My wife's 2009 Mini Hardtop (non S) has been burning oil for the last 6 months. Well I assume it is burning oil as nothing is showing up on the garage floor but the oil level drops over time.

Several months ago the car would stall when coming off of the highway or at stop lights and after the dealership looked at it they found a VERY low oil level. After they topped off the oil it went back to working perfectly. I have been spoiled with new cars for the past 10 years so I got lazy and never checked the oil level but went back to checking monthly on her car. Well her oil level is dropping again so I need to put a Qt in.

The car has always had oil changes at the Indy dealership (they are great BTW) and I need to pick up a few Qts to have on hand to top her off when it starts to drop.

What oil would be recommended to be used to top her car off between changes? I am sure a simple google search would tell me the type, but I was hoping to get a better insight on what others are using with good success.

Thanks everyone!

 

Full synthetic 5w30.

 

I wasn't sure if some had better luck with some brands vs others but due to the lack of responses I guess not. Thanks for the reply!

 

Mini recommends Castrol Euro formula

 

Once you get the oil, be sure to develop a technique for reading the dipstick. Not being weird, but serious. The oil dipstick in most MINIs is hard to read. Best solution - aside from the awesome Craven replacement dipstick - is to pull the dipstick out, clean it off, then put it back in ALMOST all the way. Either just up to the edge of the handle or a bit short of that. Then pull it out again. The level on the dipstick will then be right, but off by the amount you kept the stick out. Add back that space...an inch or two...to find out exactly where the oil level is and you'll have an accurate reading.

The main issue is the bulb at the bottom of the dipstick drags oil into the tube that the stick lives in, so if you put it back in all the way, you'll never get a good clean reading.

Some folks have sanded/dremelled off the bulb at the bottom and drilled more holes in the end of the dipstick. I think the reinstert just shy of the handle method is a pretty good solution.

**Danger is that if you misread the stick and put in too much oil, that's really bad for your engine. Other threads have info on exactly how much oil belongs in there if you get ambitious and decide to completely change the oil. Good luck.

Jeff

 

Mobil 1 0w-40 ECF (European Car Formula). Others have seen it in 5-guart jugs at Walmart.

The required BMW specification and acceptable viscosity classes are in the manual. I don't know that one brand is going to burn less than another.

 

I will admit reading the oil dip stick is a pain in the ***. Thanks for the tips, I will try them later today to hopefully get a more accurate reading before adding any.

 

Some help here on reading the dipstick.


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ipstick-2.html

 

If you live in a warmer climate then next time you get an oil change ask your shop about using thicker oil.

Manufacturer's recommended oil covers the entire target market, and the thin recommended oil is needed only where it gets cold.

Thicker oil is less likely to get past the piston rings and will reduce the amount of oil consumption.

Here in SoCal it was not uncommon to do this with the Gen1s. We're currently doing this with my wife's 2009 Audi.