I do not post on here much, but I fell the need for y'all to check your Oil Levels when getting a Oil Change from the Dealer.
A long story cut down. I purchased my Mini Clubman new fromm Moritz in Dallas when I went to the Nascar Race in 2009. Living in Austin, at the time there was no Mini Dealer around here, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas were the only places. I changed my own Oil, having worked on Auto since i was 16, thats almost 40 years.1st 500 miles,at 1500 miles and 3000 miles reguraly. It takes 3 and a maybe half quarts to get to the top of the marker on the dipstick, and always change the filter. Got the filters from Mini Mania in a package deal.
Last year I got the free Oil Change from the dealer, when they finally got a Dealership in Austin, when the up window and 3rd brake light needed fixing. All was well I thought, until I checked the oil level, and it was almost 2 inches ABOVE the full mark. I pulled the oil out and refilled it correctly, with the filter because the crush washer for the plug comes with the filter. Also the oil was foaming up into the Air Filter, so I changed that out also.
My New Car warranty will run out in a few months , so I took it back for the Radio intermittantly turning itself off and the rear 2nd door not wanting to open. Both they could not find anything wrong, ok, it's a intermittant problem, but the troubles are in their computer. They also offered a free Oil Change because it's been a year, OK, It's 700 miles early to 15K, but I told the Service Adv. that they prolly didn't drain the oil when they changed it the last time, and he swore that they did.
Finally pick up the Mini, get it Home from a 25 mile drive from the Dealer and check the oil, yepper, it's almost 2 inches ABOVE the full mark AGAIN!!!!! Now I am TORKED! Next morning I bring it right back to the Dealer, Grab my Service Advisor and PROVE they over filled it yet again. Then he gets the Service Manager. He goes on about how Mini's eat oil, that nothing will happen, that people don't change or check their oil and they ALWAYS over fill it with 5 quarts just in case. What a bunch of pure HORSE HOCKEY! I told him that even the Bently Manual warns that you DO NOT overfill a crankcase and oil was comming up thru the air filter. He said "That's just what we do here". I said why don't you get me a crush washer to get my oil back to where it should be, and he said I could go to the Psrts counter and buy one, but the come with the filters. I never wanted to punch someone between the eyes so much in my life. Now Mini Mania is selling the washers seperatly for $3.50 each, but I found a place online that sells them for .17 cents, so I got 50.

WATCH YOU OIL LEVELS Y'ALL! Before you blow a seal in your engine.

 

Wow!

 

Aren't the dealerships great! I have nothing bad experiences with dealership service departments.

 

Put a Fumoto on and you can drain just a little bit of oil if you discover its been overfilled again.

 

You should never ever fill above what the factory says to put into the crankcase. You could actually do damage to the seals and engine it's self.

What the heck is wrong with some of these people?????

I don't know about other Mini's but My 2009 JCW does not eat oil, It uses absolutely none between changes. *NONE* not a single drop.

Over fill a Corvette engine and you will see what it will cost you.

FIVE quarts?? DUH!!!!!

 

Why did you not check it in front of them before you left? Not that it matters as we all see what some of the dealers are like. This is another reason why the aftermarket and specialty repair shops are so important.

 

From everthing I've read and everyone I've talked to 3 1/2 quarts is not enough oil. The consensus seems to be 4 1/2 with some dealers going straight to five (overfill). Engines will sometimes hide oil, but 22% seems excessive. On larger diesel engines manufacturers would advise reindexing the dipstick by draining the oil completely then fill with recommended amount, warm the engine to operating temp, let it cool down, then check the level again disregarding the hash marks. Mark the dipstick with a file at the oil level shown. This is the recommended level for that engine and that dipstick.

In your case I would try another dipstick or drain and refill with 4.5 qts and reindex the current dipstick to that known level.

gary

 

+1

 

Dang. That's some rocket science to get your oil level EXACTLY right. Imagine if people put that much work into maintaining their tire pressure.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFDP7cwZLeo

This is what I was basing my argument with the service manager. I told him about the Bently Video and Manual, and he told me that Bently does not make mini's and they ignore youtube.

 

Show him the page on the Mini Owner's Manual where it says "Do not fill beyond the upper notch on the dipstick. Excess oil will damage the engine." It's on page 95 for the R50/R53, page 97 for the 2007, and so on.

Although I wouldn't bother. It's clear the guy doesn't want your business and wants you to go away and leave him to his little empire. Dealers are like that everywhere.

Pro tip: Never buy a new car. Only use independent shops. YMMV.

 

Just think people, these are the techs that went to school JUST for these cars...

 

While the rant was impressive and well intentioned I am sure, it does seem a bit off-base. The oil capacity for the MINI is 4.6 quarts with a filter change. Changing the filter and replacing the oil with three-maybe 3.5 quarts, would result in the vehicle being constantly low on oil. Yours would not be the first car to have a dipstick that was not properly calibrated from the factory but the manner in which engines are manufactured does produce a consistent oil capacity standard.

A little research on the net will show many people recommending five quarts be used in an oil change and the opinion of the professionals (independent and dealer) is that the extra .4 quarts is inconsequential. From the experience of owning a dealership that performed 7-10,000 oil changes yearly, I can guarantee you neither the automated equipment used to deliver bulk oil nor the technician pouring it from a can are accurate to four -tenths of a quart. Nor, did I ever experience a blown engine or oil seals being blown because of less than a half quart over fill.

You really might want to re-think what you think you know, upon further review, and you might actually owe the dealer service manager an apology.

 

When I recieve my crush washers, I shall take pics of what I take out and what I put back in. All answers shall be questioned then. =)
This amount is from memory of over 6 months ago, and I take care of 4 vehicles. Yet.....stay tuned.

 

The OP stated he had oil in his air cleaner, this is a CLEAR sign it was over filled. Over filled oil can cause damage to emission control devices on the car not so much "blowing" a seal. The guys working the Oil and Lube line at a dealership or a repair shop are the least trained individual at the shop besides the service writers (noticed I didn't call them mechanics because they are not usually formally trained). I put them right up there with the wrench monkeys at Jiffy Lube (no offense to any one just stating a fact). I'm sure Jiff Lube does a lot of oil changes a year also but it doesn't make them good or make them pay attention to details.

I'm a formally trained USAF mechanic and worked on Fire trucks to forklifts.
Different cars have different procedure for checking the oil level. Most now a days want you to warm the car up, turn it off and wait x amount of time then check the oil. After a oil change this is a smart thing to do because it guarantees the material in the filter is fully saturated with oil and holding its full capacity.

.4 QT is almost 2 cups of oil! The high and low mark on most cars dipsticks is 1/2 to 1 QT difference. If you are saying the pump you dispense oil from is only 60% accurate then you better buy better equipment!

 

You need to review your math. A four-tenths error on five quarts is 8% and on 4.6 quarts is 13%.

Depending on how the shop is operated, the person changing oil may or may not be a fully trained tech. Many shops dispatch oil changes directly to line technicians while others have dedicated personnel. One of the most common problems in MINI shops is the lack of volume due to a low number of units in operation and line oil changes are common.

I think both of us can agree that after a few hundred oil changes, any lube tech can become proficient when they are normally working on one brand vehicle in a dealership. Diagnostic skills are not required and changing oil is not a high learning curve task. Calling one a "wrench monkey" would be a little misleading. Mine generally earned nearly as much yearly as the line tech due to volume.

I certainly would not disagree that putting too much oil in a vehicle can be problematic. On the other hand, running the vehicle 25-35% low on oil consistently, as the OP states he does, is even more problematic.

Thank you for your service to our Country in the U.S.A.F! In the past I have hired several returning service trained technicians and with a couple of years training in our shops, they usually became very good technicians.

 

Thats rich, couple years of training hardy har! The stereotype slimy used cars salesmen comes out.

 

I am not disputing your findings...all I am saying is the tools you have been given may be inaccurate (dipstick). It appears that at 3 1/2 qts you are running 1+ qts low. Drain and change oil filter then fill with 4 1/2 qts as a starting point on the dipstick. The dipstick may not be happy but the engine will.

Cotn

First off thank you for your service. Without guys like you we might not have the freedom to drive our Minis.

I have worked in the military and as a civilian and can assure you that you get out of your job what you put into it. There are good and bad civilian techs just as there are good and bad military techs.

The point of this is that KdF is probably driving his Mini a quart low which I am sure you would agree is not a good thing. My particular dealer used to fill to 5 qts but recently backed it off to 4.5 qts not because of any engine damage but because of customer complaints when reading the dipstick.

gary

 

Use the rant generator and create a 10-paragraph rant and fire it off to them.....

http://www.pakin.org/complaint/

 

I live in Austin and know the dealer the OP is talking about and i also don't trust them. Having said that, our MINI club has an afternoon maintenance seminar put on by this dealer later this month. I was not going to attend, but in light of this problem i will be there with lots of questions.

 

It is unfortunate that you must resort for the second time to stereotypical name calling. Unfortunately, working on fork lifts in the Desert does not qualify one to be a line mechanic in a brand specific dealership without any further training. If only it did, my career would have been a lot easier.

All of this drama comes from one man's rant against a dealer who put what is actually a full coke can's volume of oil more in the car than he thought proper. The same person who states he has changed the oil often in his vehicle and shorted it every time by a quart to a quart and a half of oil. I find it hard to gather sympathy for a do-it-yourself in the garage guy versus a dealer who has factory trained personnel. These cars are complicated but not yet that fragile.

 

OK, finally remembering I had a extra Oil filter with a washer, i went thru the procedure. Check oil after leveling the car on the driveway, a little oil on the filter, nothing real major that turning it around won't cure.

 

before change and the measure from the 'ol milk jugs

 

now for the addition of my usual, the full gallon and fully warmed up again, and what I did not put back in.

 

Now, after serious contemplation from all of the responses, I was checking the oil cold, as we all do on V-8 and V-6 American engines where the filter is on the bottom of the engine. I fully admit my guilt. Realizing that the french engine has the filter on the TOP, it must be warmed up so the filter can capture the oil, but 4 quarts of oil with this in mind puts the reading dead center in the dipstick. This is without changing the filter, because I am a cheap and retired SOB!