How To Maintenance :: 2010 MCSa Oil Change
#1
01-02-2011, 11:17 AM
Maintenance :: 2010 MCSa Oil Change
I recently changed the oil for the first time in my 2010 MCSa and took some photos during the process that I thought might help others. I referred to other threads in the "How To" section to step me through the process. I am very grateful to those folks who took the time and effort to create those very helpful guides. I thought I would add my own thread to provide another resource for those who wish to change their own oil.
I tend to run into questions and problems the FIRST TIME I perform some procedure that seem easy, obvious, and intuitive when performed thereafter. My intent here is to try to describe and show what I was thinking as I went through the oil change process.
There is, of course, great debate as to how often to change the oil - particularly that very first oil change. I have read everything from 200 miles all the way through the computer-determined 10,000 miles+. I bought my 2010 new and recently had a good opportunity to change the oil at about 4,000 miles (it finally warmed up to 50F here in the ice-bound Ohio after not getting above freezing for a full month). Regardless of whether it makes a difference in the life of the engine or not, it certainly makes me feel a lot better having changed it at 4,000 miles rather than waiting for the 10,000 miles the computer dictates.
A couple of months ago I prepared for the oil change by getting the oil and filter. I decided to go with the OEM oil and filter just in case there is ever a warranty-related engine problem in the future - I did not want to give Mini any reason (no matter how remote) to deny potential future warranty claims.
I bought the oil and filter from OutMotoring, but of course you can get it from your dealer or other online stores:
The filter kit comes with new rubber o-ring for the filter canister cap and a copper "doughnut" crush washer for the drain plug:
Next, I decided to mark the position of the drain plug relative to the oil pan so that I would not need to use a torque-wrench when replacing the plug (just tighten the plug back up until the paint lines match). I used a little artist's paint brush and some white Rustoleom to mark it (I did this the day before I changed the oil so it would have plenty of time to dry). Unfortunately, I did not put the car up on ramps when I did this so it was difficult to see exactly where I was painting. The result was a much wider paint stripe than I wanted, but it still did the job just fine.
Also, if you are doing this for the first time, the oil drain plug is on the bottom of the oil pan on the left side of the engine (as you are standing in front of and facing the car). The transmission pan is on the right side of the engine. Mine is an automatic and I did not see any sort of drain plug for it, but I have read that the manual trans does have a drain plug which could potentially be confused for the oil drain plug.
Not a Picasso, but it will do:
Next problem was to get the car up high enough to get a drain pan underneath and unscrew the drain plug. I have a set of the yellow metal ramps that have a plastic lead-in for use with lower-profile cars, but the Cooper would clearly not clear those. Using the other posts in the "How To" forum, I saw that the plastic "Rhino Ramps" should work. I bought a set of the "Blitz Rhino Ramps 8000" (Part #11903) from Advance Auto Parts.
These ramps are not as high as the old-style metal ones, but they are perfect for the Cooper. I noticed that the rubber strip on the bottom of the air dam dragged slightly on the inside edge of the ramps on the way up and down, but it did not cause any problems.
The drain plug took an 8mm hex bit. It is a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you turn the wrench counterclockwise (left) to loosen the plug. I was surprised that oil started to leak out as soon as the plug was cracked - the plug threads don't seem to hold back much oil, leaving the copper crush washer to seal everything. This underscores the importance of using a new crush washer for each oil change:
I was surprised at how hot the oil was even after the car had been stopped for 15 minutes or so. So, be careful when you take that plug out. While I was working, my father stopped over, and we went inside and had coffee for about a half hour while the oil drained. It turned out that long drain time must have allowed the oil from the filter canister to drain as well because I did not spill a drop of oil when I took the canister off.
The oil filter is inside a canister with a screw-on plastic cap that sits behind the coolant recovery tank. You need to take the tank out and set it aside to get to the filter cap. There is just one 10mm bolt holding the coolant tank in place, but after removing the bolt and gently tugging, I realized something else was holding it in place. There is a plastic prong on the tank that faces forward and is pushed into a rubber grommet. To remove the tank, you need to push the bottom of the tank to the rear of the car slightly while tilting the tank toward you to release the two tabs on the top next to where the 10mm bolt was. Once the tank is out, you can set it towards the front-center of the car to keep it out of the way. There is no need to remove any of the coolant tank hoses or drain any coolant from the tank:
The plastic oil filter cap takes a 27mm socket to remove. I had a 1 1/16 inch socket that fit just about perfectly. The oil filter cap is also a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you have to turn it counterclockwise (left) to loosen it. I started to wonder as I loosened mine because it remained difficult to turn to the left for quite a while. However, that was because the large o-ring in there is dragging against the metal canister as you are taking it out. Once past a certain point, it turned the rest of the way quite easily.
This is the point where many people report that oil spills out. Either because of luck or the fact that I let the oil drain for over a half hour, no oil at all came out when I took the cap out. There was, however, a small amount of oil inside the plastic cap, but once I unscrewed it, I quickly pulled it and the filter out and tilted it so that that remaining oil could not run out:
Once you get the filter cap and filter out, note that the filter sort-of snaps into a groove on the interior post of the cap. There are little plastic nubs on the inside center core of the filter that snap into this groove. You have to pull on the filter a little to get it loose. When you put the new filter on, you need to push it on until you feel it seat into this groove. This holds th filter in the cap so that you can treat the cap and filter as a unit when you screw it back in.
You will want to put the new rubber o-ring onto the plastic oil cap, put the new filter in place on the cap, then screw the cap/filter back in. I wiped out the o-ring seating surface in the metal filter canister and spread a little new engine oil on both that surface and the o-ring before screwing the cap back on. Be careful not to cross-thread the cap. It took me a couple of tries before I was sure I had it started correctly.
I know there is a torque-spec for the plastic filter cap, but I found that once the lip on the plastic cap meets the edge of the metal canister, it is not going any further. I just tightened mine until those two surfaces met and that was it.
Put the new copper crush washer on the drain plug and tighten it up. The paint mark worked perfectly - the marks lined up just as I thought "this is about as tight as this should be." Nothing against a torque-wrench, though. This way just happened to work well for me.
My MCS took 4 quarts plus 20 ounces of oil to fill it so that the oil was at the full "****" or whatever you call it on the hard-to-read dipstick. This is in line with the 4 1/2 quarts or so number that others have posted.
It took me a while to do this first oil change, but that is because, 1) it is the first time, 2) I am slow (as my wife can verify), and 3) I want to make sure that everything is done properly. In the future, I should be able to change the oil in about an hour, even when working at a leisurely pace.
I have read that the color of the oil is not an indicator of whether it needs changed or not, but I must say that at 4,000 miles, my oil was quite black. I was rather surprised. It never used any oil during these first 4,000 miles that I could tell from the dipstick, but it sure did make it a dark color. I am personally thinking of changing it every 5,000 miles, more-or-less, while fitting in the free changes from Mini as determined by the all-knowing computer.
Thanks again for those who created NAM and to those who post helpful information in it. I hope this little thread proves helpful.
I tend to run into questions and problems the FIRST TIME I perform some procedure that seem easy, obvious, and intuitive when performed thereafter. My intent here is to try to describe and show what I was thinking as I went through the oil change process.
There is, of course, great debate as to how often to change the oil - particularly that very first oil change. I have read everything from 200 miles all the way through the computer-determined 10,000 miles+. I bought my 2010 new and recently had a good opportunity to change the oil at about 4,000 miles (it finally warmed up to 50F here in the ice-bound Ohio after not getting above freezing for a full month). Regardless of whether it makes a difference in the life of the engine or not, it certainly makes me feel a lot better having changed it at 4,000 miles rather than waiting for the 10,000 miles the computer dictates.
A couple of months ago I prepared for the oil change by getting the oil and filter. I decided to go with the OEM oil and filter just in case there is ever a warranty-related engine problem in the future - I did not want to give Mini any reason (no matter how remote) to deny potential future warranty claims.
I bought the oil and filter from OutMotoring, but of course you can get it from your dealer or other online stores:
The filter kit comes with new rubber o-ring for the filter canister cap and a copper "doughnut" crush washer for the drain plug:
Next, I decided to mark the position of the drain plug relative to the oil pan so that I would not need to use a torque-wrench when replacing the plug (just tighten the plug back up until the paint lines match). I used a little artist's paint brush and some white Rustoleom to mark it (I did this the day before I changed the oil so it would have plenty of time to dry). Unfortunately, I did not put the car up on ramps when I did this so it was difficult to see exactly where I was painting. The result was a much wider paint stripe than I wanted, but it still did the job just fine.
Also, if you are doing this for the first time, the oil drain plug is on the bottom of the oil pan on the left side of the engine (as you are standing in front of and facing the car). The transmission pan is on the right side of the engine. Mine is an automatic and I did not see any sort of drain plug for it, but I have read that the manual trans does have a drain plug which could potentially be confused for the oil drain plug.
Not a Picasso, but it will do:
Next problem was to get the car up high enough to get a drain pan underneath and unscrew the drain plug. I have a set of the yellow metal ramps that have a plastic lead-in for use with lower-profile cars, but the Cooper would clearly not clear those. Using the other posts in the "How To" forum, I saw that the plastic "Rhino Ramps" should work. I bought a set of the "Blitz Rhino Ramps 8000" (Part #11903) from Advance Auto Parts.
These ramps are not as high as the old-style metal ones, but they are perfect for the Cooper. I noticed that the rubber strip on the bottom of the air dam dragged slightly on the inside edge of the ramps on the way up and down, but it did not cause any problems.
The drain plug took an 8mm hex bit. It is a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you turn the wrench counterclockwise (left) to loosen the plug. I was surprised that oil started to leak out as soon as the plug was cracked - the plug threads don't seem to hold back much oil, leaving the copper crush washer to seal everything. This underscores the importance of using a new crush washer for each oil change:
I was surprised at how hot the oil was even after the car had been stopped for 15 minutes or so. So, be careful when you take that plug out. While I was working, my father stopped over, and we went inside and had coffee for about a half hour while the oil drained. It turned out that long drain time must have allowed the oil from the filter canister to drain as well because I did not spill a drop of oil when I took the canister off.
The oil filter is inside a canister with a screw-on plastic cap that sits behind the coolant recovery tank. You need to take the tank out and set it aside to get to the filter cap. There is just one 10mm bolt holding the coolant tank in place, but after removing the bolt and gently tugging, I realized something else was holding it in place. There is a plastic prong on the tank that faces forward and is pushed into a rubber grommet. To remove the tank, you need to push the bottom of the tank to the rear of the car slightly while tilting the tank toward you to release the two tabs on the top next to where the 10mm bolt was. Once the tank is out, you can set it towards the front-center of the car to keep it out of the way. There is no need to remove any of the coolant tank hoses or drain any coolant from the tank:
The plastic oil filter cap takes a 27mm socket to remove. I had a 1 1/16 inch socket that fit just about perfectly. The oil filter cap is also a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you have to turn it counterclockwise (left) to loosen it. I started to wonder as I loosened mine because it remained difficult to turn to the left for quite a while. However, that was because the large o-ring in there is dragging against the metal canister as you are taking it out. Once past a certain point, it turned the rest of the way quite easily.
This is the point where many people report that oil spills out. Either because of luck or the fact that I let the oil drain for over a half hour, no oil at all came out when I took the cap out. There was, however, a small amount of oil inside the plastic cap, but once I unscrewed it, I quickly pulled it and the filter out and tilted it so that that remaining oil could not run out:
Once you get the filter cap and filter out, note that the filter sort-of snaps into a groove on the interior post of the cap. There are little plastic nubs on the inside center core of the filter that snap into this groove. You have to pull on the filter a little to get it loose. When you put the new filter on, you need to push it on until you feel it seat into this groove. This holds th filter in the cap so that you can treat the cap and filter as a unit when you screw it back in.
You will want to put the new rubber o-ring onto the plastic oil cap, put the new filter in place on the cap, then screw the cap/filter back in. I wiped out the o-ring seating surface in the metal filter canister and spread a little new engine oil on both that surface and the o-ring before screwing the cap back on. Be careful not to cross-thread the cap. It took me a couple of tries before I was sure I had it started correctly.
I know there is a torque-spec for the plastic filter cap, but I found that once the lip on the plastic cap meets the edge of the metal canister, it is not going any further. I just tightened mine until those two surfaces met and that was it.
Put the new copper crush washer on the drain plug and tighten it up. The paint mark worked perfectly - the marks lined up just as I thought "this is about as tight as this should be." Nothing against a torque-wrench, though. This way just happened to work well for me.
My MCS took 4 quarts plus 20 ounces of oil to fill it so that the oil was at the full "****" or whatever you call it on the hard-to-read dipstick. This is in line with the 4 1/2 quarts or so number that others have posted.
It took me a while to do this first oil change, but that is because, 1) it is the first time, 2) I am slow (as my wife can verify), and 3) I want to make sure that everything is done properly. In the future, I should be able to change the oil in about an hour, even when working at a leisurely pace.
I have read that the color of the oil is not an indicator of whether it needs changed or not, but I must say that at 4,000 miles, my oil was quite black. I was rather surprised. It never used any oil during these first 4,000 miles that I could tell from the dipstick, but it sure did make it a dark color. I am personally thinking of changing it every 5,000 miles, more-or-less, while fitting in the free changes from Mini as determined by the all-knowing computer.
Thanks again for those who created NAM and to those who post helpful information in it. I hope this little thread proves helpful.
#3
01-26-2011, 06:14 PM
I recently changed the oil for the first time in my 2010 MCSa and took some photos during the process that I thought might help others. I referred to other threads in the "How To" section to step me through the process. I am very grateful to those folks who took the time and effort to create those very helpful guides. I thought I would add my own thread to provide another resource for those who wish to change their own oil.
I tend to run into questions and problems the FIRST TIME I perform some procedure that seem easy, obvious, and intuitive when performed thereafter. My intent here is to try to describe and show what I was thinking as I went through the oil change process.
There is, of course, great debate as to how often to change the oil - particularly that very first oil change. I have read everything from 200 miles all the way through the computer-determined 10,000 miles+. I bought my 2010 new and recently had a good opportunity to change the oil at about 4,000 miles (it finally warmed up to 50F here in the ice-bound Ohio after not getting above freezing for a full month). Regardless of whether it makes a difference in the life of the engine or not, it certainly makes me feel a lot better having changed it at 4,000 miles rather than waiting for the 10,000 miles the computer dictates.
A couple of months ago I prepared for the oil change by getting the oil and filter. I decided to go with the OEM oil and filter just in case there is ever a warranty-related engine problem in the future - I did not want to give Mini any reason (no matter how remote) to deny potential future warranty claims.
I bought the oil and filter from OutMotoring, but of course you can get it from your dealer or other online stores:
The filter kit comes with new rubber o-ring for the filter canister cap and a copper "doughnut" crush washer for the drain plug:
Next, I decided to mark the position of the drain plug relative to the oil pan so that I would not need to use a torque-wrench when replacing the plug (just tighten the plug back up until the paint lines match). I used a little artist's paint brush and some white Rustoleom to mark it (I did this the day before I changed the oil so it would have plenty of time to dry). Unfortunately, I did not put the car up on ramps when I did this so it was difficult to see exactly where I was painting. The result was a much wider paint stripe than I wanted, but it still did the job just fine.
Also, if you are doing this for the first time, the oil drain plug is on the bottom of the oil pan on the left side of the engine (as you are standing in front of and facing the car). The transmission pan is on the right side of the engine. Mine is an automatic and I did not see any sort of drain plug for it, but I have read that the manual trans does have a drain plug which could potentially be confused for the oil drain plug.
Not a Picasso, but it will do:
Next problem was to get the car up high enough to get a drain pan underneath and unscrew the drain plug. I have a set of the yellow metal ramps that have a plastic lead-in for use with lower-profile cars, but the Cooper would clearly not clear those. Using the other posts in the "How To" forum, I saw that the plastic "Rhino Ramps" should work. I bought a set of the "Blitz Rhino Ramps 8000" (Part #11903) from Advance Auto Parts.
These ramps are not as high as the old-style metal ones, but they are perfect for the Cooper. I noticed that the rubber strip on the bottom of the air dam dragged slightly on the inside edge of the ramps on the way up and down, but it did not cause any problems.
The drain plug took an 8mm hex bit. It is a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you turn the wrench counterclockwise (left) to loosen the plug. I was surprised that oil started to leak out as soon as the plug was cracked - the plug threads don't seem to hold back much oil, leaving the copper crush washer to seal everything. This underscores the importance of using a new crush washer for each oil change:
I was surprised at how hot the oil was even after the car had been stopped for 15 minutes or so. So, be careful when you take that plug out. While I was working, my father stopped over, and we went inside and had coffee for about a half hour while the oil drained. It turned out that long drain time must have allowed the oil from the filter canister to drain as well because I did not spill a drop of oil when I took the canister off.
The oil filter is inside a canister with a screw-on plastic cap that sits behind the coolant recovery tank. You need to take the tank out and set it aside to get to the filter cap. There is just one 10mm bolt holding the coolant tank in place, but after removing the bolt and gently tugging, I realized something else was holding it in place. There is a plastic prong on the tank that faces forward and is pushed into a rubber grommet. To remove the tank, you need to push the bottom of the tank to the rear of the car slightly while tilting the tank toward you to release the two tabs on the top next to where the 10mm bolt was. Once the tank is out, you can set it towards the front-center of the car to keep it out of the way. There is no need to remove any of the coolant tank hoses or drain any coolant from the tank:
The plastic oil filter cap takes a 27mm socket to remove. I had a 1 1/16 inch socket that fit just about perfectly. The oil filter cap is also a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you have to turn it counterclockwise (left) to loosen it. I started to wonder as I loosened mine because it remained difficult to turn to the left for quite a while. However, that was because the large o-ring in there is dragging against the metal canister as you are taking it out. Once past a certain point, it turned the rest of the way quite easily.
This is the point where many people report that oil spills out. Either because of luck or the fact that I let the oil drain for over a half hour, no oil at all came out when I took the cap out. There was, however, a small amount of oil inside the plastic cap, but once I unscrewed it, I quickly pulled it and the filter out and tilted it so that that remaining oil could not run out:
Once you get the filter cap and filter out, note that the filter sort-of snaps into a groove on the interior post of the cap. There are little plastic nubs on the inside center core of the filter that snap into this groove. You have to pull on the filter a little to get it loose. When you put the new filter on, you need to push it on until you feel it seat into this groove. This holds th filter in the cap so that you can treat the cap and filter as a unit when you screw it back in.
You will want to put the new rubber o-ring onto the plastic oil cap, put the new filter in place on the cap, then screw the cap/filter back in. I wiped out the o-ring seating surface in the metal filter canister and spread a little new engine oil on both that surface and the o-ring before screwing the cap back on. Be careful not to cross-thread the cap. It took me a couple of tries before I was sure I had it started correctly.
I know there is a torque-spec for the plastic filter cap, but I found that once the lip on the plastic cap meets the edge of the metal canister, it is not going any further. I just tightened mine until those two surfaces met and that was it.
Put the new copper crush washer on the drain plug and tighten it up. The paint mark worked perfectly - the marks lined up just as I thought "this is about as tight as this should be." Nothing against a torque-wrench, though. This way just happened to work well for me.
My MCS took 4 quarts plus 20 ounces of oil to fill it so that the oil was at the full "****" or whatever you call it on the hard-to-read dipstick. This is in line with the 4 1/2 quarts or so number that others have posted.
It took me a while to do this first oil change, but that is because, 1) it is the first time, 2) I am slow (as my wife can verify), and 3) I want to make sure that everything is done properly. In the future, I should be able to change the oil in about an hour, even when working at a leisurely pace.
I have read that the color of the oil is not an indicator of whether it needs changed or not, but I must say that at 4,000 miles, my oil was quite black. I was rather surprised. It never used any oil during these first 4,000 miles that I could tell from the dipstick, but it sure did make it a dark color. I am personally thinking of changing it every 5,000 miles, more-or-less, while fitting in the free changes from Mini as determined by the all-knowing computer.
Thanks again for those who created NAM and to those who post helpful information in it. I hope this little thread proves helpful.
I tend to run into questions and problems the FIRST TIME I perform some procedure that seem easy, obvious, and intuitive when performed thereafter. My intent here is to try to describe and show what I was thinking as I went through the oil change process.
There is, of course, great debate as to how often to change the oil - particularly that very first oil change. I have read everything from 200 miles all the way through the computer-determined 10,000 miles+. I bought my 2010 new and recently had a good opportunity to change the oil at about 4,000 miles (it finally warmed up to 50F here in the ice-bound Ohio after not getting above freezing for a full month). Regardless of whether it makes a difference in the life of the engine or not, it certainly makes me feel a lot better having changed it at 4,000 miles rather than waiting for the 10,000 miles the computer dictates.
A couple of months ago I prepared for the oil change by getting the oil and filter. I decided to go with the OEM oil and filter just in case there is ever a warranty-related engine problem in the future - I did not want to give Mini any reason (no matter how remote) to deny potential future warranty claims.
I bought the oil and filter from OutMotoring, but of course you can get it from your dealer or other online stores:
The filter kit comes with new rubber o-ring for the filter canister cap and a copper "doughnut" crush washer for the drain plug:
Next, I decided to mark the position of the drain plug relative to the oil pan so that I would not need to use a torque-wrench when replacing the plug (just tighten the plug back up until the paint lines match). I used a little artist's paint brush and some white Rustoleom to mark it (I did this the day before I changed the oil so it would have plenty of time to dry). Unfortunately, I did not put the car up on ramps when I did this so it was difficult to see exactly where I was painting. The result was a much wider paint stripe than I wanted, but it still did the job just fine.
Also, if you are doing this for the first time, the oil drain plug is on the bottom of the oil pan on the left side of the engine (as you are standing in front of and facing the car). The transmission pan is on the right side of the engine. Mine is an automatic and I did not see any sort of drain plug for it, but I have read that the manual trans does have a drain plug which could potentially be confused for the oil drain plug.
Not a Picasso, but it will do:
Next problem was to get the car up high enough to get a drain pan underneath and unscrew the drain plug. I have a set of the yellow metal ramps that have a plastic lead-in for use with lower-profile cars, but the Cooper would clearly not clear those. Using the other posts in the "How To" forum, I saw that the plastic "Rhino Ramps" should work. I bought a set of the "Blitz Rhino Ramps 8000" (Part #11903) from Advance Auto Parts.
These ramps are not as high as the old-style metal ones, but they are perfect for the Cooper. I noticed that the rubber strip on the bottom of the air dam dragged slightly on the inside edge of the ramps on the way up and down, but it did not cause any problems.
The drain plug took an 8mm hex bit. It is a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you turn the wrench counterclockwise (left) to loosen the plug. I was surprised that oil started to leak out as soon as the plug was cracked - the plug threads don't seem to hold back much oil, leaving the copper crush washer to seal everything. This underscores the importance of using a new crush washer for each oil change:
I was surprised at how hot the oil was even after the car had been stopped for 15 minutes or so. So, be careful when you take that plug out. While I was working, my father stopped over, and we went inside and had coffee for about a half hour while the oil drained. It turned out that long drain time must have allowed the oil from the filter canister to drain as well because I did not spill a drop of oil when I took the canister off.
The oil filter is inside a canister with a screw-on plastic cap that sits behind the coolant recovery tank. You need to take the tank out and set it aside to get to the filter cap. There is just one 10mm bolt holding the coolant tank in place, but after removing the bolt and gently tugging, I realized something else was holding it in place. There is a plastic prong on the tank that faces forward and is pushed into a rubber grommet. To remove the tank, you need to push the bottom of the tank to the rear of the car slightly while tilting the tank toward you to release the two tabs on the top next to where the 10mm bolt was. Once the tank is out, you can set it towards the front-center of the car to keep it out of the way. There is no need to remove any of the coolant tank hoses or drain any coolant from the tank:
The plastic oil filter cap takes a 27mm socket to remove. I had a 1 1/16 inch socket that fit just about perfectly. The oil filter cap is also a right-hand thread (lefty-loosey, righty-tighty), so you have to turn it counterclockwise (left) to loosen it. I started to wonder as I loosened mine because it remained difficult to turn to the left for quite a while. However, that was because the large o-ring in there is dragging against the metal canister as you are taking it out. Once past a certain point, it turned the rest of the way quite easily.
This is the point where many people report that oil spills out. Either because of luck or the fact that I let the oil drain for over a half hour, no oil at all came out when I took the cap out. There was, however, a small amount of oil inside the plastic cap, but once I unscrewed it, I quickly pulled it and the filter out and tilted it so that that remaining oil could not run out:
Once you get the filter cap and filter out, note that the filter sort-of snaps into a groove on the interior post of the cap. There are little plastic nubs on the inside center core of the filter that snap into this groove. You have to pull on the filter a little to get it loose. When you put the new filter on, you need to push it on until you feel it seat into this groove. This holds th filter in the cap so that you can treat the cap and filter as a unit when you screw it back in.
You will want to put the new rubber o-ring onto the plastic oil cap, put the new filter in place on the cap, then screw the cap/filter back in. I wiped out the o-ring seating surface in the metal filter canister and spread a little new engine oil on both that surface and the o-ring before screwing the cap back on. Be careful not to cross-thread the cap. It took me a couple of tries before I was sure I had it started correctly.
I know there is a torque-spec for the plastic filter cap, but I found that once the lip on the plastic cap meets the edge of the metal canister, it is not going any further. I just tightened mine until those two surfaces met and that was it.
Put the new copper crush washer on the drain plug and tighten it up. The paint mark worked perfectly - the marks lined up just as I thought "this is about as tight as this should be." Nothing against a torque-wrench, though. This way just happened to work well for me.
My MCS took 4 quarts plus 20 ounces of oil to fill it so that the oil was at the full "****" or whatever you call it on the hard-to-read dipstick. This is in line with the 4 1/2 quarts or so number that others have posted.
It took me a while to do this first oil change, but that is because, 1) it is the first time, 2) I am slow (as my wife can verify), and 3) I want to make sure that everything is done properly. In the future, I should be able to change the oil in about an hour, even when working at a leisurely pace.
I have read that the color of the oil is not an indicator of whether it needs changed or not, but I must say that at 4,000 miles, my oil was quite black. I was rather surprised. It never used any oil during these first 4,000 miles that I could tell from the dipstick, but it sure did make it a dark color. I am personally thinking of changing it every 5,000 miles, more-or-less, while fitting in the free changes from Mini as determined by the all-knowing computer.
Thanks again for those who created NAM and to those who post helpful information in it. I hope this little thread proves helpful.
#4
01-27-2011, 04:57 AM
"so the coolent tanks just sits up side down to get it out of the way black top pointing outside car is that the idea"
It does not sit upside down - it is just sort-of on its side. You can really only flop it over into that one position because the hose that is hooked to it limits its movement (you leave that hose attached so you don't have to drain any coolant). Once you get the coolant tank loose, it becomes pretty self-explanatory.
It does not sit upside down - it is just sort-of on its side. You can really only flop it over into that one position because the hose that is hooked to it limits its movement (you leave that hose attached so you don't have to drain any coolant). Once you get the coolant tank loose, it becomes pretty self-explanatory.
#5
01-30-2011, 09:34 AM
Thank you very much. I purchased a syphon pump to remove the oil through the dipstick hole since I couldn't fit the pan or anything else under the car. It hasn't arrived yet, but may still try it rather than ramping. Thanks to your photos I'm ready to give it a try on my own at 6,000 miles! I'll let you know.
#6
02-12-2011, 09:49 AM
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Just finished changing the oil for the first time (in the Coop S) using your guide. Many thanks. Everything was where and how you said it would be.
I'm glad you made mention of the "snap" when the oil filter goes into the cannister. I may have sat there for a while gently trying to ease it in. But with a little pressure, it snapped right in and went back on in a jiffy. And no oil if you let it sit for 20 mins before removing the filter can.
All told, about an hour and five mins, most of which was the drain itself. Took a break and let it drip.
Thanks again for the step-by-step guidelines!
Richard
I'm glad you made mention of the "snap" when the oil filter goes into the cannister. I may have sat there for a while gently trying to ease it in. But with a little pressure, it snapped right in and went back on in a jiffy. And no oil if you let it sit for 20 mins before removing the filter can.
All told, about an hour and five mins, most of which was the drain itself. Took a break and let it drip.
Thanks again for the step-by-step guidelines!
Richard
Last edited by Richard09S; 02-12-2011 at 12:44 PM. Reason: I type 70 mistakes a minute
#7
02-12-2011, 12:29 PM
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#8
02-12-2011, 12:47 PM
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Yep, greatly helped. The Rhino ramps were a big help as well. I'd thought about just making a set of ramps. But these are ready made, ready to be used with not much of a drag on the front mud/rock guard. My paint wasn't a Van Gogh or Picasso either. But who's crawling under to see? 
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
#10
02-12-2011, 02:54 PM
Ramps
If you get the ramps from Advance Auto Parts and are not in a hurry for them, what I did was watch dealnews.com for discount codes from Advance. Below are some from last week (week of 01-31-2011 - not sure if they are still valid). I waited until I had $100 worth of things I needed and then ordered online and had them sent to a store near me (got the 40% off).
There have also been posts that you you can skip the ramps and run the car up on two pieces of 2" x 6" board laid flat on the ground and that will give enough room to get a drain pan under there. I have not tried it, but you can't beat the price.
There have also been posts that you you can skip the ramps and run the car up on two pieces of 2" x 6" board laid flat on the ground and that will give enough room to get a drain pan under there. I have not tried it, but you can't beat the price.
#11
02-25-2011, 07:23 PM
You explained it well but I have one thing to add if I may. I have a 2008 and my filter is in same location as yours and also made of plastic. Instead of using a 1 1/16 socket to remove filter cover I found it much better to use a band type filter removal tool that you can buy for a couple dollars at any auto parts store. The type that you use to remove a normal canister car filter. You put your socket wrench on band and it gets tighter the more pressure you put on it. My plastic filter cap was on so tight it would have broken if I would have kept trying to use socket to free it up. No chance of damage with band type tool. Give it a try. Marty
#12
04-08-2011, 09:20 PM
just wanna give a shout out to the op. this diy is great for my 2011. wasn't exactly easy, especially how tight the space is for the oil filter change.
some thoughts. i couldn't move the coolant tank away to create more space but did move it around enough to get the oil filter out. followed the op's direction on loosening the oil filter and letting it stay there for 30 minutes so that there will be no oil spill when getting the oil filter out - worked like a charm. my mcs took ecaxtly 4.5 qts.
some thoughts. i couldn't move the coolant tank away to create more space but did move it around enough to get the oil filter out. followed the op's direction on loosening the oil filter and letting it stay there for 30 minutes so that there will be no oil spill when getting the oil filter out - worked like a charm. my mcs took ecaxtly 4.5 qts.
#13
04-09-2011, 10:23 AM
cccplus, I posted the original article. There must have been some change between how the coolant reservoir on the 2011 MCS is shaped and/or postioned versus how it is on the 2010 MCS. I have seen some other posts on the oil-change related threads that indicated that moving the 2011 coolant tank out of the way was difficult. It was not a problem at all to move it out of the way on my 2010 MCS - I just got it loose and then set it toward the center of the car and I had clear access to the oil filter.
Thanks for the feedback - I have been able to fix a lot of vehicles (cars and motorcycles) based on diys and other info people have posted on various forums (I am sure I have saved thousands of dollars doing things myself rather than paying someone else to do it). I try to pay some of that back a little bit when I get a chance by posting things like this.
Thanks for the feedback - I have been able to fix a lot of vehicles (cars and motorcycles) based on diys and other info people have posted on various forums (I am sure I have saved thousands of dollars doing things myself rather than paying someone else to do it). I try to pay some of that back a little bit when I get a chance by posting things like this.
#14
04-10-2011, 01:03 PM
yes, it seems that there is some change within the oil filter space. there is no way that i can move the coolant tank like you do in the picture. but all is well by just navigating and using some muscle to squeeze the oil filter canister out.
i recommend people with new mini who want to keep their mini for a long time or more reliable. these turbo mcs gets dirty really quickly. i remembered checking the oil at 1000 and it was golden brown. by 2500, it was just dark/black
i may have been doing a bit too many spirited driving after my breakin
i'm glad i bought a mini. the community here is great and there is just this friendly/family feeling that i don't get from other car forums.
Thanks pnorrod
i recommend people with new mini who want to keep their mini for a long time or more reliable. these turbo mcs gets dirty really quickly. i remembered checking the oil at 1000 and it was golden brown. by 2500, it was just dark/black
i may have been doing a bit too many spirited driving after my breakin i'm glad i bought a mini. the community here is great and there is just this friendly/family feeling that i don't get from other car forums.
Thanks pnorrod
#15
04-27-2011, 05:00 PM
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Just finished changing oil in my 2011 MCSa. Not bad except for the oil filter. Yes, it's a tight fit and the I was constantly moving the coolant tank out of the way. I changed mine at 2,922 miles with fresh Mobil 1, 0-40 European Formula. While I was at it I also installed a Fumoto Valve (F-108). Just take your time and follow the instructions here and you will be okay
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