how many km did u all do the first time oil change ........


:smile:

 

>>how many km did u all do the first time oil change ........

hallo,
Aloha and welcome to NAM.
The time to change the oil according to MINI is displayed on your speedometer in the digital readout area- it shows distance until your next servicing which is the first oil change. Likely about 19,000 to 20,000 km.

Many people choose to change oil sooner about 5,000 to 10,000 km but that is up to you. Always use fully synthetic oil and change the oil filter cartridge and O ring.


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ALOHA

 

the reason why i am asking ... is i planning to get oil change with around 2500 .... or do u think i better wait til 5000k.... coz i have a trip drive to seatle from vancouver...... so ..... just want to change before i go ..... :smile:

 

I would think that it would be safe to check the oil level before, during, and after your trip and do the oil and filter change at 5000 km.

 

I have mine changed every 5K. There's a thousand opinions on whether the scheduled oil changes are often enough, but there's one thing (I think) everyone can agree on: more frequent oil changes can't hurt. So I choose to act on the side of caution.

 

I changed my oil (04 mcs) at 2210 miles, was about 1/2 quart down at the time so decided to change rather than just ad to top off. ALWAYS use new oil filter every time you change oil and use a true synthetic oil (Redline, Mobil 1, etc.) Castrol Syntec is not a true synthetic oil.

 

Although Castrol is fine as they now have a full synthetic.... .
Just don't use the blend.

 

Dont know about km, but I did it at 1500 miles. I want to do it again at about 6 ish, but I might not.

 

There are as many different opinions on this as there are members here. Many people are sticking to the 10-15k service intervals, but it seems like most of us are not. I changed my oil to Mobil One after 2,000 miles, and ran that until my 10k service. Now it's been another 2,000 miles, and I'm putting Amsoil in this weekend, which I'll run until the 25k service (with a filter change or two in there somewhere).

 

I changed my own oil at 2400 miles, prior to taking a 2500 mile trip. I still firmly believe that the first oil change is the most critical, as doing so clears the engine of the bulk of the break-in 'dirt' and metallic particles, as well as assembly lubes and other pollutants. My next change was the freebie at 10k. I plan on running this for about 5000 miles or so before changing to Amsoil and going with a 7500 mile change interval from there. I have a stock of about a half dozen oil filters, so this should last me a while. :smile:

 

I agree that we can at least agree it doesn't hurt to change more often than recommended. A mechanic I know that owns two BMW's told me it would be fine to wait the full 10,000 since it is synthetic. Nonetheless, I am at just over 2,000 now and hate the thought of break-in junk floating or lodged in the oil system. So, I think I will change it at about 2,500.

Now a question (sorry for the momentary kidnap). The closest dealer for me is a three hour drive. Can anyone recommend a good vender to buy a filter and o ring from?

 

We have been sticking to the 10K mile oil change intervals. In our '02 Cooper we had the dealer change the factory oil at 9,395 miles on 6/28/03 (Car was delivered on 9/7/2002 with 7 miles on the odo). No problems and the engine has been running like a Swiss Rolex since. No oil consumption and no junk in the oil or any other issues. Next oil change stop is scheduled in about 6K miles per the onboard computer.

I will be following the same exact suggested oil change schedule on my new '04 MCS. I have another 8,700 miles to go before its first scheduled service.

I come from the "old school" of Dino Oil users that firmly believed in replacing the oil and filter every 3K miles on the dot. However, I believe that Synthetics technologies allow to further decrease the need of frequent oil and filter changes while providing superior levels of protection from engine breakdown and parts friction.

I think this technology works and will continue to follow the BMW recommended service intervals to the "T".

For those of you that change the oil every 3K to 5K miles, you are better off saving the added expense of Synthetic oil by switching to Dino lubricant. If you are replacing your Synthetic oil more frequently than need be, you are defeating the purpose of having Synthetic lubricants in the first place.

Surely, everyone is entitled to take care of their vehicle as they see fit, but changing Synthetic oil way sooner than 10K miles on the average is quite frankly overkill and expensive.

If the long servicing intervals should cause a breakdown, BMW will still pick up the tab for any repairs, because warranty coverage can not be denied if the owner has been following the suggested oil change intervals.

So far the technology hasn't failed.

'02 Cooper CVT = 18,000 trouble free miles. Last oil change: 8,605 miles ago.

 

>>If the long servicing intervals should cause a breakdown, BMW will still pick up the tab for any repairs, because warranty coverage can not be denied if the owner has been following the suggested oil change intervals.

Oh really? And if any trouble caused by those long servicing intervals doesn't occur until AFTER the warrantee is up, will you be paying for my repairs? Because BMW won't be.

I put 275,000 miles on my last car over a 9 year period, and have already put 12K on my MINI in just 4 months. I'll be through my 50K warrantee in less than 2 years. When you keep a car that long and put that many miles on it, you have to think past the warrantee - WAY past it.

The oil may be synthetic, but it's not magic. I'll stick with 5K oil changes.

 

Man, I'll tell you guys; the-when-to-change-your-oil subject is almost as touchy as arguing which part of the country has the best BBQ.

I have 6,500 miles on the odo. I check the oil reguarly and have only had to add 1/2 a quart. The oil now has taken on a "honey" color–much like dino oil when it's fresh, so it's gotten just a little bit darker in tint but it still looks good and now that the oil is a little darker in color I can actually see it on that confounded @#$% yellow dipstick. So I guess I'm going to go for it and let the bimmer bubbas change it for me at the scheduled change at 10k. So I'm feeling more and more confident about the Syntec and it's lasting ability. But if it were dino oil I would have already had that oil changed twice so I feel like I'm letting technology work for me for a change.

And just to let y'all know, I really don't see why so many of you have decided that your Mini is so pristine that you need some exotic hard-to-find oil when you can get Castrol Syntec just about anywhere and usually for a good price. It's also the OEM oil for my MCS.

And while I have gotten a lot of excellent advice from many of you, sometimes I think this place sounds like a high school auto class where the kids are all fantasizing how much extra horsepower they're gonna get after they just bolted on a Tornado air filter followed by some SLICK 50...

Anyway I've said my peace, and I'm sure I'll get skinned by some of you for saying all that...

But while I'm on a roll here, I just want every one to now that Eastern North Carolina has the best BBQ. Period.

 

>>the reason why i am asking ... is i planning to get oil change with around 2500 .... or do u think i better wait til 5000k.... coz i have a trip drive to seatle from vancouver...... so ..... just want to change before i go ..... :smile:
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Lots of advice provided. And your reason: Vancouver to Seattle is a non factor, as it is only 150 miles. Now, if you were going on a 2000 mile trip, that's another story.

 

No opinion on BBQ... but I just had my oil changed after 15k(!) miles during my 25k Inspection. Had a little talk with the tech about all the guilt I was feeling. He claimed that the 3k oil change is really an anachronism and I shouldn't worry.

As he explained it to me, contemporary engines are assembled to much finer tolerances and with better bearing/ring etc materials than engines from 20 years ago. The finer tolerances and materials mean that there is also less material worn away from contact between engine components that ultimately makes it into the oil. Much more important, there is far less blow-by/wash-down of fuel past the rings into the oil, and this what really accelerates break down. And to add to this, synthetic oils are much more resistant to break down, over time and in the presence of fuel.

Sounds semi-reasonable, but I still feel quilty.

 

I'm certainly not denying that newer engines and synthetic oil may safely extend the oil change intervals to 10K and 15K miles, but I don't think it's been proven as fact yet. So I'm playing it safe - it's worth the extra few dollars to me.

Didn't mean to sound snippy in my last post, but relying on BMW to fix any resulting problems under warrantee is a bit short-sighted IMO.

 

JakeBRG: I'm glad you like the syntec oil but, it is not a true syn-oil, Starts of as a dino oil the syn. addatives added. True full synthetic oils start with an Ester base stock. Only ones I know of in that catagory (Group V oils) are Redline, Amsoil and Mobile 1. Just my .02

 

>>JakeBRG: I'm glad you like the syntec oil but, it is not a true syn-oil, Starts of as a dino oil the syn. addatives added. True full synthetic oils start with an Ester base stock. Only ones I know of in that catagory (Group V oils) are Redline, Amsoil and Mobile 1. Just my .02<<

I agree completely. This is the point that gets lost in these discussions, which is exactly what Castrol's goal was when they expanded the definition of "synthetic" to include petroleum-based stocks. They may have endured Mobil's court challenge to this classification, but the facts are there for anyone that cares to do some research - Syntec does not perform NEARLY as well as Mobil One, Redline, or Amsoil, which are true 100% synthetic oils, and it should not be grouped in with them when discussing oil change intervals.