Does anyone change their own oil on their MINI? I just got my 2006 MINI S (cockpit chrono package) a few weeks ago and I was wondering what the procedure was after the oil is changed because it is my understanding that an indicator will light up when the oil needs to be changed and something needs to be reset... "canceling the light out". My father is a mechanic and has worked with several BMW's in the past so he will be the one working with it... I'm just concerned as to what to do afterwards with the resetting. Thank you.

 

The reset procedure is in the OM. It's fiddly but you can eventually get it to work.

- Mark

 

Ummm... under what? I have read through the entire manual, my father has also read through the entire manual. I am just now on the "Engine Oil" pages... nothing except telling me how to measure and change the oil, the type of oil to use, and instructions to only have the MINI dealer look at it... then it goes on to the coolant.

 

it aint in my 2005 S manual, but if you search on "reset service indicator" you will find the combination of button presses to reset and start a new countdown

 

Here's a link to the instructions for resetting the service interval counter.

 

Thank you ScottRiqui! You are a lifesaver!

 

You're welcome - what's your car's current mileage, and what does your countdown indicator say right now? If it's already very negative, you may have to do the reset procedure more than once to get everything synced up correctly.

The OBC maintenance schedule goes like this:

"Oil Service"
"Inspection I"
"Oil Service"
"Inspection II"

After the cycle is complete, it starts over again. When you reset the indicator, it just moves to the next service in the cycle. But if the previous owner went for a long time without service, or didn't reset the indicator afterward, you may find that you're not at the right part of the cycle when you reset it.

 

I did find that link too and found that mine was a bit off from the link. The oddity was close and a combination that may work. I found mine was doing odd things to different menus - it reset my trip odometers 1 and 2 Then it tried to reset my clock -

Here are a few of the different combinations I found that may work for your mini and others who are reading this as well. FYI - I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S - Combo 2 worked for me - I noticed the 51A when I did the second combo.

Combination 1:
1) Press and hold the trip button
2) Insert key and turn to position 1
3) Watch for RESET to appear
4) Release the button, then press & hold it again
5) Wait for the RESET to flash
6) Release the button, and then press & release (once only)
7) Service interval should then reset to next interval

If that didn't work, try Combination 2:

1. Push the Trip Button
2. Turn ignition key to position 1 and 51A will appear to left of mileage
3. Release trip button
4. Wait 3 seconds
5. Push trip button
6. Wait (5-8 seconds) for RST to appear in left corner
7. Release trip button
8. Push trip button
9. 15000 will appear as new service interval
10. Release trip button

And if still not try Combo 3:

1. Press and hold the trip odometer button.
2. Insert car key and turn it to the fi rst position (not the second position).
3. You will see 51A come up in the trip odometer area.
4. Release, then press and hold again.
5. Watch for the word “RST” to appear on the Odometer indicator.
6. Release, then press and hold again.
7. Wait for the “RST” message to fl ash.
8. Release, and then press & release (once only).

GOOD LUCK

 

The car is currently a little under 51,600 miles just now. It says I have another 5,000 miles to go before needing the oil changed and other servicing.

I know that the previous owner didn't really take the car too often to get servicing, but I'm not sure that it will screw up the cycle... I hope not.

So if I cancel out the light it will still light up for the other servicing that needs to be done or just restart it completely so that I will be missing the actual servicing for other reasons than the oil change? That is what I am concerned about.

 

Thanks, jobu! I'm going to go ahead and print this all out for my records. Something else to add to my owners manual (I had to look on here to figure out how to re-program my keys as well and printed it out to add to my manual for future reference).

 

Hey Britie, I know what you mean LOL
I print out things that I find along the way as well.
I found so much help here and around the net - because Mechanics don't even know how to do it sometimes LOL

I am always glad to help, because well, this forum helped me on soo many mods and projects. I am glad to give back when I can.