R56 Oil Changed! DIY
6th Gear - AX Champion
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,301
Likes: 300
From: Pittsboro NC
it boils the washer fluid out of the lines and onto my hood
6th Gear
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,497
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From: Orange County, CA
Prove it. Please show me some hard evidence of this. I bet you can't!
6th Gear
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,497
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From: Orange County, CA
EXACTLY! The MINI has only been out since 2002 so no one can really say who's right or wrong.
6th Gear - AX Champion
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,301
Likes: 300
From: Pittsboro NC
can you PROVE to me that a mini cooper turbo drivin hard will have it's oil last as long as a non turbo? Please try, I'm willing to listen to hard facts
if you choose to insure your engine with extra clean oil, that's each owners choice
5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 810
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From: Charlotte NC
nobody can prove otherwise either can you?, so you can look at extra oil changes as insurance
can you PROVE to me that a mini cooper turbo drivin hard will have it's oil last as long as a non turbo? Please try, I'm willing to listen to hard facts
if you choose to insure your engine with extra clean oil, that's each owners choice
can you PROVE to me that a mini cooper turbo drivin hard will have it's oil last as long as a non turbo? Please try, I'm willing to listen to hard facts
if you choose to insure your engine with extra clean oil, that's each owners choice
4th Gear
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 529
Likes: 0
From: South Orange, NJ
nobody can prove otherwise either can you?, so you can look at extra oil changes as insurance
can you PROVE to me that a mini cooper turbo drivin hard will have it's oil last as long as a non turbo? Please try, I'm willing to listen to hard facts
if you choose to insure your engine with extra clean oil, that's each owners choice
can you PROVE to me that a mini cooper turbo drivin hard will have it's oil last as long as a non turbo? Please try, I'm willing to listen to hard facts
if you choose to insure your engine with extra clean oil, that's each owners choice
4th Gear
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 580
Likes: 0
LAME CHANGE!!
Wow, those quickie change "mechanics" must be totally lame. What, they are confused because they have to move the coolant tank? What a bunch of lame-ohs!! Another GREAT REASON to DIY. And CONGRATS for doing it yourself!!!
Changed the oil myself. Braman quoted $159 for "non-scheduled" early oil change. Local Jiffy Lube and PennZoil quickie places screamed and ran away as my car drove up. I hadn't finished pushing the engine on/off button when all the workers started nodding their heads in contempt. I felt like I was committing a crime.
Instead I decided to do it myself. I'm a MINI owner, we do things our way! Yeah! Purchased the SJ Rated Castrol Full Synthetic 5-30, Oil filter(mini mania), 36(?)MM socket, Torx T5 tool, a pair of plastic ramps that hold up to 6000 pounds (Ramps not necessarily need for oil change).
Drove the car onto the ramps. Let it cool. Opened the hood. Removed the oil drain plug. Loosened the reservoir tank screw. Moved the reservoir tank to the right (passenger side) and let it sit there. Loosened the oil filter container. Removed the oil filter container with the oil filter. Replaced the oil filter and rubber o-ring. Reinstalled and tightened the oil filter container. Let the oil drain. Installed new washer onto drain plug and tightened (o-ring and drain plug washer come with filter). Refilled 4.4 quarts of new oil. Started engine, nothing exploded or leaked. Reinstalled the reservoir tank. Cleaned up and drove away.
Expenses ramps, tools, $60.
Do it again in 5000 miles, and my expenses next time will be the 5 quarts of oil and oil filter. Then I'll let BMW do the regularly scheduled maintenance.
Have fun.
Instead I decided to do it myself. I'm a MINI owner, we do things our way! Yeah! Purchased the SJ Rated Castrol Full Synthetic 5-30, Oil filter(mini mania), 36(?)MM socket, Torx T5 tool, a pair of plastic ramps that hold up to 6000 pounds (Ramps not necessarily need for oil change).
Drove the car onto the ramps. Let it cool. Opened the hood. Removed the oil drain plug. Loosened the reservoir tank screw. Moved the reservoir tank to the right (passenger side) and let it sit there. Loosened the oil filter container. Removed the oil filter container with the oil filter. Replaced the oil filter and rubber o-ring. Reinstalled and tightened the oil filter container. Let the oil drain. Installed new washer onto drain plug and tightened (o-ring and drain plug washer come with filter). Refilled 4.4 quarts of new oil. Started engine, nothing exploded or leaked. Reinstalled the reservoir tank. Cleaned up and drove away.
Expenses ramps, tools, $60.
Do it again in 5000 miles, and my expenses next time will be the 5 quarts of oil and oil filter. Then I'll let BMW do the regularly scheduled maintenance.
Have fun.
4th Gear
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 580
Likes: 0
HEAT HEAT AND MORE HEAT
MCS has to degrade oil faster than an MC. One word: MORE HEAT!!
I simply do not believe that a mcs will need the same frequency of oil changes as a mc
bmw's computer algorithm does not seem to care if you have a turbo or not, nobody has yet to convince me that the turbo is NOT harder on oil than a non turbo
so I will continue to do non scheudaled oil changes until someone posts HARD driven MCS (ie auto-x, tracked) oil test results
bmw's computer algorithm does not seem to care if you have a turbo or not, nobody has yet to convince me that the turbo is NOT harder on oil than a non turbo
so I will continue to do non scheudaled oil changes until someone posts HARD driven MCS (ie auto-x, tracked) oil test results
4th Gear
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 580
Likes: 0
pennies
Right on, Dirkinoff! On another string in this group, I did a breakdown of the cost of oil changes done at shorter intervals. Doing it DIY (important...DIY!) the amount is TINY per thousand miles.
Oh I just love to read posts like this!! Its funny the same person will spend 4.25 on coffee at Starbucks "read hot water poured over ground coffee beans and some corn syrup added for flavor" or drink bottled water "no definition needed" and then wont change their oil on their 25,000 dollar car before 15,000 miles, or use premium fuel because its 8 cents more a gallon??
4th Gear
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 580
Likes: 0
interesting
Now THIS is interesting. I'd like to see a string started on 10-40 vs 5-30 and see where that goes. Thanks for the thoughts. I'm in Northern California, where temps are pretty moderate compared to other locales. But I'm wondering, because I totally agree that there is a LOT of heat generated by a Mini Cooper S R56. I raise my hood when I come home from a fast drive on the backroads, and when I return to my closed up two car garage half an hour later, the garage is VERY WARM. And the heat continues to roll off for HOURS.
Frankly, you needn't have EVER changed oil in one of your Minis if you have owned four since '02 and would certainly not had a problem. Me, I just changed out my break-in oil at 1750 miles with 10-40 Castrol FullSyn as there is simply too much heat in the '07 S engine bay for 5-30 unles you regularly experience -20 deg. weather.
4th Gear
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 580
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Pennies
As you drive between changes, the percentage figure on your oil's protective additives diminishes. If you're happy with running until only a small percentage is left, good for you. But as I have stated and shown on other strings, the $$ cost between a 5k and 15k or even 12k miles oil change, done DIY, is absolute pennies per thousand miles when reflected against what it's costing you to just put gas in the tank. My engineer friends assure me it's a bad idea to run this performance turbo engine to the mileage limit for changes. Oh yeah, one of these engineers has a Ford in his stable that has over 230k miles on it and is totally sound. He changes his oil what you might call "excessively"...and full synth at that. Basics: Heat = Friction = Wear = Premature Failure.
And there is now way I am believing that your oil filter is doing much of a job at 15k, especially if your driving is a lot of stop/go combined with some serious pedal pounding. And isn't "pedal pounding" what owning an MCS is all about??
"We take our own chances and pay our own dues." - Kris Kristofferson
And there is now way I am believing that your oil filter is doing much of a job at 15k, especially if your driving is a lot of stop/go combined with some serious pedal pounding. And isn't "pedal pounding" what owning an MCS is all about??
"We take our own chances and pay our own dues." - Kris Kristofferson
4th Gear
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 580
Likes: 0
more darn pennies talk
The Environmentally Unfriendly Police can't say too much if you are doing the job DIY and recycling your oil. It's their money. And like I said, we're talking PENNIES per thousand miles. It's PEANUTS compared to just what you spend on gasoline per thousand miles. PEANUTS. That's a high tech complex power plant. Oil is it's blood. You want contaminated blood, that's your choice. 
4th Gear
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 529
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From: South Orange, NJ
Sure it's pennies per 1000 miles compared to the cost of the gas but please show me ACTUAL SCIENTFIC EVIDENCE (oil degradation tests, engine wear experiments) that back up your assertion that more frequent changes are necessary.
6th Gear - AX Champion
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,301
Likes: 300
From: Pittsboro NC
because the BMW computer only looks at engine temp & rpm when calculating oil change intervals
5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 810
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From: Charlotte NC
but please, show me ACTUAL SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE that oil in a turbo mini cooper, driven spirited, lasts as long as oil in a non turbo mini cooper, driven slowly by a little old lady
because the BMW computer only looks at engine temp & rpm when calculating oil change intervals
because the BMW computer only looks at engine temp & rpm when calculating oil change intervals
4th Gear
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 540
Likes: 0
From: Morristown, NJ
slightly off topic, but still relevant...
Porsches, both oil and water cooled (911s and 944s) have some ridiculous interval (15K or 20K)... which with 7qts in the 944 Turbo and 11+ in the 911s of the same vintage means nothing.
The 944 Turbo (without extra cooling) at the track gets VERY close to coking full synth. Even the factory recomends changing the oil every 3000-5000 miles of HARD or dusty driving, and has upped that to after 2-3 days at the track.
The point is temp kills oil (or oil's ability to lubricate)... it also causes the additives to break down faster.
make your own decisions.
Porsches, both oil and water cooled (911s and 944s) have some ridiculous interval (15K or 20K)... which with 7qts in the 944 Turbo and 11+ in the 911s of the same vintage means nothing.
The 944 Turbo (without extra cooling) at the track gets VERY close to coking full synth. Even the factory recomends changing the oil every 3000-5000 miles of HARD or dusty driving, and has upped that to after 2-3 days at the track.
The point is temp kills oil (or oil's ability to lubricate)... it also causes the additives to break down faster.
make your own decisions.
4th Gear
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 529
Likes: 0
From: South Orange, NJ
Used oil analyses will likely start to trickle out and we will get our answers but based on the only available data, 02-06 MCS's driven hard the oil doesn't degrade over time.
Thread Starter
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1st Gear
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
Seeing is Believing
Will someone please change your under 5000 miles oil and let some of it fill up part of a glass. Then take a picture of it. I did not have my camera with me to show the evidence that the oil is indeed dirty. Mine was changed at 2600 and it was darker with non-dirt particles (not on the dipstick, but in a glass).
Regards
Regards
6th Gear
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,497
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From: Orange County, CA
Oil is supposed to get dirty. That means it's doing its job. If it stays looking like the day it was first put in, then Huston you have a problem. Dirty/black looking oil (to our eyes anyway) by no means indicates that it is no longer able to function as designed.