I'm just wondering when is the good time to take my MINI Cooper S in for service. Since BMW provides 3 years and/or 36000 miles free maintenance, I want to take advantage of it rather than waiting for the computer to tell me to do so. My MINI will hit 15000 miles soon. Any advices will be appreciated.

 

Bmw will pay for an annual service no matter how few miles are on the vehicle. If you have 15k miles without an oil change, it should be done immediately. You did not say when you bought the vehicle, but please check with the dealer to see if they will service it now.

 

Don't wait take it today. That's a lot of miles on the same oil.

 

I talked to my service advisor and they said untill the car says its time to come in he can not change the oil, even though the mini manual says change at 15k.

He said he was seeing cars go untill 19k before first oil change.

I changed mine at 5k and thinking i might have to do another since i just rolled 15k

 

I believe you should take the vehicle in for a first service (which is just an oil and filter change), one year from when you took delivery or when the On-Board Computer tells you to. I just had my oil and filter changed (no charge), as my Min is now a year old.

 

The OBC defaults to the 15k mark, as the manual says adjusts. Mine went all the way to 19,450, but I do lots (and lots) of easy freeway miles. Our local dealer will do an annual oil change before the OBC recommends it, it's rare, but I've heard of other dealerships making the change earlier for others.

Can't hurt to ask...

 

I drive about 8k miles per year, so I'll do one change every six months, and have the dealer do a change every 12 months.

 

My dealer said they'd do it every 10,000 or yearly, whichever is 1st. But, that the computer usually told them to do it at the 10,000 mark, in their experience of local drivers.

 

Thank you very much guys for all the wonderful recommendations. I'm calling the dealer right now and have my BABY look at. Again, THANKS!

Keep on Motoring...

 

I went in for my annual/scheduled maintenance on Friday, and the service tech was amazed by something...

At 7300 miles, I was lighting up every category as "needing service" in the computer scan. Every fluid, the oil, etc... needed service.

He was shocked, saying most people don't even read that at 15000 miles. Since my driving is pretty much short trips and weekend fun, I was surprised to have run the car that hard... any ideas what was up? Do I need to revise my style?

 

Short trips are hard on a car, especially if it doesn't reach operating temps. I read somewhere that starting a car cold is about equivalent to driving a warm car 500 miles at highway speeds.

Not sure what would have caused all your other fluid levels to be low, however.