Last week my wife aksed me how to check the oil on her MINI Clubman so I showed her. This morning she told me she used the last quart of oil for the MINI. She checked it yesterday and it was low so she added a quart - she said it was near the bottom of the dipstick. So I just went to the garage and checked it and it's about two inches above the full on the dipstick - ****! So - should I pull the drain plug and try and take out a pint of oil or is there another way to do this? I need to get it done today before she has to take it to work tomorrow.

 

Rechecked the oil a few times and it looks like it is only marginally above the full mark. Luckily I didn't make too much of this with my wife as she is only trying to help be checking her oil. I've read that you can put in more oil for track days so I guess being a little over won't ruin anything. Live and learn.

 

Make sure you are getting a good reading of the oil level. I made the following thread that explains why you cannot get a good reading following the instructions in the owners manual. This thread also gives ways to get a good reading with stock, modified, and purchased dipsticks.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ding-the-2011-

Morris, 2011 MC, PW/B

 

byron h - Thanks for the reply. I tried the link but it says "Page not found". My wife took my son to piano lessons - a little over a mile round trip and I waited ten minutes before I checked it and it looked about an inch above the full mark again. I'll let it sit for an hour and check it again.

 

I clicked on the link and it took me to the thread. I don't know why it didn't work for you. You might try it again, I think it is worth your time. If you do have to remove oil that is also covered in this link.

Morris, 2011 MC, PW/B

 

I tried it again and it's still not working for me - maybe because I'm on an iPad?

 

FWIW, I just tried the link with my desktop and it doesn't work for me either.

 

Cool - I thought it was just me having trouble.

I let the engine cool off for an hour and checked the oil again, it's about four inches past the full mark up the dipstick. Looks like I'm going to get underneath it and loosen the drin plug and remove a pint.

 

Try this link.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...413-post1.html

To get a good reading try pulling out the dipstick after the engine was at full operating temperature and leaving the dipstick out for 2 hours. I cover the dipstick tube end with a small piece of tin foil while the dipstick is out. This allows plenty of time for the hot oil to drain out of the dipstick tube. I then insert the dipstick, wait ten seconds, take it out, and then read it. You can only take the dipstick out once. If you reinsert it, pull it out, oil will get on the dipstick from the dipstick tube and ruin the reading.

ammodave suggested the following method to check the amount of overfill:

If you insert the dipstick so that none of the handle is inserted in the tube, it will make your reading exactly 1" low--good way to check if you're overfilled.

Morris, 2011 MC, PW/B

 

You definitely want to fix that before you get foaming. I don't understand how it didn't overflow.

 

I copied the link to my thread again. There is so much good information on this thread I think it could really help you. The distance between the high and low marks on the dipstick about 1.4 inches. This is the distance for one quart of oil. If you are over the top mark by the amount you said, you are overfilled by over 2 quarts. As my thread explains, the oil from the dipstick tube is rubbed on the dipstick when you pull it out. It sounds like the oil on the dipstick you are seeing is coming from the tube and not from overfilled oil.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-dipstick.html

Morris, 2011 MC, PW/B

 

Nope. It’s not working for me either and no iPad in sight.

That said I typically only trust the dipstick first thing in the morning before Artoo gets started.

///Rich

 

So - I had the wife drive the car around the block while I got out the floor jack and jackstands. When she came back I raised the car and climbed under it and loosened the drain plug and drained the oil into a plastic container. When I was down there I noticed the clamp that attaches the manifold pipe to the cat (?) had no bolt, so I found a bolt in the garage and tightened it back up. After getting a bit of oil out I bolted it back up and let the wife drive it around the block again. When she got back I waited ten minutes and rechecked it. Now I was two notches down on my CravenSpeed dipstick. I poured the drained oil into the empty quart container and it shows 10 onces of used oil - WTF?

Since I need to get some more oil, I'll go down to the dealer and have them check it on Monday - the service lady told me to bring it down the they will check it and top it off for free since I bought the car from them. What a wasted afternoon.

 

This post has nearly all the oil checking information, Try this link:------>

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...00-post13.html

@ byron h, your 2nd and 3rd links work for me.

 

Great links - I told my wife that she can still check the oil, but from now on I'll be the one adding it. At least she hung with me while I drained it and helped me the best she could.

 

Glad you got the problem solved. It is unforunate that the amount of overfilled oil cannot be read easily with any of the dipstick options without doing a cold oil check.

ammodave's method to check the amount of overfill is the best I have found. It works great with the stock dipstick and BlackIce's modified dipstick. It should work with the Craven dipstick if you use the corresponding distance on the Craven dipstick. This method works well since the reading is away from the upper bulge of the stock dipstick or the spring of the the Craven dipstick.

ammodave's method:

If you insert the dipstick so that none of the handle is inserted in the tube, it will make your reading exactly 1" low--good way to check if you're overfilled.

Thanks OceanMini2 for confirming my last links work.

Morris, 2011 MC, PW/b

 

I had my first service @ 9000 miles (oil change) done yesterday at the MINI dealer. They overfilled by a full quart. I used my Pela 6000 oil extractor to pull it out, but this is really ridiculous. How can you not do the most basic service properly?

 

My dealer overfilled my oil on the first oil change by over 1 quart. Like you, I was lucky enough to check it right after the oil change and had them remove the excess. I was also lucky enought to know how to get a good reading. I asked the dealer what had caused the overfill. They keep records on how much is pumped from the barrel for each oil change. The records showed that my oil change had 5.7 quarts added instead of the correct 4.4 quarts. There was two reasons for this error. The first reason was an error in typing in the quantity. The second reason was they thought the correct amount was 4.7 quarts for all Justa MINI's. That is the correct amount for the 1st generation, 4.4 quarts is the correct amount for the 2nd generation MINI's. The error in typing in the quantity was simply hitting a 5 instead of a 4. The error should have been discovered by checking with the dipstick after the oil change. The dealers can't read the dipsticks and assume that the oil level is correct when they pump in the correct amount. My dealer has been great on everything else they have done and learned from this incident. They were as interested in finding out what went wrong as I was.

Morris, 2011 MC, PW/B

 

Are you sure it was overfilled?

 

Yes. I checked it when I got home from the dealer and the again this morning. It was a full inch or more above the fill line. You could see oil on the metal rod above the plastic tip. I also have a CravenSpeed dipstick and I confirmed it with that. The stock dipstick is a pain, but the Craven is very easy to read. The Pela extractor worked great. I left the oil cold so it would extract slowly. There are 1L marks on the the extractor, so I could tell how much I was pulling out. Ended up pretty close to the 1L mark.

 

Which model Pela extractor do you have and how much did it cost? I'm thinking about buying one.

 

I got the Pela 6000. I got it from Amazon. It was 88 bucks. This is the first time I used it. It seemed like NAM folks liked it, so I pulled the trigger. I'm going to use it for the oil changes at 4500 miles in between the dealer service, and for correcting dealer boneheadedness. I'm going to use it on the riding mower too. A key buy!

 

Is this the one?

http://www.wholesalemarine.com/p/PEL...Fc5xQgod8Q0AOg

 

Yep, that's it.

 

Great - I'm going to put it on my wish list.