Fast question - Oil Change for cars that aren't driven much
 

Hi guys,

So with the new family car serving primary duty (I don't like putting the little guy in the back of the Cooper) the R53 has kind of been a bit of a garage queen this year.

Since October 17, 2014 - I've only clocked a whopping 1,600 miles -- I remember hearing once that the oil should be changed every 6 months or 5,000 miles - but googling and also forum searching didn't net a definitive answer.

Anyone else out there in the same boat -- what practice do you go by? Oh and when Nigel does go out -- he gets thrashed if that changes your POV.

Many opinions on this topic. I believe in changing the oil at least once a year in the case of low mileage driving.

i usually change it when it goes into storage so it has fresh oil when i get it out in spring.

Think of it as oil sitting on a shelf, is doesn't have an expiration date.

if it sits with low mileage id say yearly is fine. you could even contact people at blackstone and get their opinion

MINI has always said 1 year should be your maximum interval .... dealers would even do that under the maintenance plan. {this even gets silly at times. One time I came up to 12 months and MINI changed the oil under maintenance ... then the computer tripped the following month and they did it again . . }

I drive my 79 less that 1000 a year and change yearly.

I did a seminar at work a few years ago that was put on by an engineer for Chevron, and I asked him about this on a low mileage car, and his opinion was that if you are putting minimal mileage on your car and you are running full synthetic oil of the proper weight and grade, it doesn't hurt to leave the oil in for 2 or even 3 years. You must take into consideration the environmental condition ( moisture, dust, etc) where the car is stored. Hope this helps.

I'm old school I change mines every 3 months. I average 3500 miles a year, using Mobil 0-40 fully synthetic.

I'd say do it once a year for you miles...should be fine.
If you do track or auto-x the car, I would suggest you change the oil immediately after...the very high temps that some folks see during these events can accelerate the aging of the oil and deplete the additives.

I've got about the same miles this year on my R52 as the OP has put on his car. Knowing that the one year mark was coming I ordered the stuff for an oil change. When I went back to the manual to see if I missed anything I was surprised to see that in the book for my '08 it says TWO Years between oil changes. Think I'm going to go ahead and change the oil and filter since I gave the stuff.

When y'all do the time based changes, do you reset the OLM?

+1 once a year if you are under the interval, very low mileage.