Hello everyone, I just help my fiancee buy her a Mini Cooper. We got a very good deal on it and it is what she wanted so she is very happy. However (no offense) all she will do is drive it. I will be cleaning it and maintaining it so I have some questioms. I have AllData but it is on my network drive and for some reason I cant access it. Im working on that but for now I need to know a few things. The car has 72k on it so I want to go ahead and replace a few things because IDK when they were last done. This is the regular 1.6 BTW and not the SC.

1. Who is running synthenic in the engine and trans and what weight had to be used?

2. How many quarts is needed for an engine oil change and how many for a complete trans flush?

3. What spark plugs does everyone like to use?

4. Is anyone using ceramic brake pads?

I REALLY appreciate anyones help. Ill post pics in my garage or gallery or photobucket later today hopefully. Im doing a 6'' lift on my truck this morning so it will be a busy day.

 

Mini requires full synthetic oil for the engine, 5w30. Some use different weights though. Don't forget the Mini oil meets the BMW LL spec for it's long oil change intervals (15k). I personally don't trust that as I change about every 7k using Royal Purple 5w40.
Tranny is technically supposed to be set for the life of the car.
Manual tranny fluid is MTF-94, 75W80.

For engine oil, 5 quarts. For trans, I believe it is 2.1 quarts.

Factory ones are fine, NGK. Stay away from the iridium ones though, I've heard some not so great reviews.

Yes. Plenty of people on here run ceramic, as well as just about any other kind you can think of.

 

Thanks for the help but what do you mean the ''Tranny is technically supposed to be set for the life of the car''?

Is this to say you should not have to change the fluid ever?

I use RP in my truck as well. Ive got it inthe engine, trans and rear end. Not the cheapest by far but it is good stuff.

 

Mini states that the transmission oil is "lifetime" and it never needs changing. I have trouble with anything that says lifetime. How long is lifetime really? 150,000 miles? 200,000 miles? My brother has a 850i that has 250,000 miles on it. Anything "lifetime", in my opinion, should be changed every 100,000 miles.

Stick with the stock plugs, wires, and coil pack. OEM in this case is pretty good.