10K miles on an oil change? Even with synthetic I cant pull myself to go that far. Who changes when and what brand of oil? Costco has Mobil 5/30 for a decent price around here.

 

I understand your quandry. I am my Father's daughter. He drilled into us before we even had our licenses that you change the oil at 3500 miles no matter what. I've done that on every vehicle I've owned for the last 22 years.

When I bought my MINI and they said "see you at 10K" I said, "whaaaat?...but what about the dirt, and metal shavings, and all the bad stuff that ends up in your oil"!!!!!!!!!

It took several members of my MINI club, my husband, and our best friend to convince me (I still don't believe it) that engines have improved since the days of dear 'ol dad, and that I really can go 10K between oil changes.

This news bothered (still does) me alot; and obviously I'm not quite convinced - because at 6400 miles I couldn't stand it anymore, took the car into the dealer and paid for my first oil change. I'll get another "free" at 10K.

I think it's time for me to learn to change my own oil...waiting 10K just doesn't sit right with me. Paying $130 at the dealer doesn't sit real well with me either.

 

I bought my car in October and haven't been back to the dealer since. I would never trust them to do a thing to my car.

I changed my oil with MINI synthetic at 2k miles, and again at about 5k. I'll end up changing it again at about 10k.

The 15k mile oil change interval has more to do with the fact that they have to pay for it than how well the engines are built. It doesn't matter how well the engine was built, metal scraping against dirt and other metal causes damage. I would never go longer than 5k without changing my oil.

I'm 20 years old, not some old fart that heard a bunch of rumors in the 60's and 70's. Trust me, going 10-15k miles between oil changes is suicide.

Quite a few people on these boards have sent in their oil for analysis after 3-5k miles, typically the results have said it was wise to have changed the oil, occasionally their feedback says they could have waited 500-1000 miles to change it. It depends mostly on driving style.

 

I prefer Mobil 1 synthetic every 3,000 - 3,500 miles. I always followed the owner's manual with my Fords, but going over 10,000 just doesn't sound right. Besides, I'm not in warranty anymore so I try to keep everything cleana and maintained.

Edit: I am the old fart.

 

yeah, motors havnt improved that much, but the oil has. On that note, oil never looses it lubricity (if that a word), but gets contaminated with water and stuff. If the oil is doing its job, there will be no metal in the oil (except if breaking in a brand new (and i mean zero minute motor, a cam and piston rings will wear more in the first 30 minutes then they will in the next 30 years! no exageration, dry starts excluded). That said, i put quakerstate 10w30 fully synthetic every 3500 miles, what can i say, for $40 and 15 minutes ill do it. Im not an old fart either, im 23, but my first car was a 1940 ford coupe i bought when i was 17, so everything i know about cars is from the old days, lol

Beecher

 

Like what most of the others said. I just don't buy the whole 10k mile oil service thing either, even if its synthetic. I change it every 5k using the stock MINI synthetic (i think its Castrol 5W-30...don't remember). I just pay the dealer for the extra oil changes inbetween the 10k interval ones that are paid for by MINI maintenance. I have a family connection to my dealer...so being gouged for an oil change is a non-issue !

 

I don't know a ton on the subject, as I am sure some here do, but it partly depends on where you're driving. If you drive 10 miles on dirt roads everyday then you probably want to change your oil more than if you stay on city streets.

3,000 miles is probably excessive, but its your money and time, and thats really all it costs. I change mine around 5,000, which is also probably more than needed, however, I'd rather just be safe and do it. Also, I just like changing my oil, washing my car, etc...

As for driving 15k between oil changes being bad being bad, I don't really believe it. My family owns a volvo XC90 with 120,000 miles on it, 15k oil changes, on average, and not a single problem with the engine, ever. My roomate at college have a volvo with 190,000 miles on it, oil changes 15k miles, on average, and no problems with the engine. A friend with a Toyota truck, he's lucky if he changes the oil after 15k if not 20k, again, no issues with the engine, and his car has 220,000 miles on it!

I am not recommending you wait that long (I don't) but to say that you'll have issues isn't really true. You MIGHT have issues with your engine if you don't change your oil every 5k, but you might have issues with your engine even if you change it every 3k. I think it has a lot to do with how you drive, and how rough you are with you car compared to how often you change your oil...

Just my personal opinion, no science or data to back it up.

On a side note, if you have metal shaving in your oil, you have serious issues. You probably want to check that out with a mechanic right away.

 

I did the first change at 3000 miles, and am now changing it twice as often
as recommended (about every 7500 miles) with synthetic 5W30. Filter, too, of course.
Used Mobil 1 for the first two extra changes, and Amsoil for the third, since
I heard Mobil 1 is now using less PAO in their current formulation.

 

This subject has been beat to death. That being said, here are my .02.

Redline 5W30 and no sweat going for 10-15K between changes. Redline is one of the few group V oils on the market... not cheap... but IMHO the best. Even at that, I change my oil & filter every 10K.

 

Was gonna go with Redline, but then I saw Amsoil on a local shelf, all ready
to buy, so impulses took over.

Comparing the various fully synthetic oils, I think almost all of them are
plenty good enough, but that still doesn't keep me from agonizing over which
is just a little better.

 

There are some that say Redline isn't as good as Amsoil for a street machine. I'm not sure. I do know that most people get higher wear numbers for the first couple oil changes when switching over to Redline. Also, some motors just don't like the huge amounts of moly that are in it.

I'm planning on switching to Redline on my next change as it seems AutoZone is not selling German Castrol anymore. I considered Amsoil but it's more expensive than Redline at every place I looked

 

I'm not sure but, since Redline starts with a 100% Ester Base Stock (not hydrocracked dino oil) I don't believe Redline uses moly in their formulation.

 

Any thoughts on Royal Purple?

 

I changed my oil after the break-in period. I was planning on letting the dealership perform the next one. I used Castrol Syntec as recommended by MINI, it's a good synthetic. Mobil 1's a good synthetic also as far as I know. Keep in mind the MINI's onboard service computer will alter when it thinks you need your next oil change based on your driving habits.

I think some happy medium is best on when to change the oil...I figure the dealership wants to keep my car running perfectly through the warranty period (but may not be as concerned if it lasts 200,000 miles) and the oil companies want to sell oil.

I'm a middle aged fart who's more used to changing oil every 3K because I enjoy the process of doing it myself. But am slowly coming around to the fact that times are changing and there have been a lot of long term fleet studies done on vehicles and scientific analysis of oil after being run in vehicles showing that 3K is too often typically.

If you really want to know if your oil's good for 10,000 miles, you can send a sample to a lab at 3K, 6K, etc and see what they say. There's such a lab in Cleveland (near me) but the name escapes me at the moment, I found BlackStone Laboratories via Google, sounds like they offer the same sort of testing they are located in Indiana.

 

Here's a virgin oil analysis of Redline 5w-30.

 

Here's my 2 shekels worth. My first change was at 2000 with Mobil One 5w30 full synthetic. I've changed every 5000 miles since then. No problem with synthetic oil going 10,000 or even 15,000. The problem is all the dirt & carp in the oil. Keep clean oil in your car & that engines gonna last longer.

It's my opinion that the dealer & MINI/BMW could care less about what happens to your car after it's out of warranty.

 

Good answers! Thanks all. I used to do all work on my own vehicles and quit a few years back. Got to be more of a job than fun, so I stopped. Now that me and the better half just appropriated 2 Minis, all I want to do is work on them. I will change the oil between 3K and 5K myself. I bought the Bentley service manual and havent had a chance to crack it yet. What are the lube points on the Minis? Any special lube also?

 

Despite not having the wisdom of a 20 year old, I change my MCS's oil w/ Mobil 1 every 5,000 miles.

This old fart's sportbike's gets changed every 3,000.

 

lets just be glad we dont have to run non detergent oil like back in the good old days, hahahah.

ok, not knowing for sure, as ive never checked, but, royal purple, redline and the like, if racing specific oils, may contain zinc and other types of good stuff, now anyone with an old car listen up. New cars with roller cams do not require all these extra additives, so they removed them from the oil, and as a result, emissions went down. Now, if you have an old car with a flat tappet cam, your chance of dropping a cam just went threw the roof! excpecially on cam break in. The new oil cant take the pressure without the zinc and other stuff.
I figured i would throw that in for tose you may have a interest, or an old car. But to the point, if your running race oil, and like i said, not sure about royal purple or redline, but i think they are considered a race oil, you might not want to run it when you need an emission test, i dont know how much it chnages, but it might save you from failing if you have a high miler, this applies to any of your cars really. Does this oil hurt your engine? no, of course not, but basically, you are paying for stuff that your engine does not need anymore. FWIW, truck oil also still has the additional additives, so someone with the skill might want to compare a heavy duty truck oil to redline or something, to see how they stack up.

Just thought you might be interested

Beecher

 

Mobil Delvac 5W40 would be a good heavy duty truck oil.

 

Mine has been changed 6 times (two at the dealer, and the rest I have done).



(milage in sig )

Nik

 

The claim that the 15k interval is based on the fact that the dealer "has to pay for it" is absurd. It's based on the fact that both oil and engine technology have vastly improved. BMW, not the dealer, sets the interval. I am sure warranty costs would far outweigh oil change costs if 15k wasn't reasonable. That said, for an oil change at a cost of $50 at the dealer, I would prefer the piece of mind of earlier changes, just in case an errant shaving was floating around. But, to stick with an old routine "just because", while human nature, is not always justified. After all, you don't put out a light by throwing water on it, do you?

 

Redline does make both a "Race" oil and Street oil. I don't use the "Race" oil.

 

Several years ago I called Royal Purple and actually spoke to their head chemist. He went to great length to state how good their oil was and how using it will free up horsepower. When I asked him "Is Royal Purple a Group IV or a Group V oil?" He said Group IV.
That being said, Royal Purple, Mobil 1, Amsoil, etc. are all very good oils and, if your changing oil every 3-5K miles, it really doesn't matter which you use.
By the grading standards set up by the industry (Group II,III, IV, V) Redline is the only one of those mentioned that don't start with a hydrocracked dino oil base stock.

 

Oh, if it were only 50 bucks....