For the 'low-mileage' owners (I'm less than 4k a year) you will notice that there is also a date shown on that countdown window.

Mine has displayed "3/2010" (mfgr. date was 3/18/2008) since new.

I take this to mean that I will receive a Full Free Service on or after March 2010, regardless of miles driven.

Since they will no doubt reset the counter at that point (to 3/2012), it will be the only Full Free Service for me as my 36 month window of service will have expired by May 2011.

 

Thanks for all the replies, but my question isn't about the service. It's about the counter. When I bought the car the counter said 15,000 miles. I drove 8,200 miles The counter still said 15,000 miles. I took the car in for an annual oil change. When I left the dealer the counter said 9,000 miles. I've driven about 300 miles since then. The counter still says 9,000 miles.

When does the counter change (not reset up, but count down)? Do I have to take the car to the dealer and they manually move the counter to a lower number? Or should the counter display a lower number as I put miles on?

 

Post number 2 states that the counter adjusts, and it doesn't adjust in your favor. It adjusts based on the "conditions" of your driving. So 1 miles does not equal 1 mile. When I bought my car it said 15k until next service, so far I drove 92xx miles, my counter says I have 10k to go.

I doubt anyone here actually knows the real formula of how it calculates stuff.

 

My MINI's Service Counter is showing "mls 10000 ~ 03/2010" and my odometer is 4876 at the moment.

It appears that it updates, rounded to the nearest thousand miles it thinks you should go.

I can recall it started at "mls 15000 ~ 03/2010" so the 'date due' never changed.

This would be for what it considers 'Severe Service' and if you did a lot of long highway miles,
the "Miles-To-Go" for service would (correctly) increase as you drove.

 

If you drive 9K miles and the counter doesn't change, something is wrong. It may not have counted down exactly 9K miles, but it should count down a significant amount (e.g., 15K to 10K).

- Mark

 

My guess is that U.S.A. Ranger's MINI does not consider him 'severe' and has him up to an 18 or 24000 mile service interval.

Your MINI Dealer does not reset the counter for an annual oil change.

You still get to go in when your counter (or date) runs out for a Full Service (includes much more than just an oil/filter change).
You would miss that, if the counter was reset, he should have entered the 'LOF' in the Maintenance Booklet.

(after you have driven another 500 miles or so, it should show '8000')

 

Again, thanks for all the replies.

I'll drive it another thousand or so miles and see if the counter changes (maybe 1000 mile increments like Pilotart said).

 

Yes, the counter changes in 1,000 mile increments until it gets down to somewhere in the 1k - 1.5k range. Then it will switch over to 100 mile increments. iirc, below 100 it switches to 10 mile increments.

 

1 year or 15,000 miles, whichever comes first.

 

The counter is also counting multiple things, Oil, Inspection, Front brakes, rear brake and brake flush (by time not miles). You can ask it for the values of the individual counters using the menus in the tach. It could have been that they reset one of the counters and the next interval is now 9000 miles.

The counters count down in 1000 mile increments, until they get to 5000 mile sand then they go 100 miles at a time. Its quite easy for a counter to count up if you drive very gently, so somewhere in the middle its possible for the counter to stay steady even though you're putting miles on the car. This is "Condition based service" as explained in the manual. The harder you push the car the quicker it counts.

 

Do the front and rear brake service indicators mean just a "check the brakes" or does it mean change the brakes? I am just curious because how my car seems to be set, the rear brakes are just outside the 3year/36000 mile included maintenance period. Any thoughts on this?

 

I have a Gen1 and it has a single brake wear indicator lamp in the speedo. This is triggered when either the front or rear brake pads have worn beyond safe limits (there is a sensor on the left front and right rear pad). If the sensor is tripped, you need new pads on one axle and/or the other, but they'd need to be checked to know which. You'll also need a new sensor - once tripped, it needs to be replaced. If you have two separate lights, then perhaps the Gen2 cars separated the indicators.

- Mark

 

double post fail...

 

No it's not. It's 1 year or whenever on board computer says so, which can be 15, 20k miles or anything in between.

 

It means change the brake pads, and check the rotors and change them if necessary. My dealer changed the pads even though the computer said there was 4000 miles to go, at that point the dealer's computer said the brake service was recommended.

 

In the US they cover the maintenance costs, so I could see them waiting a year (or more) before changing the oil, etc. since they are footing the bill.

But in Canada you pay for *ALL* the maintenance costs on your MINI.

Does anyone know what comes up (and at what time / mileage) during the first three years of ownership in Canada and the US? I'd be interesting if the computer found that more maintenance was necessary when the customer was paying.

I expect an oil change in there, obviously, but what about the air filter, brake pads, brake fluid flush, coolant flush? Say you just drive 12 K miles a year or so.

 

Hi,

I'm up to about 7500 miles now in my 09 MCS, and wondering if it really doesn't need an oil change until 15000. I'm used to taking good care of my engines, and it just seems like I'm neglecting Mini...should I just relax and get over it? Just doesn't feel like the bonding process is complete until I do something under the hood

 

I can't see rewarding a high-performance engine with over 100 hp/l with extended oil change intervals. That is especially true if you're taking advantage of the car' potential.
I'm changing oil every 5k and I'll let the dealer do the 15k oil change when I get there. Oil does too much work in a modern engine like ours, and extended oil intervals are a marketing based issue.

Just my $.02,

 

IMO, yes. Especially the first oil change. I changed mine at about 1,600 and then again about 5,000 miles later. Had an oil analysis done to see what a good interval would be for my driving. Seems that I can go about 8,000 miles between changes.

Someone else posted here awhile ago with an oil change done at a longer interval. I think it was 12,500 (first oil change) and the analysis indicated that there was so much metal in the oil that it had become abrasive.

15,000 miles for the first oil change is insane, IMO.

 

I sort of split the difference.......I did the first one pretty early - at about 3K because we were heading out on a long trip. I thought the oil felt abrasive then too. I did the next one at 10K and the oil felt fine, still looked clean etc. I'll let the dealer do it at 15 and I'll do it at 7500 mile intervals after that, or twice a year......

We've had many discussions over the years about the extended oil change intervals and I think the consensus is that every 3k is overkill, but twice a year or every 7,500 can't hurt, especially if you use synthetic (on the turbo cars - I think regular dino on the non-turbo's is fine) However, to me that's based on a good mix of driving circumstance, with plenty of long trips mixed in to make sure the oil gets thoroghly warmed up and the moisture burned off. If all I did was short hop city driving, I'd probably go down to every 5k.

Just my opinion, YMMV.....

 

Yeah... I do it every 7500 miles, I don't want sludge in my engine

 

don't trust them damn engineers that designed this thang

change your oil every 1000 miles OR SOONER

I checked mine ... that's when it changed color



I ran my 02 for nearly 100,000 miles changing when the computer said to .... never used any oil and MPG never changed....no leaks . . .

Did it blow up 3 weeks after I sold it?????

If you do a little research on the web you can find a quote from the CEO of Jiffy Lube's mother company speaking at an industry conference where he states that extended life oils are the greatest threat to their industry - oil changers . . .

Can U hurt your car changing the oil way more then required? NO

Can you waste money and add waste oil to the environmental problem? Yes

 

GROSS overkill.

Just because your oil "changed color" at 1k miles doesn't mean it needs to be changed. Combustion byproducts cause that gradual darkening.

5k miles is PLENTY often, if you're using a quality synthetic oil, of the API service requirement mandated by MINI... though changing the initial factory fill at 1k or thereabouts is also a good idea, due to the initial break-in metals that inevitably are present in a new motor.

 

Better safe than sorry on my 27,000 dollar toy.

 

Uhh, dude. He was being sarcastic. Re-read his post. And I'm with him. Changing oil as often as some of you guys do is also overkill.