Am I wrong in thinking that when I turn on my car, it should NOT still say maintenance due at 15,000 mi, when I've already had my car for three weeks and have used about 450 miles already? Shouldn't it be counting down?

 

It does not count down. It tells you what your odometer will read when it needs service. You will most likely see that number start to change to a larger number.

 

Thank you!!! Do the majority of people actually wait 15,000 mi for their initial oil change?

 

That's not quite right. I tells you how many more miles until it is time to change oil. It counts down in 1000's and will probably run out to about 22,000 miles on your odometer.

 

That's actually incorrect. This has come up many times. I was also confused until recently.
The number will read about 15k for a while. Then it will change in 1k mile increments. I drive all fwy miles, 12k plus now, and it says 5k more to go. At one time, the mileage and the service readout were the same. I took this to mean it was time for an oil change, but that's not the case. The number decreases until the you're ready for a change.

 

+1 to the above. The counter indicates remaining miles to service. I would wait until after 1000 miles to start wondering if it's broken.

If you ask people around here... Whether or not more frequent oil changes beyond the recommended intervals are necessary is a subject of many a discussion. Some people only do the recommended service; some change more frequently (every 5k). Some may say to do your first oil change sooner than it would otherwise be done normally, on the basis of removing detritus from the break-in process. Basically, you probably won't get a clear-cut answer one way or another. Do what gives you peace of mind. (But remember that only oil changes done at the recommended intervals are covered by the maintenance program.)

 

Yeah, hang on. It will change. Mine stayed at 15,000 until I actually had 4000 miles on the odometer, then changed to 14,000. It now says 13,000 and the car has 6,500 on the odometer. Seems like it changes faster as the miles add up.

 

Everyone is so helpful here....I can't thank you enough for responding!!

Sharon

 

As the service desk explained to me last week, it counts down the miles left until service. I also thought it was telling me at what miles I was supposed to get it serviced. Take it from someone who put 10k miles in 4 months on his Mini. Mine now says 7000 and I already had 9000 on it when I asked them about why it said 8000 and whether that was going to affect my warranty. They said it was a really common mistake.

 

I don't have a lot of faith in this readout. Mine went from the initial 15,000 up to about 19,000. Then I had a software update performed and it dropped to 9,000. It has been at 9,000 for quite a while now.

At the same time as the miles to service is displayed, there is a date displayed. The idea is that you use whichever comes first. The date is supposed to be one year from delivery, or last service. Mine displays a 2009 date that is two years from delivery. I've not had a scheduled service yet.

I'll just take it in when one year is up. I doubt I'll get any argument from them.

 

I wouldn't put any faith in the factory recommended intervals. The OBC does indeed count down to your next "scheduled service", however it would behoove you to change your oil yourself every 8k miles or thereabout. Oil is cheap insurance and there's no reason to wait several years and 20k miles to get the factory break-in oil out of the engine. I recommend you change you oil and filter at about 1000 miles to get all the break-in bits out of the oil.

 

I'm not even going to listen to the thing, I'm doing my first oil change at 2000 miles and then every 5000 after that. Obviously most of those oil changes will be paid for out of my pocket but I'll have the piece of mind. I only drive about 12000 miles a year anyway, between my Jeep and Mini that would be about 6000 miles each.

 

That's what mine has done. I've got 16,000 on the odometer and it still has 8,000 left on the counter. I'm about one week from the annual scheduled change, regardless of the stupid counter. My SA said it would change faster as I come closer to the 15,000, but it hasn't happened in my case. I HAVE been taking it a bit easier recently, so that might be the reason. I've been running a lot of errands on mostly country roads. Yesterday's rally test run was pretty easy, too.

Of course, we've changed the oil twice since we got it.

 

Mine's about the same, but I'm around my 1-year anniversary so I'm going to call to see about having the maintenance done.

 

The service intervals depend on your driving patterns. If you make several short trips every day (stop & go traffic, several cold starts per day, etc.) for example, you'll need more frequent servicing than if you commute 30 miles to work and back. The OBC is watching you!

 

Where is it hiding?? I guess I won't drive naked anymore!

 

Is THAT what that whistle is all about? I've looked all over for it.

Actually, it's more like a wretching sound.