I was driving my car home from work last night when the oil pressure light came on. I pulled over checked it and it was bone dry. It was serviced at 25k and they said it isnt due until 40k. Any thoughts? I put in 4 quarts to get it back up. Check my sig for mods

 

That oil went somewhere (obviously!). I assume you already checked the car over pretty good, so no oil puddles under the car, right? No oil anywhere on the engine? No smoke from the exhaust?

You say when the service was and when it is due again, but how many miles since the service?

 

Wow, if you put 4 quarts in to fill it back up, that means your engine was running on only half a quart when that light came on!!! Total oil capacity is about 4.5 quarts. Is your engine running fine now?

 

The car was running fine the whole time. No oil puddles no smoke nothing. I drive it hard but not that hard. I was pretty surprised. Thank God for synthetic oil. It has been 11k miles since the last service and it is due in 4k miles. I will be calling mini tomorrow and have them check it out.

 

These R56 engine will consume some oil. The oil service count-down mileage indicator does not excuse anyone from checking thier oil level.

By your account you should be checking your oil level before you leave the dealer. You might have left the dealer a couple of quarts low.

 

Did you buy the car new and had no oil usage for the first 25k miles? I'm not sure 4 quarts in 11k miles is abnormal, but a dramatic change in consumption is.

 

O.M.G.

 

Well since you go so long between oil changes you should have been checking your oil. There has been problems with the r53s and oil now it might have moved over to the r56

 

oil is so easy to change that I think it's best to do it yourself (if you want it done right). I've had too many experiences w/ dealers and oil change places either not filling my engine w/ enough oil, over-filling, and stripping my drain plug that I stopped bringing my car in for routine maintance and just do it all myself.

 

wow

 

How many miles were on the MINI since the service check and the pressure light going off? If you are getting the oil changed based on service intervals, you should be checking the oil on a regular basis. I've seen some nasty oil due to long interval periods.

 

Wow.. 0.5 quarts running a motor like the MINIs... hopefully no lasting damage happened. 4 quarts over 11,000 miles is extremely significant. I hardly need to top off after 7,000, let alone 4 whole quarts!

 

wow. yeah something isnt right.

 

4 quarts in 11K is high consumption. I think you need to check your oil more often (paging Capt. Obvious!).

As mentioned in the thread - don't trust anyone to service your car correctly other than yourself. There's a lot of hacks out there spinning wrenches for a living. Always check the oil level before you leave the servicing center. I'd bet they sent you away short on oil.