Mellowmcs,
this isn't a typo. Oil changes were approximately ONCE a year if you stayed within the 24K an average person drives annually. Depending on your driving, you might do it earlier.
Again, you can change your oil as often as you feel comfortable.

 

Probably thought you meant miles not km since it wasn't stated....unless you did mean miles ("brake pads at 25k" in original post) in which case I'd wonder what person considered 24k a year "average".

 

I do hope you're talking kilometers. The average joe in the grand United States only drive between 10-15k miles a year. 24,000 miles a year would be about 65 miles every single day.

 

I used to drive 85miles to commute M-F then another 100miles during the weekend to visit my GF. I put on a tad over 24K miles that year and about 20k miles following years.

I'm still not following how 24k (mi) is within the oil change interval. I think the others are right, Tommygunz maybe quoting KM because 24K KM is approximately 15K miles, thus falling in within the BMWs recommend oil change interval of 15K Miles.

 

I've never heard a repair shop say, "this car is dead because you changed the oil too much".
I have always changed my oil at 3K. If synthetic then I wait for 5K. It's been drilled in my head so much that 3K is the magic number that I start getting nervous once I go over 3K. Better safe than sorry.

 

My apologies ..... it is 15K miles
Regardless , you can change your oil as often as you want but like I said, BMW or other manufacturers wouldn't give you a recommendation that would ruin or damage your car and their reputation as well. I'm just saying that you can go with what they recommend as you would with tire rotation, tune-ups , etc. Synthetics oils obviously are recommended to be changed every 10K (for arguments sake) but yet some change it every 5K. It's merely a recommendation.....follow if you want.

 

Same for me. No loaner for scheduled work. Does anyone get a loaner for an oil change? Would like to know where that dealer is.

 

Not sure I personally can believe this. For example, lifetime transmission oils etc.

I think the accountants are running the show nowadays and with free scheduled maintenance as a sales tool, there will be questions in my mind.

 

Just break something any time you need a scheduled service.

 

Sounds like you've tried.

 

The glove box door fell off in pieces like that on its own. I swear. Rough traintracks or something.

 

Over and over and over. You are beating a dead dog.... STOP! we need no more Oil threads... PLEASE FOR THE LIFE OF ME NO MORE!!!! Forum moderators take care of this.... it just agitates us.

 

Maybe you should get your web browser checked out. On mine, I actually have to click a thread to read it. Makes it easy to avoid the ones I don't want to look at.

 

Why do you keep reading them?

 

I have decided my MINI will live long enough for my faithful period with the car whether I change the engine oil every 5K or 15K miles. So I should just save the money up for my next car.

 

The 15,000 interval has been mentioned here frequently. That is not the recommended interval. MINI goes by what the OBC says. The 15,000 number is just the starting default for the OBC. Most people have it increase. My OBC currently says 9,000 miles left to go. I have almost 9,000 on the car. So, if that is accurate of when it will actually count down, it will be 18,000 miles for me. You have to drive it in harsh conditions for oil to get it at 15,000. Harsh conditions are things like short trips, congested city driving, etc. If you do mostly highway driving, you may end up with a 20,000 mile interval. If you think that the OBC is actually monitoring the quality of the oil, I haven't seen any evidence of that. It seems that it is making a judgement based on driving patterns.

I put my faith in an actual oil analysis, rather than the self-interested recommendation of the mfg. offering free service. BMW/MINI as considerable market pressure to extend oil change intervals as long as possible. First, an oil change in the free service interval costs them $$. So, the fewer the better. Also, potential buyers find long intervals appealing and other car mfgs. are offering cars with long intervals. Porsche can offer long intervals because they hold more than twice as much oil as a MINI. Four & a half qts. is not a lot of oil. It will get diluted with gasoline, water, acids, etc. more quickly.

My oil analysis indicated that 5,000 to 8,000 miles was a good interval for me for post break-in changes. For the first break-in change (1,500 miles), I didn't get an analysis at that time. It was my second change (5,000 miles later) that was analyzed.

 

Actually, it's even worse than that, since the total miles on the car will continue to increase faster than the OBC counts down. If you've driven 9,000 miles and the counter has only decreased by 6,000 miles (from 15,000 to 9,000), then at that rate, you'll actually have accumulated 22,500 total miles before the counter gets to zero.

I don't know if the oil-interval algorithm is the same for the R56 as it is for the first-gen cars, but my second OBC-recommended interval was over 21k miles, and my current interval is shaping up to be about the same.

 

I'm not sure about MINI but BMW calculates it based on fuel usage. Which to me makes sense. if you're constantly doing city stop and go you will burn more fuel per mile. conversely if you're doing a lot of freeway constant driving you will burn less fuel per mile.

so the fuel burned takes into account "harsh" conditions. this also works for people who track their cars often. typically at the track you'll be getting single digit or very low teen MPG, ie burning more fuel, thus the oil life indicator will count down faster/show less miles before change.

 

Can you share with us the results of the analysis and which part of the analysis brings you to your conclusion. I would like to do the oil analysis but want to know what to look for. Thanks.

 

TBN was 2.7. That means there was some additive remaining. 1.0 is low.

I'll leave out metals that measured zero.

Aluminum: 6
Iron: 28
Copper: 11
Molybdenum: 159
Nickel: 2
Manganese: 5
Potassium: 3 (the MINI probably needs to eat more tomatoes)
Boron: 56
Silicon: 9 (from sand casting engine parts -- means engine still breaking in)
Sodum: 11
Calcium: 2240
Magnesium: 54
Phosphorus: 1060

"Should be" values in ()

SUS Viscosity @ 210F: 63.7 (56-64)
cSt Viscosity @ 100C: 11.26 (9.1-11.6)
Flashpoint: 400 (>365)
Fuel dilution: <0.5% (<2.0%)
Antifreeze: 0%
Water: 0% (<1.0)
Insolubles: 0.3% (<0.6%)

In reading about the results I've found opinions that vary from saying this oil could take another 6,000 miles to it should be changed now.

 

So whoever's OBC countdown goes the farthest has the best fuel efficient driving conditions/habits. Right now, my mcs has 14500 miles and obc indicates 10000 miles to go.

 

I did mine at 6,000 miles, I think somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000 depending on how and what type of driving you do, like highway/city, cruser or flat out red line
I have 10,000 now and will change it soon, before the winter sets in.

 

Robin Casady,

Thank you for the information.