Drsimmons, that makes a lot of sense. The dipstick for the 2011 looks nothing like what is in the manual, either. So the tube may be slightly larger for earlier and/or later cars. It could be that Craven used a 2011 sized dipstick to get their measurements.

+1 on the too tight a fit (2009 Clubbie S) Measured the diameter of the OEm stick at .5 (1/2 inch) and the Craven Speed at .515 that may not seem like much but in the machinist world that is a bunch when you are trying for a snug fit. I could turn it down on my lathe but the spring presents a problem and I would have to drill out the mounting pin.

Will send an email to Craven to see how they want me to proceed

Yes, Auto Zone should have a siphon. Just need a long piece of tube and stick it down the dipstick tube.

Ok, went and got a siphon, and pulled out oil...

Dipstick still showing way high...

see pics..:(

1st one clean OEM,
then w/oil all over it

3rd, Craven clean,
then dipped

then Siphon setup
then after siphon on craven.

3 pics at a time..

Did you wait for a little while for your oil level to even out before dipping, after siphoning? At least twenty minutes or so? Hmmmm.

Bhavin - how much oil did you extract from the crank?
Who did the last oil change?
If the Craven is in fact reading correctly, the oil level on
the stick should not be higher than the upper bulge.
I can also see why you folks with the OEM (red ended stick) have
such a hard time reading it. My 07 isn't anywhere that hard to
read.

Wow, your oil level looks waaaaay high.

Good Lord, Man! How much extra oil was in your engine? This is the best demonstration for getting under the car and draining and re-filling the oil yourself. That way you know you got it all out, and how much you put back into it.

Bhavin, did you get a good reading off of the OEM after siphoning? Can you get any good reading at all?? It might be that you have so much oil up in the channel that it is messing up your reading. Let the oil drain back down the channel, then try it again... does that work?

Two dealers have overfilled my car, each has been well over the top of the dipstick when it comes home. Someone said that they put 5 quarts in, but it seems like the engine uses 4 1/2 or so. That is part of the frustration with MINI. How hard is it to know how much oil needs to be in there?

I didn't wait that long before checking after siphon. I will wait a while now to check again.

I extracted about an 1/8 of a gallon according to the jug i used. = approx 1/2 quart.

BMW did the last change. Since then, its been in for a few things, and most recently the tech told me that these cars burn a quart every 1k or so..i should be checking it at least 1x month...and adding.

well since my last check up...where they added to make it full. I have added 1.5 quarts at different times... been driving it .. expecting it burn off as usual.

got my craven dp in, and here i am.

did not get a good reading with OEM Dip after siphon..that oem stick is impossibile in any regard.

Im thinking the only thing i can do now is have a full drain and add fresh right?

4.5 quarts?

just doesnt add up to me..

this car burns the oil..always has since ive owned it.

Just got my Craven dipstick for my 2011, R56 Cooper S. I'm having same problem as stated above. Will not go down all the way in the black oil tube - leaves about a 3/8" gap between the top of the tube and the bottom of the handle flange. When I push it in as far as it will go it takes a lot of effort to pull it out of the tube. Sounds like a common problem. I have a call and e-mail in to Craven Customer Service. Have not heard back from them yet. Oh, and as someone noted above, the new stick is about 1/4" shorter than the stock oilstick. Probably not that big of a deal IF I can find a way to get the Craven dipstick to seat properly.

It is normal but not 100% guaranteed the mimi S can or will use
one quart per 1K miles. It's best to just check it every week.
DON'T assume it's burning a quart and just add a 1/2 or 1 quart every
so often. This is what can happen.
Drain the oil, and change the oil filter as well. It take 4.4 quarts of
oil with the filter.
It's easy to do. Also, I've seen many times where some dealerships
seem to put too much oil in which is NOT a good thing. The engine
needs room to breathe.

the difference in oil reading between craven and oem dipstick is disconcerting. how can people get 'overfill' reading on the craven and not on the oem? i plan on buying the craven but would rather trust oem even if it takes me 5 minutes to read it.

well. i took it to a local shop and they did a oil change for me.. first i had them siphon until i got a good reading..and they pulled alot out..i was probably 1.5/2 quarts over..holy cow!

well i am now back to normal, and can get good readings with my new and the oem dipstick.

You still didn't indicate how it got so much oil in it.
Was it overfilled by dealership or independent or did you inadvertently
add too much at times thinking it was low?
If the later, no biggy, we all do dumb things on occasions.
Info would possibly help others.
BTW - as mentioned before, all mini S's don't necessarily burn oil. Mine
doesn't. It's never low.

Twas me who added any oil ...I added as I thought, it was burning as usual(without being able to get accurate reading of OEM dipstick) ...well mine burns not nearly fast as I initially suspected...with new Craven DipStick I can keep a quick eye on it regularly.

I noticed my mpg decrease during the period I was driving with extra oil...

Im really glad I took action on it though.

Thanks for everyones input!

Bhavin, you'll need to change your name to MisBhavin. LOL
I love a happy ending. Good luck to ya.

Thanks to all the people who have offered to post.

Think I am going to wait a while as it seem some people have no issues with this part and others have trouble with fitment.

Mine is an 06 R56 MCS, one of the 1st 100 built so don't reall want to buy a part from the US that may have fitment issues.

Okay, a new day and a new chance to show a comparison. Since I didn't get to the dealership yesterday to drain the overfill, hubby and I put together the siphon doohickey and today we pulled some oil out. Worked well, easier than I thought! Then let the oil drain back down the channel, and took a reading with the Cravenspeed stick. It clearly shows now that the oil level is between half and full. There are two hatchmarks that don't have oil in their channels. Although there is still some oil clinging to the widened part, it didn't interfere with the reading on the gauge part.
I then took a reading with the OEM dipstick, and could see on the stick that it was at exactly the same place, if you ignore the oil smearings on the upper part of the gauge where it widens. So, the Cravenspeed dipstick and the OEM dipstick are showing identical readings. It's just easier to read the Cravenspeed, and to use it. It goes into the channel without forcing, and is far easier to see where the oil is clinging. I apologize that my oil is so clean that the photo doesn't pick it up well, but that's the way it goes. :-) You can see it far better in person! I edited to add the arrows on the photo, where the oil level is now.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-23yakQKkoK...s1600/dips.JPG

It was half a quart too full. It could use a fraction of a quart back in but I'm not going to worry about it. We used an old empty oil bottle for the overflow, so you can see how much over it was:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wzphDUaOS1...1600/quart.JPG

JoanieB:

Nice photos and explanation.

I'd just like to add a word of warning to those of us whose Craven dip sticks do not seat properly. We can't use them because they they are not reaching down to the correct level -we'll be over-filling.

If you have a Craven dip stick that does not seat properly, i.e. as I've illustrated, don't use it. I'm waiting to hear from Craven about a replacement.

Joanie - excellent examples and pics. Actually, the main shaft of the Craven looks like the shaft on my 07's stick. I ordered one and now I'm
wondering if I really need it. I can clearly see the issue with the oem red
tipped stick.

Agree with Michael also, if you have a Craven that doesn't fit correctly
(flush with the dip stick tube) don't use it.

The fitment issue must be more to the 2nd gen's since no one has rang
in with a problem with the 1st gen's.

This has been a very helpful and educational thread.

I've heard back from Kellen, at Craven. He's been looking into this problem, and has seen it first hand. He found that some of the red knobs had been re-coated for a better finish, but that these had built up the outer diameter to be too wide. Hence, they did not go all the way into the black tube as they should. Drsimmons was right about the diameter problem.
Kellen is an honest guy, and he's replacing my thick diameter dip stick. It sounds to me as though he's on top of the problem that exists with only a few customers.