Hello everybody,
At what mileage did you guys perform the first oil change in your new Mini?
My husband is telling me he wants to do the first oil change(motor/transmission/diff) at 1,000 miles, then the motor oil every 3K and forget about what the dealer says. Is this necessary?
Thanks,

-Deane
'06 MCS, Chili Red, 6sp, sport pkg, LSD, cold pkg

 

I was wondering the same thing too. I got my notice from the dealer to my first inspection and in my year of owning the car, I only put on 5,200 miles. Should I get it done anyway or just take it somewhere to get the oil changed and pay for it myself?

 

ALL KINDS OF CONFLICTING STORIES AND ADVICE!! I did my first one at 2600 and have done the eng oil and filter every 5000 since, with synthetic oil.

 

500mi 1st / 5k and rotate tires. Just by choice since I drive so much (3-3200/ mo) . If I had followed the "meter" my 1st would have been at almost 12k NOT! LOL
I do let the dealer do the scheduled free ones though...
Tim

 

Lots of theories and recommendations out there, do a search on the forum about "breaking in" or "oil change" and you'll find plenty.

It'll never hurt anything to change oil frequently, other than your pocket. Personally I think its good practice to change the break in oil.

 

No ideas about the other types of oil like diff or tranny, but we chose to change the motor oil just past break-in, then thereafter at 5k intervals (with a minimum of one time a year per the manual of course). I think that 3k was good for dino oil, but with synthetic you can easily opt for 5-7k intervals depending on type of driving, etc, IMHO.

 

My car's 1st oil change: ~8000 miles :impatient ; however the dealer said its fine to go 12k miles before an oil change...??? Don't really know if thats true, or just trying to save some $$$.

I now change the synthetic oil about every 5k miles.

 

Another note, I check oil every week, and lately at about 11000km (7000 miles?) I notice the oil getting quite dark. I last changed it at about 2500km (1800miles?)

Service indicator says another 6500km to go until first "official" oil change...

 

The dealer will change the oil and filter, wiper blades, and do a few other things as part of the one year inspection no matter what the mileage is. Take it to the dealer.

 

Sounds more than reasonable to me. Find a tame "mail order" MINI dealer and buy a dozen filters at a time. I change mine every 2000-2500. Sometimes I get too busy and rack up 3000 between changes. Some say it's excessive, but I think it's a good idea. It certainly doesn't hurt anything.

Rawhyde

 

Careful might wear out that socket wrench a little early .

I'm letting things go as scheduled as long as they pay for it, then its royal purple or redline and every 5k for me. I trust synthetics are better that traditional, but I'm on FL where it gets hot, I want to autocross and do DEs and I want to make sure the car clears 500k miles with little to no issues.

 

Its really personal preference. It won't hurt anything to change it more often. With that being said, I followed (am following) the recomended intervals. First one was around 12k, and each subsequent one has been between 15-20k. I now have over 103k, and not due for another change for another 8k. Will it die sooner? Don't know???? Oil has been dirty, but always more viscus (sp) than the "old" oils I used on other cars changing every 3k.

Nik

 

12000 km

 

The counter on your speedo will tell you how many miles until you need to change it... I did mine at 12,600 miles. I couldn't believe it was that long but it IS synthetic oil which is more durable.

 

no real need to do it early. Just follow the regular maintenance schedule.

 

Methman, you are guaranteed a service once a year which includes an oil change regardless of the mileage you put on your MINI. I would take advantage of this and get any little thing looked at while you are there.

Remember the warranty is 3 years OR mileage. They can not refuse you service because of the readout indicator. If it’s been a year then you have the right to have your MINI serviced.

 

I think it is over kill and wasteful to change at anything less then 5000 miles with Premium SYN oil. There are a bunch of very skillful auto engneers at BMW that formulated this concept. If it was anyway detrimental to their cars it would have been modified.
Stick with the recommended schedule and take the $50-$80 saved on the service and go out to dinner.
BTW I do get huge amusement with the folks that selectively apply BMWs recommendations. I bet the same folks that Take the 1250 mile break-in recommendation as gospel and never go 30 RPMs over 4500 until their odometer reads 1251 are the same that take the oil service out the window as bunk.

 

The oil will start to get dark after just a few hundred miles in any car. Unless it comes out as sludge, you can't really judge the oil's performance without a laboratory to analyze it.

Conspiracy theories aside, jibeho is right, BMW does know a thing or two about their engines. As long as synthetic oil is put in, it will last 1 year or the service indicator (which ever comes first).

 

Thanks, everybody.
Jibeho, perhaps, the low maintenance concept is more a marketing strategy by BMW than a decision made by skillful auto engineers. It seems to be working for them since their sales have increased since the low or no maintenance cost concept was initiated. No doubt, the newer cars are better built since they can get you through the warranty with virtually no maintenance but...
My 325i came with the life-fill auto fluid and although it got me through the extended warranty period, it had to be replaced just 3 months later at 89K miles at a painful cost of $4500. Now I hear that the auto transmissions only last 80 -120k on the new BMWs. My girfriend had some internal problems with her 325i's 5sp and had it replaced under warranty by BMW.
I want to avoid these costly repair later on, since I am planning on keeping this car for as long as I can.
My husband will do the labor for free. He'll just have to pay for the oil and filter.
As far as RPMs go, Mini told me NOT to maintain a contant RPM for too long such as highway driving for the first 1000 miles. But not to worry about how high it goes!

Thanks again for all the replies!!!

-Deane
'06 MCS, 6sp

 

Did it at 3500 miles, routine oil service at dealer was at 9k, then
changed myself at 16K (halfway to the 23K Inspection I/oil change
at the dealer).
Plan to change the oil myself about halfway between each
scheduled service....twice as often as the recommended 14-15K.

 

I'm a follow the factory recommendations guy. My M3, with a much higher stressed engine than the MINI, had 56K miles on it when I sold it, never burned a drop of oil, and ran great. The MINI engine is not exotic, no reason why 10K changes with today's proven synthetic oils won't provide longterm reliability. If it makes you feel better to change it more often, it's only your pocketbook that suffers.

 

The problem with this is, 56K miles is way to short to determine anything about engine wear or longevity. Most cars would run fine for 56K miles , even if you didn't change the oil at all.

It's 100,000 miles and up, (hopefully way up), where more frequent oil changes are likely to provide a benefit. I'd change at least every year or 5K miles, whichever comes first.

 

That may be true, but realistically, I've never kept a car that long and most likely never will so it's a moot point to me.

 

I realize that the old "every 3,000 miles" standard was for lesser-engineered engines that ran on looser tolerances than modern engines. We also have much better oil (full synthetic) than 90% of the cars on the road today. 10,000 is probably a fine interval, no matter if you think the number was conceived by engineers or bean-counters/marketing at BMW/MINI.

I like to get a bit greasy every now and then and I like the thought of regularly getting into the engine bay a bit, so I change the oil myself at 5k miles, 15k, 25k, 35k, 45k... and have the dealer do it at their programmed interval of 10k, 20k, 30k. That way I'm seeing the engine, looking for drips and signs of wear at programmed intervals and I feel a bit better that I'm taking better care of my baby (even though the benefits are probably only of a psychological nature).

I think that it helps resale prices a bit, as well, to have a well-documented and more-frequent-than-necessary maintenance log... It might suggest that your MINI is in better shape than another MINI that doesn't have that same documentation.

It also helps my automotive OCD to know that I'm checking off tasks on a list!

Even if you consider my "every 5,000 miles" guideline to be excessive, I still think that one additional oil change in the lifespan of your car at 1,500 or 2,000 miles wouldn't put an undue burden on your budget. There is a lot of wear that happens on the engine in the break-in period and it just makes a lot of sense to my automotive-untrained mind to change the oil then. At the least, it's only $50-60 and it can't hurt...

 

I consider every 5K excessive and wasteful for syn oil in a fairly low-tech (and proving to be a solid) iron-block engine like the MINI's, so it's every 7.5-10K for me, depending on conditions. BTW I changed my break-in at 3,400 because waiting for 10-12K just didnt seem right. Jimbo