I read that you should change your oil soon after you get your new MINI (anywhere from 20 to 500 miles) to clean out the metal grit produced during the break-in period. Although the manual advises 10k miles for the first.

I'm curious as to what other owner's have done and what you think about this.

Also, would you suggest taking it to the dealer for this, even if you have to pay? (since technically it is not required maintenance)


Thanks!

 

I had my oil changed at 1500 miles. I wanted to get all the break in grit out of the engine too. I had it done at the dealer at what I thought was a very fair price, $54.00 for oil and filter, and that encluded labor. I also received a side benifit from this, they preformed a few updates to car while it was there, NICE. I plan on having my oil changed again at 5000 miles, and then at the 10000 miles on their plan. Clean oil, sythenic or not is important.

 

I agree with zinful. I change mine at 3k mile intervals. I'm on my 6th oil change, about to go in for the 7th. I plan to keep this car for a long time. While Synthetic oil is superior, it still gets contaminated. Every one you ask will have a different answer.
MB

 

The metal shavings theory is mostly a myth as modern engines are built to incredibly high tolerances and do not create a lot of metal shavings as the engine "breaks in". Any such particles will quickly be trapped by the oil filter anyway and so really are not a great concern.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with changing the oil after the first 1000-3000k. Good clean oil is good clean oil.

I waited 10k to do my oil change and am not concerned about it at all. However, I did buy an extra oil filter so I can do my next change with Amsoil.

 

every 5k....is my plan
i have 20k on now...so i'm due for the 4th change :smile:

peace,
d

_________________
I own a 2002 MCS w/ alot of stuff on it.

 

When BMW first went to the extended oil change intervals I had an opportunity to talk with one of BMW’s chief engineers and he claimed that you were doing absolutely no damage to the engine if you adhered to the factory oil and filter change schedule. If the manufacturer is willing to put a 4 year/50,000 mile warranty on the car, and then support a certified pre-owned program that will extend their obligation to 6 years or 100,000 miles, they must be pretty confident that the oil change internals are causing no damage. That being said, I changed my oil and filter at 5K on my MCS just for the piece of mind. On the other hand, my wife’s BMW X5 has close to 40,000 miles and has only had the oil and filter changed twice and the next service is still a long ways off and it doesn’t seem to bother her!

 

I changed it myself at 2,500 miles and put in Mobil One. I did a lot of reading up on oils and ended up on the side of the fence that does not consider Castrol Syntec (the MINI's factory oil) to be real synthetic oil. I didn't want it in my car for 10,000 miles. I have no qualms about running the Mobil One for 7,500 miles until the 10k service. Since the second oil change isn't scheduled until 25k miles, I'm planning on switching to Amsoil after the 10k change, and just changing filters every 5k or so.

 

I have 12k miles on mine. Had the oil changed under normal service at 10k. It was still pretty clean.
I agree that if BMW must know the product. Earlier changes may be overkill. Bottom line, if 3k gives you piece of mine, change the oil at 3k

 

Got my MCS in January this year.
Had first service and oil change when indicated, at 12,500 miles.
Next one will be up at a little over 30k miles.
Can't see any reason to change it more often than indicated,
but like others said, if you will sleep better with fresh oil....
Cheers,
M.

 

Did my first oil and filter change at about 2K, and made the switch to Mobil 1 5w30 then. Second change at 6K also with filter. Will go to dealer for 10K change, and continue with my +/- 4k routine. At home its about a 15 minute job, cost is about $30 ($8 filter, $22 Mobil 1). Initially I also bought a 36mm Husky socket at Home Depot for $7.

 

For those of you that have changed your own oil, how hard is it to change the filter???

 

For great info on oil check the last two issues of Sport Rider,
the motorcycle mag. They did a great 2 piece article.
As far as my changes...on my current car I have 6800 miles.
3 oil changes and two filter changes. But I also wash my hands
frequently.

 

>>For those of you that have changed your own oil, how hard is it to change the filter???


Don't sweat it. You can reach the filter cap from above. Just be careful there is not much clearance between the cap and the firewall. You will need low profile tools. Realistically all you need is to break the seal, pull the socket off then remove by hand. Total time about 20 minutes.

I did my oil at 3000 miles. I picked up the filter and 5qts of MINI oil (Castrol Syntec) for around $40. Went to Sears and picked up the 36mm (shallow) socket about $10 (which BTW usually only comes in 1/2" drive), and a cheapo 1/2" driver about $9. I already own a set of Rhino Ramps. Total was a few dollars more then an out of schedule oil change from the dealer. I plan on doing this at least once between scheduled changes. It was suggested to my by a MINI sales rep that I change out my oil about every 5k since I am pushing about 2500k miles a month.

A decent "how to" to change your MINI's oil

As a final note, I checked out the old oil and filter as it sat in the pan, and as pretty as it was all sparkly in the sun, I couldn’t feel more relieved in knowing that it was no longer lubricating my engine. It looked like someone spilt a bottle of glitter in the oil.

-peas

 

>>>I plan on doing this at least once between scheduled changes. It was suggested to my by a MINI sales rep that I change out my oil about every 5k since I am pushing about 2500k miles a month.
>>>

I've run nothing but Mobil 1 in my cars for about 10 years (has to do with an SCCA pro-rally car I was involved with for a little while and I saw the potential benefits of running a high-quality synthetic.

But it wasn't until recently that I finally caved (afer reviewing oil sample data from some Ford Explorers) and went from the 3-4k change interval to an extended 7-10k change interval (at least for most of my vehicles). For the record, the data I saw showed oil samples taken from a Ford Explorer run under varied conditions on the same Mobil 1 (with a filter + 1 quart of fresh oil every 5-7k) and after 15k miles the lab STILL came back recommending that the oil continue to be used.

With that said, there really is probably no need whatsoever to perform oil changes more frequently than the service interval reminder tells you to. However, I'll probably cave to superstition and change it at 5k and probably at even intervals between when Mini is paying for it.

Now with all that said, WHY IN GOD'S NAME would a Mini sales rep tell someone to change their oil MORE often if they are putting lots of miles on a car. If you're putting more miles rather than less, you're likely using it on the highway a lot which are the ideal conditions for NOT changing oil more often.

And, one more question, when was the last time you met a car salesman that actually KNEW something about a car??? It's pretty rare in my experience

:smile:

 

I did mine at 3K also. 2nd change is coming up at 10K and will do future oil changes at 7K intervals.

 

If you are so quasi-obessive about changing your oil every 3K to 4K miles, then do yourself a favor and switch over immediately to Dino oil as you are totally wasting your time and $$$ with the factory synthetic oil by replacing it outside of what the computer service interval tells you to do.

A lot of people here seem to be stuck in the "1950's book of automobile oil changes". The time has come to throw away that book as it no longer applies in modern cars like the MINI.

Synthetic oil is expensive and only beneficial when replaced every 10K-15K mile intervals. I did my very first oil change ever at 10K and absolutely ZERO problems. Most people that change thir factory oil before 10K miles are just giving in to unsubstantiated myths, heresay and simply unfounded fears about the synthetic oil braking down or not holding up as stated.

My next oil change is due (According to the maintenance on board computer calculation) at 12.5K and I have no intention on replacing it before then. My car sees lotsa stop and go traffic and high ambient temperatures as well as humidity. I trust the synthetic oil technology completely and the only intervals that EVRYONE should be following is what the manufacturer suggests, not what your friend, neighboor, salesman, mechanic, burger flipper, etc, etc, thinks it should be.

Then again, if you think that Synthetic oil is not to be trusted, then consider going DINO on your next oil service.

'Nuff about myths!

 

Of course nothing is wrong with the car at 9,000 miles. Wait until there are 80,000 miles, then see how well the engine is holding up.

If you don't plan to keep your Mini that long, then that's just peachy. :smile:

 

every 5k with a tire rotation, as well

 

While you all talk about changing the oil, you need to be concerned about
the air filtration, which allows the dirt into the oil. I recommend sacking the
paper filters and buy the K&N reuseable air filter. I check mine every 6mos, wash it and reoil. More often if you are in a dirty environment.

I adhere to the 10000 mi oil changes with AMSOIL 5w-30

 

ahh yes,
i wash & re-oil my air cleaner about every 2500 (inbetween oil changes)

 

I'm with orbhot, 3k for my breakin, then 10k @ the dealer. ~7,500mi each
change thereafter :smile:

Tho my dealer (thru moaning and more moaning),
I was able to finagle a 3,000mi "courtesy" change upon delivery of my
car :smile: After the Mini service is completed, tho, I plan on switching to
Mobil 1.

Caio,

-Matt

 

Sounds like a change every 5000 miles would be a good choice. Yes the oil is better than it used to be, but 10,000-12,000 miles still seems a bit long to me.
For sure you can't make a judgement on 10.000 mile changes being OK just because your car is still running at that time. The damage that may occure due to dirty oil isn't likely to become obvious until 100,000 plus miles. If you don't plan on keeping your car that long I suppose you can let the next owner have the problems, otherwise changes about twice as often as recommended by MINI are likely a good idea.

BMW/MINI oil change intervals equal saving money for them during the factory provided mantainance period. After 100,000 miles or so they'd be happy to sell you another engine or do $5,000 worth of repairs on yours.

Be safe not sorry.......and put the plug back in.


R.E.



:smile:

 

So far nobody has mentioned the thermal breakdown issue. If for any reason you get your car oil wramer than normal, you take life out of the oil. Although synthetic oil is better at resisting thermal breakdown, all it takes is one traffic jam in a 95 degree summer day with the a/c on and you could cook the oil a bit.

I think that an early change after the first thousand or so then every 5k is money well spent.