Just thought this would be interesting to share. I picked up my '06 DS/S MCS on Wed 11/23, and I had already decided to break it in under this guide from Mototune. It had 12 miles on it when I got it from the dealer, and I put 13 miles on it bringing it home on Wendesday. I hadn't removed it from the garage until today to finally get around to changing the oil. So I drained all the oil out, and when it had gotten down to barely a trickle, I let it drain for at least another 5 mins or so.

Well, my friend decides he wants to pour the oil out of the drain-pan back into the now empty 5 quarts of oil I had just put into the MINI. Well, we only filled 4 of them, which I thought was sorta odd. The owner's manual states the oil capacity is 5.1 Quarts, or 4.8L. So unless there was nearly a Quart of oil still clinging to the inside of the engine, and perhaps we did fill the 4 empty bottles a tad fuller than they come from the manuf. But anyway, just thought it was odd.

PS, absolutely love my MINI. Very powerful, and wow what cornering =)

 

did you get the oil up to operateing temp or just leave it cold and drain it?? sometimes i have seen that make a difference becaues of when its cold its thicker. ive always changed mine when its hot.

 

After being at operating temp, it may have been shut down for 20-30 mins max I'd say. So the block was still quite hot, and the oil was still very hot to the touch when it was coming out.

 

was the other quart in the filter??

 

You might have forgotten to mention this-but you also changed the oil filter? If not, it might be your missing oil?

 

I did not change the oil filter. I did buy one, but we didn't have quick access to a 36?mm socket in order to change it. I figured the one already on there should suffice since it only had 30 miles max on it.

Which brings up another concern now. I added 5 full quarts of oil without changing the oil filter. Does it have too much oil now, to the point where it could cause a problem? Thanks =)

 

Yes, I believe so, it may start "blowing" the excess oil out somewhere, overfill by some ounces is OK, but a whole quart I believe will find it's way out of the motor.

 

By the way, I have broken in NEW motors for 30 years or so. I agree you don't want to take it too easy on it, BUT...change the oil from the factory after 12 miles?? I don't see any profit in that and you already have demo'd the one loss, OVERFILL and you may now have two different brands, weight, specs of oil in it now, not too bad, but I wouldn't subscribe to it.

 

you took the words from my mouth there ..i don't get it either.

 

What does the dipstick say about the level?

 

His explanation is here: Mototune ......but it sounds like BS to me.

 

30
300
3,000 miles..
whats the price of oil on 4 qts.. $10 bucks .... 15 ..tops

$25,000.. car...
$15.00 oil.......
peace of mind,,,
do the math i say................

 

Yes, the reason I changed the oil was to go from Synthetic to Conventional oil for the break-in period. The Mototune article details why that's necessary, or they recommend it anyway. I've talked to 2 different people, at least, on this board that broke their MINI in that way, and they seemed to find that their MINI's were a good bit stronger than most other one's they drove with similar mods (stock, etc.)

 

Well now you have me totally confused…. So are you saying you switched from synthetic to conventional or the other way around? But regardless, did they also say to leave your oil filter on as well? Cause if you mixed the 2, that is where I would call foul. …and why?

 

"Feels like it is stronger" is just BS. If it ain't numbers on a dyno it don't mean diddly. Only runs made by the same car on the same dyno mean anything at all.

SCUBASID you said;
"30
300
3,000 miles..
whats the price of oil on 4 qts.. $10 bucks .... 15 ..tops

$25,000.. car...
$15.00 oil.......
peace of mind,,,
do the math i say................"

You must not be filling yours with synthetic oil, just the plain dead dinasour stuff.

 

By what objective measure? I'll bet they are talking the famous "seat of the pants" dyno, not the most reliable or accurate measure by any means. Everyone KNOWS my MINI "feels" stronger than your mini...

Anywhoooo, I'd start over again and change oil and filter. I personally would go back to the synthetic, since that's the one the car came with. But, I have broke in most of my Buell/ *** sportbike motors with DINO oil and then gone to Mobil One at about 2K, so it's your call.

You probably haven't done damage but I'd rather hear that from the mechanical engineers/MINI mechanics out there FIRST...I have a 'feeling' you've blown oil into places it wasn't meant to go. Any black smoke out of the tailpipe?

 

I went to the web page and read it. It is mostly a Motor cycle engine page though he does talk about snowmoblies etc. MotoMan claims that despite being gathered mostly on 2 cycle engines, it is applicable to 4 cycle engines. MotoMan claims that 80% of ring seating takes place during the first hour of engine running. He claims that,"Synthetic oil is so slippery that it actually "arrests" the break in process before the rings can seal completely." Hence the need to change oil and the filters atfter the first 20 miles to avoid Aluminum being deposited on engine components.

MotoMan then goes on to suggest that brake in is best done on a dyno. The first step is to warm up the engine completely. Then 3 half throttle runs in 4th gear tup to 40-60% of engines max rpm. Cool for 15 minutes, Next 3 75% throttle runs in the 40-80% RPM range, again cool for 15 minutes. Finally after that last cool down He then says to go ahead and do 3 runs using 30-100% o fthe RPM Range. And that is it. He does warn against using the dyno brake on brake in process. He states that you can get a 2-10% gain by following his break in procedure

I understand that Steeroidz is after the 2%-10% Gain by following MotoMan's advice, though I honestly doubt that MotoMan would suggest draining the oil with out changing the filter.

Anothere thing that Steeroidz has neglected to realize that his MINI probably has already been runing over a hour, and not at the load that MotorMan suggests. Remember MINI's are driven off the line into environmental test cells and then to a temporary storage lot and then onto a carrier to the port. They are also driven around the port as they wait to get on a boat, around the boat to pack as many cars in as possible, then off the boat, into harbor, Then at VDC then onto a train or auto transporter, then at the dealer...

I believe with total confidence that every MINI in the USA, has already been run for the critical first hour that MotoMan warns about.by the time it gets to a dealer If this is the case then according to MotoMan, the dammage has already been done.

Well now NAM has the info and we can debate it untill BMW releases the third redesign of our favorite car.

 

Mine had 15 miles on it when I got it, probably a good hour of run time, if not more. I'll bet they started it and let it run for a bit before they even drove off the factory floor. I know my dealer didn't run it hardly more than to deliver it and put it in the showroom. But on and off the ship, someone MAY have HAMMERED it, damn Teamsters.

 

Incorrect, I couldn't find anywhere where he mentions doing this to 2-cycle engines. The majority of his testings were done on smaller, 4-cycle(stroke), motorcycle engines, but states that the principles are the same for any 4-cycle(stroke) engine, including automobiles.

 

Hey Steeroidz......I broke my 2005 MC in according to the Mototune procedure also. I have no idea whether anything was gained over the factory recommended procedure but I can tell you one thing.....it was a heck of a lot more fun. My MINI had 8 miles on it when I took delivery. Of course I have no idea how it was driven. But being committed to a break in method similar to the Mototune method I chose to trailer it from the dealer to home (120 miles) so I could change to dino oil for the break in. I used the nearby Interstate......... accelerating hard up the on ramp and up through the gears to red line then decelerating fairly hard back down through the gears which generally put me in the vicinity of an off ramp. I would come to a stop at the end of the off ramp cross the road and catch the next on ramp and repeat the sequence. There were four exchanges in about 20 miles then I turned around and repeated the sequences on the way back. It was a blast!! I did pick a time when traffic was light. I kept the dino oil in for 340 miles then put in fresh dino. Kept it in until 1438 miles then changed it back to synthetic. I plan to change it (and the filter) at about 7500 mile intervals. I guess time will tell if this break in hurt the engine. So far so good. Gas mileage has ranged from 23 to 32 mpg. With most tanks getting around 28-30. Of course keeping your foot out of it makes a big difference. MOTOR ON!

 

Steeroidz started this thread asking about oil levels. On a related note I got a letter from MINI about 3 months after taking delivery requesting me to take it to the dealer to have the transmission level checked as there was a possibility that it hadn't been fully filled at the factory. They had to add a quart to top it up. Anybody else get this notice?