)

I'm not happy waiting so long to change the Oil, but at least nothing bad has seemed to happen.

This is stuff I'm learning my way through. I'm still young (almost 20) so there's much to do and learn.

 

Yeah... I can see how that could happen...

 

Regardless of what MINI's viewpoint is on this subject, others have tested their oil and found that it would have been damaging to their engine to leave it in past 8-9k miles.

 

Yeah, that's what I've gathered. I hope I haven't done much or any damage to the engine. Even when I was approaching the 15 and 16k mile mark from when the oil was changed, I never experienced any abnormalities with the MINI. It was still running as strong as ever.

However, since I'm approaching that magic 50k mile mark soon, I reckon some parts may need replacing or some fluids might need to be flushed.

EDIT: And Blimey, it's too bad that happened to you as well. It's like changing the diaper on a baby only to find out it broke and everything went everywhere shortly afterwards.

 

Exactly...