I took my R58 to Scottsdale Mini to get the battery replaced under warranty (the "battery charge low" light kept coming on) and although it had only been 6 months since I had an oil change they agreed to do it as my maintenance warranty is up in April and I live 100 miles away. And he did the plugs too. I have 23k miles on the car. He said they like to change the about every other oil change which surprised me. On the other JCW forum they said 30k miles. Same for the F56?

 

Sounds like you received the type of excellent service from your dealer we should all expect.

 

Yeah I've bought 2 Minis there and had them in for service under warranty. First one the HPFP quit, they had it towed down there next AM, fixed the next day, and offered to have it towed back. Sold me a set of good RF tires for this one for $700 out the door. And this battery. That's the only stuff they've had to do other than oil changes. They do OK.

 

Yes the manual for the JCW says to replace the plugs at every other service. Pretty nice for them to do it as most techs don't even know that and skip doing it.

 

Thanks, I was not aware of this tidbit of good information. And, obviously my dealership doesn't know this or chooses ignorance to reduce costs! They have never changed them on either of our minis, the R56 JCW or the F56 JCW. However, I have not noticed any real need to do so based on the performance.

 

They read the key.........thats all. There is no preventive maintenance no matter how far from you drive for service.

This is the worst part of owning a Mini.

You never know what is coming next that would need to be replaced or serviced.

 

If this include in the manual then they will replace your plug at any place. Don't need to be worry about this. Just inform them about this. Thanks!

 

Plugs were replaced on both of my R56 JCWs at around 30K miles during routine services. I expect if the schedule for the F56 is the same then they will be done too.

 

I agree! Last year I contacted my dealer about recommended service intervals for maintenance & they confirmed it was not in the owner's manual and varied based on usage.....in other words, an owner has no clue when certain things need to be checked or replaced. I think this is very poor policy! It's my car & I'd like to know when certain things need to be looked after, not rely on some tech to make the decision whether under warranty or not.

I realize some maintenance items are simply common sense, but guidelines or "something" in print in the manual would be nice to have.

 

The system of CBS is actually a lot better than a set mileage number. The only problem is that the customer should be able to read the information from a display in the car.

My 30,000 miles is a lot different than my wife driving the same miles.

At our local dealership it's the service writer not the tech who is reading the fob and inputting the services due.

 

I will ask the next time I take it in for service! They tend to treat us like mushrooms and you never really have the opportunity to speak with the service technicians. I paid for the first oil change at 2,000 miles as I wanted to see how it looked and feel it between my fingers, but it took some concerted effort to get my hands on the oil to check it myself. Old school is still cool.

 

I have an 2011 Clubman on which I purchased the 7 year 100,000 maintenance plan. At around 70,000 miles the car was running rough. I took it to the dealer and showed them in the Mini Extended Mx warranty where it states, spark plugs replaced at 36,000 miles. I asked them why they had not replaced them earlier and they said the CBS did not show it was needed. After they checked out the car they said , it probably needed coils and this has been a problem with Minis in the past. I asked them did the CBS identified this and they said NO. So my question to them was why were they recommending replacing the coils even though not identified by the CBS yet did not think I needed spark plugs. After having an extreme A _ _ showing and then leaving, I call the MINI Headquarters and complained. They then agreed to replace the spark plugs. Remember it states in the Extended maintenance program that spark plugs are covered at 36,000 miles. Another case of the dealer just following the CBS directions.

 

This thread was about the plugs in the JCW factory car not the MCS. I think the MCS and Justa spark plug interval is 60k miles. They didn't replace the plugs on my 2007 MCS because I only had about 30k miles on it after the 3 yr warranty expired.

 

My point was in the that with the Carefree Mini Maintenance program upgradewarranty which is good for 6 years and 100,000 which I purchased, not the standard Car warranty, it states that that spark plugs are covered by the extended Mini Maintenance Program as well as clutches , brakes and other wear items. In the Mini Service Manual page 5 it states that plugs should be changed at 60,000 miles for Cooper and Cooper S and 30,000 for JWC> Which means if you have the Extended Mini Maintenance warranty they replace the plugs at 60,000 miles. The problem is and it is stated in the Service manual, that Spark Plug Service is not reflected in the CBS. Thats the issue I had with the Mini Service Dealer here in St louis, They initially did not want to replace them because they said it did not show up in the CBS. As stated by someone earlier the Service guys just follow it and not what is in the manual.