When I got my car the change the oil number
(milage that comes on when you start it up)
was 16000.

At 4200 miles I changed the oil (mini dealer filter and
castrol full synthetic 5w30).

I wasn't in the habbit of watching that milage everytime
I started the car.

At 5400 miles I noticed that the service the oil milage number
is now 8000.

What's the deal?

 

The R56 and newer have "conditioned based service" rather than a set schedule. The number reduces as conditions change.

 

Yes, I agree with that.
I don't think I phrased my question well.

The original oil with 4k miles says 16k miles for service.

I put in new oil and new oil filter, now it says 8k miles for service.

It doesn't make sense to me and it is also very worrysome.

 

The car has no idea what the condition of the oil is. The computer knows how many miles you've driven since the last time the service interval was reset and it knows how you've been driving (hard accel, constant rpm highway miles, etc.) and adjusts the service countdown accordingly.

If you change the oil you must reset the service interval (have to look up how). If you want your free oil changes don't reset it since the dealer won't do the free oil change until the countdown is near zero.

 

When the dealer changes the oil, they reset the oil change sensing system. When you changed it you did not do this, so it assumes that the oil was not changed and continues to count down. The oil is never actually checked by the computer. It merely examines usage parameters to determine when it thinks an oil change is due.

 

The service manager at my dealer told me that there are sensors that measure viscosity and pH. If so, then these are, I think, only two factors of many that determine service interval.

 

I totally agree with all that.
(I didn't reset the thing I don't know how anyway)

I still am not making my point well. The reason for my concern.

Old oil = 16000 miles to go.

New oil = 8000 miles to go.

But only 400 more miles put on the car.

My concern being that castrol full synthetic 5W30 bought
from advance auto is being misrepresented.

 

Oh, and now I see why ppl don't understand me, because I didnt
understand myself. HA HA HA

Until I changed the oil the thing read 16000.
That means 16000 change, not 16000 to go.
(since I bought it new I kept thinking of it as "16k to go" subconciously)

The thing now says 8000. I have 5500 miles on it.
I changed the oil less than 1200 miles ago.

So if it wants the oil changed at 8000, it will be with oil that
has 4000 miles on it!

AND the dealer will think I have been driving it like a race car.
I'm 43 with two kids. I barely rev this thing up. It's just fun
to drive and I like really small cars. I didn't buy it as a race car.

So again, originally, 16000 miles.
I changed the oil I now remember at 38001 miles (dont have the book here).
I now have 59xx miles.

It is telling me it wants oil change at 8000 miles.

Something is not right here.

 

Incorrect. I thought the same thing, but it meant "to go until change" -- it is not an odometer recommendation. My service writer at the local dealership tells me she fields about 10 calls per day with this very question.

As the various sensors recommend, that number counts down.

In this particular case, you changed the oil and filter. For all we know, a reduction in oil pressure merely through using a new filter might cause the computer to spit out a new schedule.

 

I don't like that fancy oil sensor stuff - I taste mine, my taste buds tell me when to change it.

 

I think the consensus among NAMers is there is no such thing as an actual oil sensor that can sense the oil's condition. Instead OBC merely track the engine RPMs and other variables (throttle, etc) and estimate when to change oil. The numbers you see on OBC is a *countdown*, not the odometer reading at which to change oil. So over time, it will count down, maybe seemingly erratically at times. As it get closer to 0, it will become more precise (whether it's accurate is completely another matter )

Hope that clear it up.

 

Are you doing a lot of city driving, and/or very short trips? The OBC would note that and adjust the miles until oil change accordingly. The ambient temp may have an effect on this as well. What is your driving style? What RPM do you usually cruise at?

 

That explains a lot.

My plan is to still change the oil again at 7500 or so.

That will put me on a cycle of 7500 me, 7500 dealer or
about twice per year give or take.

Also, it did just go from summer to winter here, almost overnight.
My trips are generally 10-20 miles but with 2 hwy trips so far.
It's not true city stop and go traffic, but more like normal rush hour.
I average about 35 mph to work. The speed limit varies
from 35 to 55. I've actually not really dogged it down to the max yet.
Which is probably a shame

 

These seem like awfully long oil change cycles. For city driving, I change the oil every 5000 km (about 3000 miles). IMHO, it's a big factor in longer engine life. The usual advice I've seen elsewhere is to change oil & filter every 5000 miles (about 8000 km).
MM

 

don't listen to the oil count down; it means well but doesn't really know what it's doing. just change the oil every 3-5k miles, remember it in your head or write it down in a book

 

I have talked to professional mechanics that I know. 5k miles is way too soon on synthetic oil. If you do that, you might as well as use cheap non synthetic because neither oil will lose viscosity on such a short oil change interval. I am told by dealer and whomever else I talk to that minimum oil change intervals on full synthetic should be 10k miles. If you dont believe me, ask your regular mechanic.

 

Do you really all think that BMW didn't know what they were doing when they designed the car. I mean really, how many engineers do you think it took to design the engine? I know all of you here are smart in your respective fields, but we are all laymen when it comes to engines, oil and cars in general.

Without the prerequisite knowledge in oil, metalurgy, and friction, how can we say it is "best" to change oil every 3-5k on something we don't even really understand. For my car, I'm obeying the computer and trusting the ones who designed it.

 

I read all the postings on the change the oil and not change the oil
arguments. Well, all I could find. As above, they ranged from
change it every 3k miles, to change it every when the computer says so miles (which was like 16-18k it appears)

I started losing sleep literally on the idea of a 16k oil change.

So for my mental well being I decided to compromise on 7500 miles
give or take. Except for the first change.

It costs me about $30/year to do this (myself) and have peace of mind.

Putting that in proper perspective, it costs me or will cost me
over $30 in gas alone and at least 6 hours off from work to get
the "free" oil change at the dealer. Actually, let's just say a day
off from work since they do a 'yearly' service at the dealer.

I consider the extra $30 per year to be a minimal expense for peace
of mind.

 

I think the OP's situation makes sense. When the car is new the number is really big. Mine was 15k off the lot, climbed to 20k pretty fast, now it's back to 15k with 9k miles on the car, 90% are in town. I bet the number drops more than the miles I put on the car from now on. His probably is doing the same think, and maybe the oil change had an effect. I had a 325 BMW 20 years ago and it had the same feature that the Mini has. This is not anything new, maybe they've tweaked it some with the synthetic oil and all. And 15k is not unreasonable. My last car didn't recommend synthetic and recommeded oil changes at 7500 miles. I bet my Mini will recommend one at about 12k, about a year from purchase. It makes sense to me.

 

Romi is hoot in this regard. The day I brought home, she proudly proclaimed 18,000 miles to the oil change. 5,200 miles later, she still claims 18,000 miles to go to the next oil change.

Hehe,..I dunt(tm) trust it. I thought BMW used an emitter which changes resistance based on how much light was being reflected back (much like a simple photo-resistor). The darker and dirtier oil gets, the more it reflects light.

 

Everyone seems to have a different idea as to how the OBC calculates oil change dates. I've heard the following factors in various threads. Some grouped together others on their own.

Number of cold starts (starting the engine from off)
Number of warm starts (traffic light, etc.)
Distance travelled between starts (warm and cold)
Ambient temp
Maximum RPM
Average RPM
Oil Viscosity sensor
Oil color sensor
Electrical conductivity of oil

There are probably some I've forgotten. Some people seem to believe it is a very sophisticated system that truly monitors oil quality. Some believe it is a rather crude system that is not very accurate. It would be interesting to know how it really work, and how accurate it is.

 

I thought that it had something to do with fuel consumption... That might explain why I got my first change around 16k when a friend of mine who tracks his car very, VERY frequently got his first change at 6.5k. (23 MPG for me vs 7.5 MPG for him)

 

Here is one of your issues. Oil has been discussed at length on the BMW boards for years. I suspect Mini uses the same Castrol synthetic that BMW uses. BMW Castrol oil that is shipped here to dealers is Castrol's European synthetic oil. It is a much higher quality than the Castrol synthetic sold in your typical auto parts store here in the US. So when you buy Castrol at the dealer it is a higher quality than the Castrol anywhere else in the US even though it appears to be the same thing.

I am not saying that it has anything to do with your gauge readings, but it might. I never used anything other than dealer-bought oil on my BMW once I read the discussions and reports onthe BMW message boards. Only slightly more expensive (with BMW Club Member discount) but well worth it.

 

Uh..that is a myth about there being two different versions of Castrol. Check the API service ratings for the oil. That is all that matters.

 

I agree, I can't see changing FULL synthetic oil at 3 or 5k miles unless you drive in very dusty locations or sit at idle in Alaska. I tow a camper with a GMC truck and change the Mobil 1 about every 8K and change the filter every 4K. It has about 70K of hard miles and only uses about half a quart in 4K miles.

I just bought oil filters for the new Mini and will change at 6 months and let the dealer stay on a 12 month schedule.