So? What oil and how long? We gotta know! You toy with us.

 

Well, this thread summarizes the oil analyses on my MINI so far (I've only done one on my wife's MINI, but the numbers were similar).

The long and short of it is that the MINI-branded oil is pretty much at end-of-life by the 9-11k point. The RLI BioSyn 5W-30 on the other hand, posted some phenomenal results after 6,000 miles. I just sent in a sample of the RLI after 10,000 miles, so I should have the results early this coming week, at which time I'll update that thread with the new results.

 

Hmmmm... poopy face or idiot? poopy face or idiot..

Sheesh, and I thought deciding between 1st and 2nd generation was hard...

Now I guess that every idiot is a poopy face but not every poopy face is an idiot, so I guess I would prefer poopy face.

Mods? make it so!

 

Has anyone bothered to research the Oil companies providing the oil for their recommendations on when to change it? I haven't seen that here. Mobile 1 says, 7,500 to 15,000 miles based on driving conditions and your style of driving. I would think that they would want you to change the oil as often as possible because "They make more money that way"!

That's why oil companies tell you to change your regular oil every 3,000 miles, because "They make more money selling you oil before you need it"! We have all fallen for the TV commercials telling you that changing your oil sooner is better for your engine. Well I imagine it is, but I haven't seen an owners manual yet that says the oil MUST be changed by 3,000 miles. (Under penalty of death!).

The bottm line is, change your oil when you think it's necessary. If you drive like grandma you can probably get 12-15K out of Synth oil. If you're racing the MC every day, in traffic, and running the highway at 80MPH daily, well you might have to change the Synth every 5K.

Unless you are a chemical engineer, not working for the oil companies, running independent tests, and providing unbiased results to the general public, then your opinion is biased and unreliable.

BMW says change the oil every 15K. Well I won't listen to them either, because they make a great deal of money on after market maintenance and repairs.

Here's the deal. It has nothing to do with you or your car....its all about money, profits, the bottom line; oh yea, and stock prices.

 

I use a very simple criteria for changing my oil; when it's dirty.
I check it once a week, when I check my tire pressure.

 

IBTL

The VAST VAST VAST majority of public has no clue about cars and how they work thus will take marketing and propaganda such as yours as a given and will pointlessly follow. Also, not everyone is interested in maintnance history when they're buying a car, much less in seeing oil change receipts.
There are countless studies done by independent people that show that Synthetic can be run at extended intervals.
I somewhat agree with you that the OBC specified interval is somewhat a strech but don't consider myself smarter than BMW engineers and don't see their cars in a ditch with blown engine so they must be doing something right.
I do however have an experience running synthetic oils in cars both N/A and turbo, and have done multiple oil analysies. Based on my experience and observations I would not change synthetic oil on a N/A car sooner than 7500 miles and 6000 on turbo. This also depends if your car is consuming any oil and how much you have to add during the interval.

Just and FYI for all of you that love to change synthetic soon. I've seen a study that found majority of failed engines (spun bearings) to be within 1000miles after an oil change. It has been found that synthetic oil (particularly M1) is not so great right after you pour it in and needs to "break in" for a little bit so it's rally not benefitial to change it often.

I'm driving my MINI rather conservatively so for now i'm fine with 15k intervals at the dealer. In fact my last interval was only 11k since it's been a year since prevoius change and I have Inspection I coming in 5500 miles so oil will get changed again. After the maintenance program is over I'll probably change oil every 7500 with analysis to check if i'm correct.

 

Thats interesting...

 

Very. Any links to the study? (as long as it's not on Snopes.com, that is.)

 

Thanks for the polite feedback. I looked at the entry following yours and had to go back a few posts before I could confirm he wasn't talking about me.

BTW, I just changed the original oil out for Mobil 1 Extended at 4815 miles and I am increasingly certain that my avg gas mileage has dropped a bit on this first post-change tank. I've heard that Royal Purple can increase mileage by a couple mpg, so I suppose it's possible that M1 can do the opposite.

Anyone else have this experience?

 

here is one http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s...il1.html#topup
It talks about decreased wear with increased interval but this is not the exact one that i'm thinking of. I'll try to find the one with failed engines.

 

Thank you RallyM. I'm looking forward to reading it. I plan on keeping my little buddy for a looooong time, and crave all the info I can get that will help keep him healthy. I like to follow Scott's threads on oil, that man is a real bear on oil/maintanence issues. (Thanks, Scott.)
Does this mean we should leave a little of the old oil in the system to help
"season" the new stuff?
-skip-

 

Yeah.... I'm looking forward to Scott's newest analysis results... I'm due to pull a sample probably next week as I'll be over 5K on the last dealer-installed oil my car will ever see. Ever. Thanks for the two free oil changes, BMW. Oh, I had to burn $35 worth of gas and half a day of time to get the last "free" oil change...

And I just ordered my 5gal pail of BioSyn this week...

 

no problem.
I think that this study's conclusion was that the best result on synthetic was for the car that was "using" a little oil at an interval of 1qt per 3-4k miles. They went with that change interval all the way to 15k miles or past that and still had oil that was good enough to do it's job.
I think that you can take be best of both worlds and change oil around 7500 if your car burns no Oil and is driven un-aggressively. If your car burns a bit of oil and you add at least a quart between changes, you can go easily to 10k between changes.
The real conclusion would be to really not race the car for the first 1000 miles on the oil. I don't know if this applies to all of the synthetics or just M1 5w30

 

OK, let's play nice ya'll.

I think the bottom line is most of us agree that the interval BMW states is a bit unrealistic, especially since it doesn't consider driving conditions. 10-15k in West Texas with dust storms and 110-115 degree temps is insane. The one rule fits all approach is not a smart way to go, that why we smart MINI owners do research and go that extra mile to keep our MINI going strong.

I think using a lab to get an idea of how your oil is working is a good idea; I think I will do that myself to establish a benchmark. I personally use AmsOil and change my oil under normal conditions at 7k miles. So far the engine is clean and my MINI is running great.

Best advice, do your research, get what you feel is the best oil for your MINI, and perform regular maintenance and keep your driving conditions factored into the equation!

Cheers all!

 

Couldn't agree more! Run what you are confortable with. Me.. Royal Purple every 6k.

 

At one time I was a spokeman for a product called Energy Release. Since I was the guy in their ads, I spent alot of time researching the product and making sure it did as they claimed. I've used it in every vehicle I've ever owned since, even though the price for the stuff is ridiculous.

It's not a lubricant, but a metal conditioner. It removes the galling (microscopic roughness) from the metal, which decreases friction. You have to look under a microscope to see the effects, but the stuff does exactly what they say. It works best with high heat and compression. You add it to the oil.

As expensive as it is, it's still cheap insurance, especially if you aren't religious about oil changes and maintenance.

And say what you will about porcupines and knitting needles and all that dross. Even with it's shortcomings, I have to tip my hat to BMW for giving us the MINI. It's still the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on . . .

 

 

Ok so I'll admit I read the first sentence and my mind went TOTALLY in the gutter lol and I couldn't stop laughing when I read the last line. lmao wow..... I'm definately at work hahaha

 

Funny as I can't find anyone selling the stuff.............

 

Yeah but the real funny part is you looked for it hahaha

 

Ohhhhh

Now where is that razz smiley when I need it !

 

Such dirty minds! (I know because I've one of my own). Besides, bfdl means what you probably think it does. For those interested in the aforementioned product, I've included a link to their website:

And so you know, It's been a decade or so since I was involved with these folks, so I get no consideration for plugging their stuff. I do however, swear by their product. I am notoriously hard on women, vehicles, and shoes, so it's nice to have something to ease wear and tear in at least one of those areas.