I have a brand new mcs; and i have heard about how the mini will use up a little oil over time.So i pulled out the dipstick to check it out. This may sound dumb; but how do you read that thing.The yellow tip does'nt seem to have markers on it. thanks;jomo

 

It's much easier to read when the oil has some color to it. Until then bright sun light helps. Basically to the top of the tip is full. Look real close and you can notice were the tip ends. I believe the operating range is the tip itself.

 

The difference between the dipstick reading "full" and "empty" is only about a quart of oil in the gearbox, so it is not really necessary to get out your micrometers to get an accurate reading.

If you can see oil covering most of the stick, then you are generally fine. If it only covers half of less, top it up, but go easy and check it every 1/3 quart or so, as an "empty" reading does not mean that you should add several quarts.

I figured this out when checking my oil after a 200 mile trip. I almost flipped out when I discovered that I had been driving with "no oil". I borrowed a car and went out and bought 5 quarts of Mobil 1 only to discover that I was really only less than a quart low.

You are definitely right that it is one weird dipstick. These days, if I pull it out and I see some oil on it, I figure I am good to go

 

on mine, the dipstick is hard to get back into the motor for some reason.

is there a trick to smoothly slide that back in? since i had a hard time,
i rarely check oil these days.. only check my garage floor for any drips.

 

kenchan, please don't rely on not seeing any oil on garage floor to mean you have adaqaute oil in your mini. Some mini's have a tendency to burn oil, especially when new.You should check your oil at least once a week and after making a long trip. Yes, the dip stick will stick.. get it... stick... lol but, thats no big deal, just push it a little harder and it will go in. I'd hate to see you posting that your motor blew up for lack of oil.

 

checked it just now. good as new.

 

Just curious... After bringing my Cooper in for its 10k service (including oil change), my dipstick reads higher than the "max" level, by about 30% of the height between min and max (does the MCS dipstick say "empty" and "full"?). Almost 3,000 miles later, the reading is basically exactly the same. I'm going to get the Crapstrol out of there soon anyway, but I'm just curious if my dealer overfilled the car, and if so, whether there would be any significant downside to that.

 

It would appear that your dealer did over fill or, worse yet failed to completely drain the old oil. I doubt there would be any significant downside except a loss of horsepower if the crank shaft is slapping the oil in the pan. I don't think the Cooper has a windage tray in the pan so it could happen especially with hard cornering. You may want to consider draining a little out. Perhaps you could use a small hose that would fit down the dip sick tube and suction some out. Can buy small clear tubing at most any hardware store. No the MCS doesn't have min or max wording on the dip stick, just some dots that are hard to see, especially with clean oil.