We just picked up a Clubman S over a week ago and I'm questioning recommended oil changes. The dealer is saying every 15k miles but I am questioning that, especially on a new engine. In my other cars, I have always changed new motor oil at 2500, 5000, and 7500 miles. Then I switch to Royal Purple Synthetic which allows up to 12k miles with a filter change and adding one quart every 3000 miles. There's alot of friction going on in the early miles of the motor and I like to 'flush' the motor often with new oil.

I'm quite a gearhead and I realize I'm probably more **** about it than your average car owner, but I've never owned a Mini before and 15k miles just seems too far apart. I would like to take advantage of the dealer maintenance program, for one to save money and two, I already maintain several other vehicles and toys and having someone else doing it free would be nice! But I don't know if they would change it as often as I would like.

What is your oil change schedule? What is your dealer telling you? Do they do it more often than 15k miles?

Thanks in advance!

-Scott

 

If I were you, until your warranty runs out, I'd follow what the dealer and MINI recommend. Should the motor fail in that time frame and it can be proven that it was related to the oil, MINI owes you a new one. After that, I'd run every 3k and than change. Yes, the technology is there to allow for a longer window, but it still breaks down. Some companies, ie-Kia, will void your warranty if their guidelines are not followed as far as maintenance goes. I'd hope MINI dosen't follow this same path but you never know.

 

So many opinions on this topic... IMHO 3k miles is a waste of money. The oil has been proven to be in fine shape even at 10k and 15k miles. I generally do about 6-7k miles between changes. For people who go longer I hope they check it often and add a little here and there if its low. I find that after 3 months time and 4-5k miles I am usually about 1/4 of a quart low. I assume its loss from supercharger blow back as its not leaking and seems to burn clean.

 

I've had several oil analyses done on our two MINIs, and have found that the factory/dealer oil is about at its end-of-life by 9-10,000 miles. Pretty scary, considering that if I went strictly by the OBC's recommendation, my current oil would have been in the car for 18,000 miles, with almost 2,000 more to go before it's recommending a change.

I'm also waiting for people to start posting oil analyses from the 2nd-gen cars, since the new engine uses direct-injection for the fuel. Several other DI cars (like the Audi RS4 and BMW 335i) are turning out to be *very* hard on oil, even the factory-recommended brands/grades.

If you don't want to go to the trouble of periodic oil analyses, you could do what a lot of people do and just change the oil halfway through the OBC-recommended interval. If you use the MINI oil, there's no worries about warranty invalidation - you're using the recommended oil, just changing it more frequently.

 

WOW! That validates my theory of oil changes more often. Like I said before, I run Royal Purple in other vehicles, but its pretty pricey for a 5000 mile oil change. Does anyone know who manufactures the "Mini" oil? My thought was exactly what you are saying, do the intervals myself with Castrol Synthetic 5W30.

Thanks for the info!

 

The "MINI" oil is Castrol 5W-30, but it's not the same as the 5W-30 Castrol Syntec you find in the auto parts stores. Fortunately, the MINI oil is fairly reasonably-priced, even from the dealer.

I don't know how long the OBC-recommended intervals for the 2nd-gen cars are, but even if you change the oil halfway between the OBC-recommended changes, you probably still won't be changing it as frequently as every 5,000 miles. On my car (1st-gen), the first OBC-recommended change didn't happen until about 12,000 miles, and the second OBC change won't come due until about 32,000 miles.

 

It also depends on your driving. It there are lots of stop and go, short distance trips, cold weather starts, and spirited driving, then half-way on the recommended oil change is not a bad idea. Cost is reasonable specially when you change it yourself. Peace of mind is priceless.

 

If I'm not mistaken my first dealer change will occur at 10K. As I currently have 2K on the car, do you think I'm better off changing sooner as opposed to splitting the 10k? Even though the oil is still well within it's life isn't there a likelyhood of new engine break in crap floating around which should be taken out?

 

I am with you on the piece of mind thing. Thats what Ive always thought. Its cheap insurance in my book. I like to 'baby' my motors to get maximum life and mileage out of them. The driving is standard So Cal stop and go traffic when the wife drives it, which is daily. When I drive it, its 'lead foot central' LOL!!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=101513

Excellent DYI info here. You can order filters from dealer. I got mine from Mini Mania. Can't remember the exact price, but I think it was around $10.00.

 

Just an FYI, it is a good idea to baby a car for a little while when new but it's nothing like the break in days of old. Cars today are pretty much ready to go right out of the box.

 

My dealer (Pentagon Car Sales, Aviano, Italy) recommended and oil change every 10k or every year, regardless of the OBC. However, my local service center (Brino Bet, Pordenone, Italy) would only do the work due as per the OBC.

*shrug*

 

I just changed my oil at 1K. It was Very brown. I will then change it every 5k and rotate the tires every 5k. I plan on keeping the MINI for a long time and oil changes are very cheap to preserve the engine.

 

Changing it every 5K is not cheap insurance. Assuming the OBC says you need to change it every 15K, you have the MINI for 200K miles and it costs you $40 to change the oil, you are spending an extra $1080 in changes. If you do lots of freeway driving and the OBC increases the interval, you are waisting even more money.

It's been well documented and tested that using the proper oil will last as long as the OBC recommends. A cheaper/better insurance would be to test the oil every 10-15K miles. This will confirm that everything is alright and working properly. It will also tell you if something is wrong and causing your oil to prematurely wear. If something is wrong, I would much rather know exactly what's happening so I could address it rather then masking it with excessive oil changes.

Of course you still need to check the level regularly and top off as needed.

 

To me an additional $1000 to keep the engine with fresh oil is worth it, since I will keep the car for many years. Also when I get ready to sell it someone they will give me more for it if I show maintenance records.

 

I agree with you...and you can't put a price on piece of mind.

I am pretty **** about car maintenance and have provided all my records with cars I have sold. I don't think it got me more money for the car but I do believe it helped seal the deal for sure.

 

I guess I'm just different. To me, peace of mind is knowing for sure that everything is alright. I would much rather have paper records from the analysis lab, then just frequent changes.

I do find it funny that people can accept the fact valve adjustments don't need to be done every 30K miles. Wheel bearings are sealed and don't need to be repacked frequently, and ball joints don't need a grease gun taken to them every 3-5K miles. O2 sensors can be changed every 100K+, not 30K miles. But double or triple the oil change interval is too much.

 

I change mine every 7,500 miles. 3K is too soon and 15K is too late in my opinion.

 

I guess I always think of oil as the bloodline of the car. If your oil fails, your motor stops. Your valve lash doesn't matter at that point...either does any of the other stuff you mentioned. Oil changes and quality of oil and filters have always been number 1 on my list.....and tires #2...for mine and my family's safety. Just my personal priority I guess.

 

You make a good point, but the difference to me is by the time you have the analysis back the damage is done. Going to 15K and waiting for the oil to fail does not give me peace of mind.

You are correct on the expense, but I get a much lower number:
20 changes in 100K (I do every 5K)
7 Changes in 100K based on the computer (more or less)
13 Changes difference
$32 per change (depends on the oil you use but correct for me)

$416 More cost for 100K.
I have blown more on mods that did not work out.

To each his own.

 

Interesting read link:

http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/re...s/synthoil.htm

First thing to note is oil does not break down. If it did, our engines would make a very fine refinery (and operate at some ungodly temps). What happens, is you get oil burnoff, loss of oil additives, and contaminants. The burnoff happens when the oil hits a part with a temp higher than its flash point (around 400F). Usually that would be cylinder walls, pistons, valve stems... basically right around the combustion chamber. That's normal, and oil burnoff does not affect the composition of your oil (and that means synthetic oil, dino juice is a different, err, beast). Oil additives, well, other than zinc compounds (which do help in extreme racing conditions, and I do mean extreme), other are of dubious benefit as far as I can tell.

But the main culprit for causing the oil to go "bad" is contaminants. Those come from the combustion process (gasoline, burnt hydrocarbons, carbon, etc), and those are the ones that make your oil filter necessary. So, really, the effectiveness of the oil filter over time is what ultimately determines whether you need an oil change or not. Paper canister type filters I've seen for similar motors are relatively small... the honda civic 1.6l oil filter is about 1/2 size.

On my wife's 07 though, I couldn't let the oil go for the initial recommended interval, 15k. No matter how clean those engines are assembled, there's always the chance of something still left in there, plus the metal particles from the break in (always are some). Rather not chance it, so I had it changed at 5k. I'll have them change it again at 15k (normal schedule), then probably start changing it every 10k.

Just as a point of reference, our last cars had regular oil changes with mobil 1 synthetic at 10k, and both survived past 100k (107k and 125k) with no issues and no oil usage between changes.

Just my $.02

Daniel

 

There are alot of ideas out there about oil changes and miles. But, I'm with you; I think thats playing it safe.

 

Yeah but MINI recommends oil changes at 15k miles (even the first one), which imo, is too long. Btw, they will NOT penalize you if you do your oil changes more often, I checked with the service rep and made sure about that. I paid and had them do the first change at 5k, with the understanding they would still do their free change at 15k. They said no problem. As a matter of fact, they stressed that as long as you used the proper filter and oil and also proper procedure (and have the documentation for proof), it made no difference if you changed your oil every 3k miles, the warranty would still be honored. Frequent oil changes are not disallowed.

Daniel

 

Ok, so if I want more frequent changes I'm going to have to pay for them. What do dealers charge for oil changes? I know it will vary, but I'd like to get a ballpark figure. Thanks!

Tony

 

Actually, I've found the exact opposite to be true. I've had three analyses done on the MINI-branded oil, and all of them showed that the oil was pretty much at end-of-life after about 9-10k miles. But, the OBC in my car is recommending a 20k mile interval. (First OBC-recommended change was at 12,500, and I'm at 32,500 now, with 325 miles still to go until the second recommended change).

I changed the oil myself at 22,500 without resetting the OBC, but I'd be scared to see what the MINI oil would have looked like after the OBC-recommended 20k miles in the car - it was bad enough after only 10k.

I'm also curious to see more oil analyses from R56 owners. The only one I've seen so far was using Pennzoil Platinum (not the MINI oil, but still a well-regarded synthetic oil), and from the standpoint of wear, acid buildup, fuel dilution and flashpoint reduction, it looked as bad after 6,000 miles as the MINI oil did after 9-10,000 miles in a first-gen car. I think the combination of a turbocharger and direct fuel injection is going to prove to be a lot harder on oil than BMW predicted.