I am sure this has been covered on various models, but since my R57 convert (2012) is now coming up on 10,000, and has likely never had the oil changed(little old lady only drove it to church on Sunday??), I am getting ready to do the change thing.
Several articles in MC2 on older models detail brands and recommended intervals. While I am sure BMW would recommend a change every 3000 mi. and using only BMW supplied oil and filters, what is the real world usage by the people who make the rubber meet the road? That is the Miniacs who actually drive their cars and enjoy them, but want to keep them is good condition for the future generation.

 

In before the oil change *****.

I change my Justa's oil every 3K miles. It works out to about every 6 months, since I only drive mine in the fine weather. I change the oil on my "better-half's" MINI every 5K miles, or about every 3 months. She drives hers alot -- almost all highway miles.

Each one gets a MINI or Mann oil filter from ECS Tuning, and 4.5 quarts of Castrol Syntec/EDGE 5w30, usually on sale at WalMart.

Others will soon chime in and tell you how you are destroying your engine and invalidating your warranty because you don't exclusively use BMW's, "long-life" spec. oil.

Horses***!!!

If you don't intend to go 10,000 - 14,000 miles between changes, why the hell would you need oil. that's "long-life"? And even if it is "LL" oil, I still wouldn't run it as long as MINI. claims you can. The oil might not be breaking down, but it's still being diluted by unburned fuel, and slowly clogging the filter with particles.

 

This has been a debate for years with many different opinions.

I change my oil every 5k miles in my MINIs and recommend that to my customers. I do notice that customers that do that have less sludge in the oil, less carbon build up issues, and overall general less repairs. Extra oil changes will never hurt.
We do ONLY use factory MINI oil filters as they always fit, don't collapse, seem to have more filter material for better filtering.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/oem-oil...5-r56-r57.html

 

" Each one gets a MINI or Mann oil filter from ECS Tuning " Great filters , thanks for the orders. Some other/ off brand filters ( we don't carry) do tend to lint more (or collapse ) which for Gen 2 MINI can clog the vanos screen.

Here are the crush washers for the Mann and Mahle filter kits that dont include them.


Here they are :

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/11137546275/




They come with the full oil service kits.

 

Frequent oil changes are perhaps the most important procedure you can do to maintain and prolong the life of your engine. With the better oils that are available today, the requirement for frequent changes is diminishing. Even though MINI recommends oil change intervals that are much farther apart than in the past, I usually recommend that you keep the changes under the 5,000-mile limit. If you don't drive your car too often, you should change the oil at least once a year to keep things fresh. Can read more about it here.

-Luccia

 

This is one of those topics that has been discussed ad nauseam. Use a BMW/MINI approved oil, quality filter, and change it every 5 to 7K mi.

 

And get under the car to check for underbody coating damage - them little old ladies only go to churches with gravel parking lots so when they spin the wheels to show off, it sand-blasts the coating off the underbody.

 

I got the 10-pack since I do 6 oil changes a year between the 2 MINIs. Then the Old Lady traded in her 2010 ("Frau Blau") for a 2015 -- different filter. Now "Der Krautenküper" has enough filters left over to last the next 4 years. Got a 5-pack of the new filters for the 2015, combined with the free oil changes from MINI, she should be good for the next 20 months or so.

 

I change my oil every 5,000. I have a 2012 MCS and change the filter from ECS Tuning with every change. I am using Mobil 1 Synthetic European Car Formula.

Clean oil never hurts!

 

Thanks for the orders. Getting the filters in larger packs helps to ave them on hand. Also if you make another MINI friend and then change there oil for the in the future.

 

ECSTuning: looks like Mann doesn't give you a new crush washer(?) Do you sell those separate?

 

My independent mechanic uses Motul 8100 X-Clean every 7k.

 

I am changing th oil every 7500 miles with the OEM filters I get from WayMotorWorks. I am also using Mobil 1 Synthetic European Car Formula. I had the oil analyzed at TestOil and was well within specs. I will continue the 7500 service interval and get the oil analyzed every 15K. The Mini also has twice as many highway miles than city driven miles.

 

I'm still up in the air about these crush washers. I have had 3 Chryslers that had reusable molded in gasket drain plugs. Those worked flawlessly for me. Our Hyundai used solid copper washers that were supposed to be replaced every oil change, but I reused the factory original 8 times with no leakage at all. I am contemplating using a molded gasket plug when my Mini oil changes are on my dime.

 

I agree, but they are only $0.25...

 

Here they are :

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/11137546275/




They come with the full oil service kits.