Hello. I'm new the Mini ranks and this board. I actually don't even own one(I'm a Volvo guy....don't hold that against me), my girlfriend does. She's got the regular Cooper in Indi Blue. I think they're great cars and they seem to be made very well. Anyway, I'll get to the point.

My girlfriend is very car knowledgable....especially for a girl. Anyway, we changed to the oil in both our cars yesterday. Her warranty just expired so we decided to do the oil changes our self. Nothing big, I've always done oil changes for all my cars and all my family's cars. I know the ins and outs.

Anyway, after we changed her oil made sure everything was tight...oil filter hand tight....drain plug ratchet tight....duh. She has always used Castrol Syntech 5w30 full synthetic. We go to start it up to go for a test drive. I always do this just to be sure everything is gravy. The oil pressure light stayed on. I waited a couple seconds, it didn't go out. I blipped the throttle, it went out, until it came back to idle. Oil pressure light seemed to stay off as long as the car wasn't idling. This doesn't seem normal to me and frankly, it's a little disconcerting. Are there any tips or suggestions? Pleeeaaase.

 

Assuming there were no leaks I would ask myself:
1. Did I put enough oil in (4.7 quarts, I believe it is)?
2. Did I put the filter in the correct way around?

 

I kind of have the same thing with my car.
Yet it has been going on for awhile.
The oil light comes on after the car is warm and will only come on around
3000-5000RPM Mini says everything is fine.
And they cant find any problems.


Sorry for no help :(

 

My best guess is that you've got the filter in there wrong somehow. Someone posted about this a while ago with the same symptoms. His filter wasn't in right. Don't drive your car like that. If the oil light is on you're hurting it.

 

I put the filter in with the new seal exactly the same as I pulled it out. 4.7 qts of Castrol Syntec fully synthetic oil. No leaks. The filter would only go in that "filter cup" one way. The other way, the hole in the end of the filter was too small.

The light is only on at idle engine speed. Anything, the slightest bit higher and it goes out. I'm almost wanting to say that there might be something wrong with the oil pressure sensor...anyone else have anything wrong writh theres at some point?

 

I seem to recall an oil pressure problem someone had which was caused by
their failure to remove the center insert from the old oil filter and reinstall
it in the new one. Could this be your issue?

 

Does the light come on at idle with a cold engine, or does this occur after the engine has warmed up? Mini engines by design have a rather low idle oil pressure when hot (the pressure switch is supposed to close at pressures below about 4psi). In my case, the pressure gauge I installed will read roughly 10-12psi at idle when hot, and well over 25psi idling cold. If you are having the oil light come on when the engine is cold and idling, it could be the sender, or it could be something with the pump or pressure relief valve, or an internal leak.

 

I'm having the exact same symtoms. Did you find out what happened?

 

Mine comes on when the engine is worm running idle speed. So it's normal for the light to come on? Will it eventually go away? Something different I've done is switch from Castrol to Redline.

 

This might be the problem...

http://www.promini.com/technical/tec...oil_filter.php

 

you said hand tight on the filter? i'd try tightening it a bit. seems silly cause you ain't leakin' but lets assume all was well then the oil change; then the light.. so you kinda gotta think it's something you did. maybe the old seal stayed on and you got double .

 

I think this ^^^ answers your question.

 

What was the result?

 

I saw this promini technical bulletin. What I'm confused about is is the center core and spring "permanent" within the filter housing or are new ones installed with each filter change? Does a new core and spring come with each filter? Thanks. Greg

 

Greg, the core & filter element is removed from your old filter & reused in the new one. What happens is the person who removes the filter throws it in the bin including the needed pieces & installs the new filter without them. That is what causes the problem.