Did my 1000 mile change last nite. I thought this was easier than in my Generation 1 MINIs. I like the plastic oil filter cap, when you hit bottom that is it, it isn't going any further. NO chance I see to overtighten it. Not much clearance under the oil pan, I may have to get a tire ramp. I had to compromise yesterday with spilling a little oil on a blanket while pulling the drain plug, before I could get the catch pan under there. All in all actually VERY easy. Try it you will LIKE IT. It is so good for the motor too.

 

Did my first change on BASIL today at 3600 miles -- black oil, as everyone is reporting, and very easy with the instructions here; another attaboy for z3bum AND the guy who recommended the RhinoRamps

My question, though: I don't see how the oil filter does its job inside the filter cover ... it looks as if the filter just kinda floats around inside the cover, without any pressure on it to make it seal-up against the intake. When I took off the cover, the filter came away inside the cover -- so when I reassembled the filter, I actually ended up first snapping the new filter into the cover and then lowering the whole assembly onto the engine to close it all up.

Does the inside of the cover hold the filter down hard against the intake? Anybody know the magic?

 

I did mine today too, I had 3500 miles and it was pretty easy, no harder than any other car I've owned. The plug on the oil pan is close to the front of the car so you don't really have to get under the car. I used the car's jack to raise the car about 2 inches, the front tire never left the ground, this was just to get enough clearance for the pan that was catching the used oil. My oil was darker than new oil but I wouldn't say it was dirty or black or smelly, it still looked good. Anyway, I feel better having fresh oil after the break-in period. I plan to change it every 5000 miles. The pictures from z3bum really helped and gave me the confidence to do it on my own. My dealer was going to charge me $140, it cost me $56 ($20 for the filter and $56 for 5 quarts of Mobil 1).

 

It might be filtering by probability and hit and miss. If the filter filters 10% of what comes into the chamber and the oil circulated hundreds of thousands of times, eventually 100% of the oil would be filtered hundreds of times. I don't know but my wife's 325i with 70K miles is running strong with as good efficiency as when it was new.

 

Did you go with the 0-40W Mobil 1?

I just did mine yesterday and used that and it seems to work fine

 

I used Mobil 1 5w-30. I have a friend that uses Mobil 1 5w-20 supposedly for fuel efficiency, not sure what the long term effects on the engine would be though.

 

I went with the 0w-40 because it meets the A3/B3 specs and has BMW LL01...plus I assume the 40 will provide better protection in florida heat...am I right about that?

Yeah I kinda wonder if I am getting lower fuel economy because of this oil usually I get an overall average of 38mpg but recently with this oil (after a reset) ive seen drops to 35 (yes this is after a big acceleration) but then it makes its way back of to 38...so I think its probably just my driving haha...but I did actually manage 43mpg on the highway so maybe this stuff does better than the other because I could only manage 42 on the old

 

I agree with your oil choice, it comes closest to Mini specs with the A3/B3 specs and has the BMW LL01 spec as well. I plan on using that oil weight next time.

 

Get this... After I changed my oil yesterday, I decide to sit back and read the label on the half quart bottle I have left. As I'm reading, I suddenly notice the bottle says 5w-20 !!! What the... I could have sworn I had bought Mobil 1 5w-30! I go back outside jump in the DUMPSTER and dig through the trash to see what the other bottles were, I find my bag and find 2 5w-30 and 2 5w-20. So apparently I put 2 1/2 quarts of 5w-20 and only 2 quarts of 5w-30. Ok, I'm thinking, do I leave it in there, can't be that bad at worst the mixture is 5w-25. If this were any other "normal" engine I'd leave it and not worry, but being a Mini engine that's turbocharged and I already have the cold start chatter every now and then, I don't want to take any chances with the warranty and all. Ok, I go out and buy 5 more quarts of Mobil 1 full synthetic European Formula 0w-40 that meets ACEA A3/B3, API Specs and BMW LL01. I changed the oil all over again but I didn't change the filter this time; so there's a little "5w-25" still floating around in there, can't be that much because I still ended up adding 4 1/2 quarts of the new stuff. I also reused the copper crush washer; no leaks. Man!!! Moral of the story: Look at the oil bottles carefully when you grab them, look at them again when you pay for them and look at them again when you pour it in your engine. Whew... Total cost was $83 still beating the $140 my dealer was going to charge... I think I can change my Mini's oil with my eyes closed now...

 

Well, except for needing your eyes open to check the proper oil weight again, and again, and again.

 

Does anyone use used engine oil to lube the bicycle chain?

 

Wow good thing you caught that...i mean I cant say what it would really do for the engine, but still better to be safe than sorry...i think you made a great choice by not risking it and just dumping it

 

I noticed the same drop in gas mileage and the car seems more sluggish. I use to get 40 mpg and now I can barely get 33 mpg. I also seem to hear more clicking, tapping, and clanking in the mornings. I wonder if 0w-40 is too thick? Thicker oil does impact your gas mileage because all the parts have to work harder. I might go down to 30 weight on my next oil change even though it might not meet the A3/B3 specs but it meets the API specs...

 

Well I havent noticed that great of a decrease...it seems to have gone back up to my average 38....sometimes I feel that it could be more sluggish, but i think it is too small to really tell...it really sucks because my dealer sells their oil for $17 per quart I would use MINI brand oil, but that is just ridiculous....sucks really for me...i think when I do find some mini oil for a normal price then I will stock up

 

Keep in mind that Mobil 1's viscosity is rated thinner than what the BMW Euro Castro is rated at, so that even though the Castro is a 30 weight oil, it's viscosity is about the same as the Mobil 1's 40 weight oil.
There's an oil viscosity chart out there that shows there can be overlap between a 30 wt and 40wt oil with the same visocisty.

And it really needs to be re-iterated, that US Mobil 1 5W30 and US Castro 5W30 are group III based oils and NOT appropriate for the Mini.

 

I took my new Clubman S into my BMW mechanic for it's first oil change, at 1200 miles. (I sold him my 95, 155,000 mile, E36 325is, and part of the deal was two oil changes for the new Mini.)

Now, I knew there'd be some "discussion" about oil. He'd always groused about putting Redline into my old BMW, though he reluctantly did it till he finally talked me out of it and into his beloved Kendall GT-1.

Now, I'm sure he would have put the Mini oil in had I brought it in and insisted. But as to putting in any synthetic oil from his stock - he claimed not to have any, though he put the 4 quarts of Redline 20W50 I had left over on the shelf next to the rest of the Redline 20W50 that he says he's had forever and will never use...

The oil came out black, with an added bonus: obvious metal fragments both in the filter and in the oil pouring out of the pan. (Sorry I didn't save some oil for analysis.) Long, slim slivers of metal. Can't imagine keeping that trash in their until the 14,000 miles indicated by the computer!

Now, keep in mind, half way through break-in I sought his break-in advice. "Drive it like you stole it". I took his advice to heart, and managed 23.5 mpg for the rest of breakin... (Actually, that was just his tongue-in-cheek first response. Don't over-rev was his only real caution. Work it in low gear up and down hills, vary the speed, make it WORK but without lugging it in a high gear.)

Poking his LED flashlight down the oil filler cap, he pointed out the scoring clearly visible on the cam roller bearings.

He pointed to a rogues-gallery of various BMW bearings and camshafts sitting on his bench that had been "ruined by synthetic oil", but, still, I felt a bit uncomfortable as he filled-up with Kendall GT-1 20W50. A horror story or two about camshafts replaced at 20,000 miles, and I'm sold....

Somewhere along the line, he mentioned the one partial synthetic that he likes. Produced at "Old LaTrobe", or something like that.

Did some research, and felt a lot better. Not totally convinced that mechanic has fully sorted out synthetic/non-synthetic and zinc-phosphate issues, but at least have to agree with his opinion as to which is cheaper - a new catalytic converter or a new top end? Thanks, EPA for forcing everybody to use crap oil, because high zinc-phosphate MIGHT hurt the catalyst ONCE your car starts burning oil.... Of course, the auto manufacturers wil be thanking them too, when they sell us all replacement vehicles for our prematurely-worn 2007+ vehicles.

So, next time, I'll take him some Brad Penn 20W50, which is the only thing other than GT-1 he will use. (Produced at the original Kendall refinery.)

Oh, as far as gas mileage - I got the same - 27-28 mpg on my 30-mile round-trip commute plus city driving - before and after. (That's what I got for the first half of break-in, and after the oil change, with the aforementioned 23.5 while I was "driving it like I stole it.")

BTW, dunno where anybody is getting these 40mpg fantasy figures, but maybe it's with a non-S on a long freeway drive. I can get mid-30's on a 30 mile one-way drive.

As far as the mechanic's qualifications, he's been building race cars (the fate of my ex-BMW - he'd already started to tear it apart) for many, many years. Was working on putting a vette engine in an M6 when I was in the shop... While he doesn't normally deal with Mini's, he has worked with BMWs through their transition to a synthetic oil requirement, and insists that nothing changed in their engines since they have started requiring synthetic that would require that change.

Nothing other than an over-extended oil-change interval, and satisfying the EPA.

OK, I know I'm going to be branded a heretic for running non-synthetic, and 20W50 at that. I'm ready for the stones...

I probably will do a series of oil analysis across the next oil change (the Brad Penn) and will try to take some photos showing the scoring and the metal fragments in the filter. (I DID save the filter...).

Oh, my oil change interval will be the "traditional" 3,000 miles.

After my research, if I had it to do over again, I'd have changed the oil when I got it, 50 and 500 miles as well. Oh, and drove it like I stole it from the git-go. Fortunately, it seems that today most breakin occurs in the first 20 miles, which is what it had when I got it. If everybody else test-drove it the way I did, the rings have seated just fine. (And it least it got SOME warm-up, as the salespeople - at least at my dealership - always drive the car first, nice and gently.)

 

Yeah I don't see the S getting that kind of milage, except on freeway, but I have the non S and I can get the everywhere (city/hwy) and I can even manage to pull 43 on highway

 

Just did an oil change this past weekend on my 08 MCS automatic with my friend who has a 08 MCS stick. We both ordered our cars and got them two weeks apart about 1.5 to 2 months ago. The cars had 1500 and 1800 miles respectively. My car had a Torx T50 oil drain plug as described in the first article in this thread. My friend's had an 8mm allen key plug. We didn't notice it at first and the T50 removed the plug but jammed in the plug leading us to investigate the reason. Just something to watch out for!

Steve

 

DOES ANYONE KNOWS WHAT SIZE OF THE OIL DRAIN BOLT WASHER DOES THE R56 COOPER S USE?

 

I don't know why everyone thinks changing oil on the R56 is easier than the R53. Other than the finicky oil filter canister on the R53, I'd much prefer changing it over my new one. I hate the horizontally situated drain plug on the R56....the vertically situated plug on the R53's is a far superior design and I could always change the oil without spilling a drop on myself or anywhere else. R56 was a different story...

Oh well, it's still not that bad at all, just messier than necessary.

 

Man, it's a small world. I recently rebuilt the engine in my '87 911 track car. I added racing valve springs as part of the rebuild which puts a lot of pressure on the cam lobes, so i did a lot of oil research. I ended up finding Brad Penn 20W-50 and have bee using it since. I also use the BP 10W-30 in my '91 Miata. However in my '08 MCS I don't think I will be using a 20W-50 non-synthetic. I am just concerned that with the variable valve timing and turbo gear that I could run into problems that BMW would not cover. I only have about 600 miles on my engine, but have already bought the filters and Castrol 0W-30.

I will be curious to see how your BP experiment goes, because I think it is a great oil.

PS; here is a link to an oil page discussing some of these issues.
http://www.lnengineering.com/oil.html

 

I am so glad everyone is finding this thread useful! It's become one of the larger ones on NAM. I have even printed out my own post for folks who were changing their MINI's oil...

Glad to have been a help!

 

I, for one, reviewed this thread prior to changing my oil. It was indeed a great help. Fantastic thread!!

 

This is a great thread...and should be stickied. I will be having my first oil change today, and will note this thread if we run into any rough spots.

BTW...I will be using Mobil 0w-40 European Blend...Sounds like a cigarette.

 

Just don't use Marlboro 0W-40 European Blend. The tar & nicotine content is too high.

Yup, this has been a very helpful thread.