Hey guys, I just picked up my Mini last week, it's a 2004 MCS and I was wondering if I should change the oil and other fluids just to be safe as I'm not entirely sure if the previous owner did the maintenance on time. So I called the dealer and asked to make an appointment and he said that I wasn't due for anything until another 19,000 KM but I mean does that also include the oil? It seems like that's a long time to go without changing the oil. When I told him that the old seemed a bit dirty when I checked it he said it was synthetic and that it should discolor.

Also I am only a few hundred KM's from the warranty end date.

Any thoughts on what I should do with my Mini?

 

Sounds right to me! First oil change is at about 10K miles (sorry, don't know conversion to km, I used to!) and then every 15K miles after that. The dealership keeps great records as to when stuff was done to the car. YOu should be good to go!

 

Wow that's a long time between oil changes, I never new that they lasted that long!

So is there a way to get the info on what was done to my car?

And BTW there are 1.6 Km's in one Mile

 

The MINI uses synthetic oil, so it has a longer life than the "natural" stuff.

Your key holds the, um, key to your service I believe. It interfaces with the dealer's computer records.

Since you are so close to being out of warranty I'd bring it in for a good once over. There may be some issues your dealer knows about, but you haven't noticed yet. Couldn't hurt.

 

Yeah... well... neither did BMW until they came up with this cool marketing technique called free maintenance Until then the recommended service intervals were much shorter.

IMO this approach serves them well as a sales incentive and by "improving" the ownership experience for those who don't really want to spend much time or money on maintenance.

If you think about it from their point of view, you want your customers to buy a new car every few years anyway. And if they don't have to worry with oil service very often in that time, that's great. And if there's a little premature wear on the engine, so what! It's out of warranty by then. Why would they be interested in making the car last forever?

Through advances in materials, manufacturing and lubrication, engines last much longer than in the past. Maybe it's not an issue. Especially if you're only going to keep the car for a few years. But for me, I ask lot from my car. And I may decide to keep it for a long time. So fresh synthetic oil and a clean filter every 5000 miles is my approach. You might hear otherwise, but the professional mechanics I know outside of the dealerships all favor shorter oil service intervals.

 

I change oil between 3000-5000 miles. Rotate the tires at the same time. I'm not trying to start an argument, just offering a data point.

 

I always thought that they interval was much shorter than what the dealer was telling me.
What would happen if I just change the oil myself, will I have to reset the service indicator or something?
I'm brand new to Mini, I love my car and I want to take the best care possible with it, so I'm not sure what to do at this point. I don't even know when the oil was changed last.
I need a lot of help here :(

 

No issues if you want to change the oil yourself. I would leave the service indicator and just pick intermediate points for oil changes. If you need to just do a search in this forum, the method to reset the service indicator has been talked about a few times.

Here is a link to the best instructions I have seen so far for changing the oil in a MINI.

 

My only concern is how to tell if the previous owner took care of the maintenance before or not. Usually when I buy a used car I like to replace all the fluids in it, like the oil, manual transmission flid, coolant, diff fluid, and usually I like to change the wires and spark plugs and the air filter. But I'm not sure if I should do any of that anymore.
Also the dealer said not to come in but I want them to look at the car for warranty purposes. Should I just tell them that I want to come in and have an inpesction done? even though I'm not scheduled?

 

Where's a good source for the Redline 5w30 synthetic oil they mention? I see that Outmotoring has the filters for only about $7... nice.

 

Add shipping and you might as well pay the $9 from the local dealer. Not sure about the synthetic source.

 

My local NAPA store sells Redline products. I'm not sure it's worth it for their motor oil. I just just buy Mobil 1 from Costco and use Redline for the tranny and power steering (I think.....I haven't checked on our new Mini yet)

 

Trust no one! Change out the fluids, filters and possibly the plugs. Then you know exactly where you stand.

As for how to get the Dealer to do an inspection before your warranty expires, they should be willing to go along with that. If they balk because your service interval isn't up yet, I'm sure your car must need something, right? A rattle or other suspicious, funny sound...