I never cared much about the cars I drove, and only checked the oil if I knew it was a problem. They were almost all hand me downs. With my MINI, I check it weekly when I hand wash and detail her. LOL! I check more than my hubby does.

 

My Ex-wife thought that the red light in her car that said oil meant she had oil LOL.

She found out differently when she blew a whole in the bottom of her engine.

Most cars do not need the oil checked between oil changes if done regularly, the mini is definitely different in that regards.

 

That's like thinking that you still have money in the bank because you still have checks left.

 

Love this story and I bet the guys at Firestone did not seeing it coming either (their expression)
Exactly why my Dad thought it necessary. I say Ditto on your wife is a keeper!

 

She is a keeper for sure!

Yeah, the guys jaw dropped and then she quickly schooled him on how to install the serpentine belt. People always underestimate her but she was an artillery mechanic in the Army, so she knows her stuff.

 

Miz Vito says it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=QVX68dO7SPs

 

Long time ago, I took my S-10 to Firestone for new tires. That was before the Explorer fiasco. When they were done they said I should have my automatic transmission fluid changed. It was a stick shift truck, so I asked the guy if it would "shift by itself if I changed the automatic transmission fluid?" Never been to Firestone since.

 

Yeah, neither have either of us.

 

Please thank her for her service to our country and also her service for all intelligent women out there.

Love this movie. The court scene was hilarious! Thanks for the reminder

 

Will do, thank you!

 

I called Mini USA and the very nice person on the phone told me to check the Mini manual but she believed that a dash light comes on when the motor is one quart low. I had to tell her that her advice could get a lot of people in trouble. From what I understand the oil light is a an oil pressure indicator. It is possible to have oil pressure with very low oil. I have seen posts from people that have driven with 3 quarts low and not seen the light.

The Mini manual:


And now for the latest post on running the motor on just 2 quarts of oil and then seeing the light:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-low-help.html

 

We had a rental MINI which started throwing the oil can icon. It came on intermittently, so we drove to the nearest gas station and added about a pint and a half of oil. It still came on intermittently after that. We drove it another 2000 miles and gave it back to the rental company to worry about. We did ring the rental company and the MINI helpline about it, not a lot we could do about it apart from keep an eye on it.

 

I'm by no means a mechanical wizard, but I can do the basic stuff (check the oil, change the air filter, etc.) and I least know how the moving parts work together. (And I did successfully rebuild a lawn mower engine in high school shop class. ) This way, I don't get surprised by "warning" lights - the idea is to keep them from coming on in the first place, via diligence and regular maintenance.

And it's these constant threads about oil usage that make me want to stick to a nice, round 5000-mile oil change schedule regardless of what the happy-go-lucky "service indicator" tells me. Am I wrong?

 

At least you're lucky enough to have one that "knows how to handle a stick" I can't believe nobody called that yet haha

But seriously, it is cool that she drives stick. I'll be teaching my gf soon on the MINI (hopefully the JCW Kit isn't too much for her as a beginner )

 

Keeper! My girlfriend couldn't understand why I was so overjoyed when I saw that she had assembled some mechanical components that I was going to build for her but didn't have time before work. This stuff is basic knowledge that unfortunately isn't taught to everyone

 

I do think it is sad when a girl doesn't even know the simple basics of a car. I have a VERY hard time talking to my friends or sisters about cars, cuz they either give me weird looks or just tell me to shut up. My friend told me the other day "I don't even know what the engine bay is". Umm...it's where the ENGINE resides...ugh.

I am actually uncomfortable, too, of letting any of my sisters ride in the car with me for fear that they will criticize my driving stick (I've only been driving stick for 3 months!). Given that they know NOTHING about driving stick, and couldn't care less about learning. They even flipped out like no other one time when we were in the car with my mom driving, cuz the chick in front of us started rolling slowly backwards at a red light. Obviously this chick wasn't paying attention to the fact that she was rolling, but she quickly figured it out lol. So I tried explaining to my sisters that she was most likely driving a manual and probably just didn't have her foot on the clutch. And when they asked how I knew, I began to explain, then they quickly told me to shut up.

Anyway, more power to us females who actually know a thing or two about cars! My husband wouldn't have married me otherwise And I also know how to find parts for more than half the price of shops. Yeah, we do ALL our own work (except installing new wheels and tires; we don't have that tool lol). :D