hello,
im coming up on 5,000 and was trying to decide what interval i will be changing my oil. i was originally going to do every 5,000 but the $$$ over 150000 miles is $2250. now if i do it at 75000 miles its $1500. there is no way im waiting longer than 7500. the oil can go that long but the oil filters cannot (ask any mechanic). anyway i was wondering your thoughts on this. this is not another when do i change my oil thread. its i am changing it at either 5000 or 7500, i just wanted to hear you thoughts on which one.

and for the record my service computer is telling me 19000 miles and march 2009 for my next change. now thats a joke. i mean who would actually wait that long??? its a proven fact there is no way an oil filter can do its job for that long.

 

Let the computer do its job!!! The engineers who designed this engine and its maintenance schedule are smarter than all of us. They don't want the engines to fail, do they????? NO THEY DON'T. I'm amazed at the people online here..."No way I'm waiting 7500 miles" blah blah....Hello folks, it's not 1970 and we're dealing with FULL SYNTHETIC motor oil and a filter to last with it.

Do you all throw your tires away at 10,000 miles too?? "Well they were not worn out, but just to be safe I'll install new ones"

The vehicle will monitor your driving and TELL YOU when to get an oil change. Anything done sooner is a total waste of money.

Sorry for the rant, been watching all these threads for a while and had to speak up. I wish you all the best with your MINI.

 

I will do mine every 5000 miles. I changed mine at 500 mi and will do it aging this week(just turned 1250mi/all broke in finally ). I just had a 2003 Audi A4 in my shop last week. Oil changed evry 10Kmiles( per owners manual), and you should see how dirty the the motor is with the valve cover removed! Terrible.
I have my own repair shop, so changing the oil in my car is very inexpensive. If cost is a factor, I would go 7500 miles( twice per year,average?).Cheap insurance against costly motor repairs. HTH

 

Its easy to change yourself and cheap enough. I change mine every 5k. Sure it can last 10-15k miles but I figure its cheap insurance why not.

 

Then do this!!!

 

Mini cooper will pay for changes once a year no matter what mileage while under warranty which is about 10 to 12k.

 

They will perform the first oil change if you haven't reached the 10K service interval within 2 years, but they won't change your oil for free once a year for the first 3 years.

 

if MINI told you to jump off a cliff, would you???? its a known fact my friend that snyth oil can go this long without being changed but the oil filter can't. (someone please back me up here!!). unless MINI is using some untested super oil filter that nobody else has access to or for that matter has even heard of then what makes you think the oil filters they use can go that long? because they tell you that they can? and why are you so mad? because you choose to believe exactly everything MINI tells you, and some of us do actual real world research and homework only to find out that oil filters can't possibly be effective after 19000 miles. geeshh!! do what you wish on your car, but you are the reason why i only buy new cars and not used. i would want to be the person that gets stuck with your car on a trade in or used car buy past 75,000-100,000 miles!!

 

My BMW manual says to change oil every 15,000 miles. It's a beautifufl 2000 325I. I have changed the oil every 7,500 miles, it has 63,000 miles (wife miles) on it, and it's in great shape. I just sold a 1997 SVT Cobra with a 132,000 miles on it, oil was Royal Purple changed every 3,000 Miles. Engine is like brand new. My MINI gets an oil/filter change every 5,000 miles. Cheapest insurance you can buy.

 

I did a break in change at 1250, and plan on every 5000 for the future. Cheap insurance. I spent almost 40 bucks filling up my MC from near empty, so every 5000 is not that big an expense.

 

Mini/BMW includes the cost of oil changes in their vehicle until x miles or y years. I forget what they offer. This is marketing, they make it easy for you for the first few years. The avg car buying consumer, please note that says avg, not you and I, replace their vehicles every 3-4 years. The "free" oil changes run out about the same time. Hmmmwonder why, Could it be the martkeing people have a hand in that. SO picture marketing going to engineerering and asking jsut haw far they can reasonably safely extend oil changes to. See Marketing is getting billed for the "free" changes.

The car is now in the second hand market and out of BMW/Mini's life, a dead engine at 75k cause oil intervals were a bit long is no longer the problem of BMW/Mini.

So, what do you plan, keeping it for a long time or dumping in 3 years.

From there it's easy to decide on 5K or when the Mini says change me.

 

Quote your source. If the oil lasts that long the filter should last that long. Personally I don't know any of this as fact any more than I knew as fact that you had to change at 3000 miles in the olden days, or at 7500 miles as I did in my last car according to warranty. Now they tell me 19000. Take a step back and think about it. What's it cost your dealer to change the oil/filter? Maybe 30 bucks with synthetic oil. What's it cost Mini to replace an engine that busts because the oil hasn't been changed enough becase of their unusually long intervals? Probably 3000 bucks. I'd say they are very confident that the long intervals are sufficient to protect the car's engine because it costs them next to nothing to change the oil. And you can buy an extended warranty up to 100k miles and change oil the same interval. And they have been making these engines for 6 years, so they must know something about their history. I sure don't, and neither do most of the forum members. It seems very unusual to me to wait that long. I guess old habits die slowly. (maybe I'll wait 10,000!).

 

Bad example, If a tire blows out $100, and tires are easy to monitor. You can't see inside your motor (at least I can't) and if something goes wrong, a motor is not cheap.
Factory engine sensor systems in these cars (and any current production car) is not that sophisticated. It is not constantly checking the vicosity of the oil and heat and wear patterns. It mearly senses if the motor is being driven hard or easy and calculates when the oil should be changed based on general driving conditions.

My oil is changed every 5k no matter what.

 

I change mine every 5,000 miles...gives me peace of mind.

 

When synthetic oil first appeared in the consumer automotive market about 35 years ago it was indeed true that the oil would outlive the filters by several times. Filter technology has caught up. Filters will now have dramatically more surface areas, and tolerate loading until the filter is fully blinded without breaching. This means that your oil pressure sensor will warn you of a serious issue. This is still very unlikely within the typical 12-20k intervals specified by the MINI computer.

The frequent oil changes are buying you peace of mind, not engine longevity. I haven't changed the oil in my 18 year old pickup truck in over 70,000 miles. The filter gets changed every 15.000 miles. No change in oil pressure, no change in compression, no oil burning at 138,000 miles. Maybe, I'll collect on the 100,000 mile guarantee offered by the Mobil One over 10 years ago, but I don't think so. I'll just have to change the oil.

BTW, after 5 years on the computer designated interval, my '02 JCW seems to be just fine, and I expect it to be ok for the next 10 years I intend to own it.

 

my r56 is new.. and it says the service is on 25,000 so do i wait till the service?!!

 

A good friend of mine in FL also happens to be my mechanic. He was a BMW tech for years and owns his own independent shop now. He showed me a piccie of a BMW's engine that followed the 15K oil change intervals...it was not pretty.

 

The interval will ratchet down faster than the actual miles driven, as the computer "gets a fix" on how you drive. Your first service will probably be between 12 and 20k.

 

Who cares what it looks like How did it drive? Your stomach looks pretty ugly after you wolf down a Big Mac and fries, but it gets 'er done!

 

who cares what it looks like? attached it the oil filter and image of a guy who changed his BMW M3 oil according to BMW specs (around 15,000 miles). then there is one of some guy that changed it every 5,000 miles (also an M3). both used synthetic and had close to the same miles on the cars (35,000-50,000). dude, if you don't care if your engine looks like this inside, all i can say is WOW.

 

So when you change the filter, you're actually changing about 1qt of oil too. Burn any at all? (1qt in 10k miles even?) If not, you drain the filter and refill it back to the motor?

Or are you really claiming you haven't added a drop of oil in 70k miles?

 

I agree with flav +1

 

AMEN!!

I will pay $40 every 3-4 months for peace of mind.

The term "need" is subjective. No you don't "need" to change your oil, ever.
But is it a good idea? I think so.

 

If you want to change the oil more often, and don't do it yourself, about how much does it cost, and do you have to take it somewhere special, or can any normal oil change place do it?

 

His point in showing the photo was that following the car's prompts for oil changes was very hard on the engine...it was in bad shape, which is why it was in his shop. He took the photo to record what happens when you do the minimum, as the prompter suggests. And, btw, I don't eat Big Macs...don't really think the human stomach is analagous to a MINI's innards, either!