I'm in a pickle.

This weekend I'm driving from Portland to Seattle to photograph a friends wedding and reception. It is essential that I have my car. How far is advisable to drive on my car when it's flashing the service light?

Yesterday, my Mini Cooper flashed that it needs to be serviced. The car has been running fine. The last oil change was about 4,000 miles ago in November of 2010. The dealership told me I would be due for another oil change in 10,000 miles, or November of 2011, whichever came first.

Now, I called the dealership right away and asked for an emergency appointment and explained the situation. They said the earliest they could get me in is next week (I took the appointment but it's still too late for my needs).

They did say that it was FINE to drive that distance in the car as long as it wasn't telling me I needed fluids of any kind (it's not). Should I believe the service tech I spoke with? What do you guys think? Driving that far with the service light on does make me a bit nervous, especially when it's not time for an oil change or routine maintenance.....

 

Check your dip stick. Add oil as needed. Then you'll be just fine.

 

I know zip about cars and haven't ever touched it even for an oil change.

The last time I got my oil changed/did general sevice, I got yelled at by the dealership for replacing my own wiper blades. Should I take my car to an oil can henrys or something? Or an Autozone to see if they can run a diagnostic...?

Honestly, little girl is clueless here :(

 

Well if it's just service... You should be fine with what I said above. And idk if I would trust most places, doubt they even have the filter. Auto zone probably doesn't even carry the filter. I know mine don't. But you might live in a big city. Thought it's been a long time since your change. It's only 4,000 miles. Just check the dip stick or have someone check it. And fill it to the appropriate level and get it changed when you come back like you have set up already.

 

Go into the info menu on your tach and figure out which service it's asking for. Then you can make a better decision on whether to drive it or not.

 

+1. You need to figure out which service the MINI thinks is due.

 

Is that something I can do from the onboard computer...?

I know I'm asking rather idiotic questions, but the last time I touched my car I basically got chewed out by the dealership saying that all maintenance handling had to be handled by them or else I would be in void of my warranty. This is a car I own, not lease BTW.

 

If you just had the oil changed 4K ago and they reset the oil life meter then oil is the not issue.

How many total miles do you have on the car?

You can look as previously stated in your onboard computer to see what it is but if you give the total miles I can probably tell you what it is.

 

Total miles is 17,200, it's been serviced twice since I picked it up in January 2009.

 

Yes. Take a look in your manual. The control is the button on the end of the turn-signal stalk. It's "press-and-hold" and just "press" type of operations.

You may want to consider a different dealership for service. This statement is beyond absurd. You are not required to have maintenance done by the dealership. They cannot void your warranty for working on your own car or having an independent service shop do so.

 

Ok, so I broke out my manual and checked the Info screen (this is neat!!!)

It brought up the picture of the exclamation mark over the bonnet, which according to my manual means my front breaks need to be serviced, and I can drive for 600 miles.....

That being said, my breaks seem just as wonderful as the day I brought the car home from the dealership. Should I just not worry about it? My breaks aren't going to magically go out after I drive 600 miles, it's not a time bomb.

Should I call the dealership back and explain this new found information?

 

There are brake senors that alert when pads get down to a certain thickness. I've known of people who were able to safely drive an additional 1000miles before servicing the brakes - it depends on your driving habits. You should be ok for a trip to Seattle from Portland. You may even consider having your brakes done in Seattle area if you have the opportunity.

 

Make an appointment though. NW Mini has tough service dates sometimes. They have another store in Seattle as well.
I'm surprised your out of brakes already. Do you track your car? My wires car has 39K on it and original brakes. Mine has 26 with original brakes and I drive pretty aggressively and mostly in town so I brake a lot.

I know I have had a brake service but it was for a brake flush not pads. Both of our cars have had brake fluid changes.

 

If it is the brakes then there is a DUAL sensor system and this is just the first sensor being tripped. Just schedule an appointment for after you get back and you should be fine.

BTW I drove over 5000 mile of city driving after the brake warning light come on. Although that is really not recommended.

This statement would make me find a different dealer ASAP as this is a totally false statement and actually under federal law illegal to void your warranty for many repairs. Even leased cars are are not required to have all maintenance done at the dealer. research it by starting with the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975.

So don't let the dealer boss you around.

 

Honestly, it surprised me as well. I don't know what tracking my car means...? Like do I take it on a race track? No, hehe My car sees very little abuse. I drive it around the city for work, and about once a month I take it on the highway to get it up to 70-80mph to get the car up to higher speeds occasionally.

I was in an accident over a year ago and the front bonnet lid and radiator had to be replaced, but it was all done with factory parts. My breaks were not touched.

My car only has 17,200 miles on it and it's only 2.5 years old, so yeah, the fact that the break light came on was a bit scary.

 

I only have experience with first generation MINIs, but I suppose it's possible to get a false reading from a bad connection at the sensor, or a bad sensor itself. The earlier cars are notorious for intermittently bad ABS sensors (among other things). I've never heard of a bad brake pad sensor, but I'd believe that, before believing that a gently used car could eat up a set of brakes in 20k. I know these cars are more service intensive than my last car, a VW. But for comparison, I got 163,000 out of the original rear brakes, and just over 100,000 out of the second set of fronts. But then again, I have 189,000 on the original clutch, so perhaps it's just me.

 

Just thought I would check in.. I drove to Bend back to Portland, tehn from Portland to Seattle all over the course of 4 days, and my car didn't blow up. My appointment is set and all seems to be well for right now

 

Awesome glad to hear! Didn't I sell you this car? I'm in service now. Be sure to look me up when you check in for service!