Hello everyone, this is my first post! Anyways, so I bought an '03 Mini Cooper S about 4 months ago. I bought it from a large local Ford Dealership, part of the deal on the car was they gave me free oil changes for 3 years.
Well here is the problem, It's ready for it oil change and I have an appointment at 1:30 today:

A) I asked about synthetic, being that it is whats reccomended, the guy told me they will use a synthetic blend... is that a problem? As in not being a full synthetic.

B) Should I trust a Ford dealership to do an oil change on a Mini?

I don't mind doing my own oil changes, I have for my GTO, I'm just not set-up to do it right now. And it seems like a waste to not take advantage of free oil changes. But I love this Mini way too much to just throw it in harms way...

Any thoughts? I am honestly nervous about it... thanks.

 

I can say that i wouldnt trust a ford dealer to do it, but that is probably me just being biased.

Definetly make sure they use full synthetic, that is one thing they absolutely should do. If they refuse do it yourself.

 

Since the R53 MCS engine uses oil to cool the bottom of the pistons, you really ought to use full synthetic.

 

Do the change yourself.
I don't trust any dealer, not just picking on Ford. The people who do this work are at the bottem of the seniority scale so they just want to get the work done.
The blend they would probably use is Motorcraft 5-20 which is only about 15% syn. Not nearly good enough.

The 'free oil change' could end up costing you a lot in the long run.

 

with what frequency will they change the oil for 3 years? You're probably fine running synthetic blend if you use a normal (3-5k) oil change interval. Mini specifies synthetic only, but also specifies a 10k oil change interval. . .

 

Which is a good point. They are doing every three months. But as it happens, I was driving to the appointment... and I backed out, I couldn't do it. Went to the parts store and got a filter and some synthetic oil. I'll change it myself after work. I figureed, if I let the Ford dealership do it, I'd always be wondering/worrying.

If you want something done right...

But thank you all for your help.

 

Good choice, changing the oil is pretty easy on these cars and the dealer telling you they'll use a sythetic blend, ie a much cheaper oil, was a clear sign to stay away.

 

Do it yourself... I'd only use full synthetic

 

Alright then.. just finished, couldn't have been easier.

Best of all... knowing its done right, with the right oil.

Again, thanks to all that chimed in, I appreciate it!!



Edit: 1) Can't believe I have a typo in my thread title 2) after re-reading the thread, I mean no dis-respect to Ford 3) Since I bought this Mini from this Ford dealership, I wonder what kinda oil was in it when I bought it...