I've been enjoying my MCSm for a little over a year now and the odometer recently clicked over the 13k mile mark. Due to my very bald front tires (wonder what wore them down so quickly ) along with some other minor warrantee issues i wanted taken care of, i decided it was a good time to take her in for a check up. I dropped her off today at South Motors BMW in Miami. My experience was fine enough, but i found some interesting information.

Firstly, i forgot where i read this.. but i was under the impression that the dealer would perform an oil change either when the tach told you to or after the first year of ownership, which ever came first. Actually, i found it here
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ght=oil+change

Well, they told me that wasn't the case, they told me that they would only do the oil change when the car told them to do so. And all they would do for me now, is to check and top off all my fluids. Mildly irritating, but what was i suppose to say?

Next, i purchased the tire insurance. $500 at my dealer. Wouldn't do it again if i had the chance. Just ditch the runflats. Oh well. I was expecting them just to swap out my bald, dangerous front tires without questions. Apparently, they will not replace the tires because of normal wear, only if damaged by road debris or something. Luckily, I ran over a nail on the way there, so they agreed to replace one tire, but not the other. He did, however, suggest i just damage my own tire and bring it back. again, mildly irritating that they will agree to replace my tires only after i purposely run over some glass.
Finally, i inquired if he personally knew anyone who installed any aftermarket ECU products. He said a close friend of his did, and was dissatisfied with it. Aside from that, he made sure to warn to me that the on board computer can and will record general statistics. So if you were to have a engine problems with an ECU add-on, remove it, take it to a dealer, and have them inspect it, they WOULD be able to review when the problem happened and be able to decipher what sort of boost the car was running.

Just wanted to share that with the nam community. I'm just letting you guys know exactly what they told me. Let me know if they're playing games with me.

 

My dealer performed an oil change after 1 year. The OBC said it was another 9000 miles or so until it was required. They specifically said that the OBC wasn't asking for it, but they will still do it after a year. That seems like a reasonable policy. My MCS had about 13k after 1 year.

I guess this policy varies by dealer. An oil change doesn't cost much - seems like they could do 1 after a year.

 

The OP dealer sucks! Oil change should have been done.

 

+1

 

Whether or not the dealer can detect ECU tweaking depends on how the programming hack is done. John at Lucky Dog Garage (BEHE Performance) can explain it to you and can provide you with an undetectable tune that will really kick it up a notch without ever generating an error.

www.luckydoggarage.com

 

What is the standard charge of an oil change at a MINI dealer?

 

I didn't know that they did just oil changes (but I guess they probably would if the computer hasn't called for a service yet). I thought they just did interval service that always includes an oil change. When the service light comes on, they have a whole list of stuff they want to do.

 

I haven't been in yet (bought Lewis 08/06/07) but the one of the managers at the "new" MINI dealership told me that they'd do my 1st service a year after my in-service date. I wouldn't expect to have a problem with it at the existing one, but that's the place that will replace wiper blades every 6 months, but only ever if you specifically ask for them.
I wish MINI USA would publish some sort of guidline for this. They sell the car with promises of free maintenance and then it's all "well... you see... it depends..." I have 13,000 miles on my car and my oil is, well, nasty (but not so nasty that I don't believe it's ok once it's warm). I love him, but I'm not paying $120 (or even $60 to my local-ish MINI tuner) to change it when it's under warranty and will be free in a month.

 

I would rather pay that additional cost for an oil change that have nasty oil in the engine. The way I see it, if I have to pay $100 for an seperate oil change then that's ok.

 

WOW they should have changed the oil either by 15,000 miles on the CBS or at the one year anniversary of your car.It even states in the Service & Warranty Information booklet to change the oil at least once a year.

At least you bought the tire protection plan which will cover 1 tire replacement since MINI does not cover them at all as they have a separate tire warranty from the manufacturer and MINI does not cover routine tire rotations,balancing or even wheel alignments.All of which unfortunately is the responsibility of the owner.

I had my oil change at around 5000 miles based on what others have posted here on NAM but at the dealership which was $$$.I won't do that again and will have it done somewhere else late next year after my 1 year free oil change and maintenance schedule.

 

i could have sworn it said that they would perform an oil change atleast once a year in the manual. I wanted to look it up, but my manual is in my glovebox at the dealer. I'll have to find it online later. Hopefully i can show them that along with my second flat tire.

 

Waiting for the dealer to change oil-filter.....is way to many miles on the oil.
make no sense......5x qts of oil(@ 6.45 a qt,filter @ 9.50..... do the change.
"DIY"...@ 1000 miles.....thats best for your engine life......
I did it..i`m.. no great shake as a mech.....There are several threads that are
extremely explanatory,for R56.(took me aprox 1/2 hr,solo).
5x qts @ 6.45=32.25(requires 4-1/2).
1x oil filter=... 9.50( with crush washer,gasket).
41.75..
LOTS less expense then the dealer....plus being done right...

The oil drained,was dark crud....NUF said...................

08-mcsa-cpe-l/b,mono-opts-mods....................................Ross



.

 

Waiting for the dealer to change oil-filter.....is way to many miles on the oil.
make no sense......5x qts of oil(@ 6.45 a qt,filter @ 9.50..... do the change.
"DIY"...@ 1000 miles.....thats best for your engine life......
I did it..i`m.. no great shake as a mech.....There are several threads that are
extremely explanatory,for R56.(took me aprox 1/2 hr,solo).
5x qts @ 6.45=32.25(requires 4-1/2).
1x oil filter=... 9.50( with crush washer,gasket).
41.75..
LOTS less expense then the dealer....plus being done right...

The oil drained,was dark crud....NUF said...................

08-mcsa-cpe-l/b,mono-opts-mods....................................Ross



.

 

Most dealers will do an oil change at the 1 year interval. Find another dealer.

Many of us have changed the oil ourselves. There are some good DIY threads on the subject here. A few of us have had our oil analyzed at various intervals. It looks like the MINI branded synthetic oil is pretty much exhausted by 10,000 miles in an MCS, and 5,000 to 8,000 is a better inteval.

Seems pretty dangerous to me to have one bald tire and one good one in the front. Better get yourself some nails, as recommended by the dealer.

 

I see South Motors hasn't changed since I last dealt with them some 25 years ago.

2 MINIs and 2 different dealers: oil change is 12 months or when the computer says.

This was even implemented such that I got changes on the 02 2000 miles apart. Once at 12 months and 2 months later when the computer said so....

But South wasn't as bad as Brahman!

The joys of buying a car in Miami .... we finally gave up and just stared doing buisess no closer than dealers in north Broward.

On the other hand ... tire coverage thru the dealer? What was it that PT Barnum said? And yes, both my MINIs came with runflats..... I find it amazing that now when I visit a MINI dealer I see a tire display... my daddy taught me that for tire you go to a tire dealer....never a car dealer.

 

The manual clearly states that the oil shold be changed at least once a year, and an oil change is absolutely covered under the maintenance plan. Go back to the dealer and show him the manual. Also, call MIMIUSA and complain that you're not getting what you paid for.