Just had my first oil change in the MCS at 10,700. The dealer reset my oil service milage countdown to 15,500 miles. Can this be for real? Anyone else seen this? What has anyone else had thiers reset to? Telemarkjim
"This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been atributable to human error" HAL

 

Hello,

Your dealer is correct. The first service is around 10K miles and then once every 15K after that. Isn't that great??? Less time to spend at the dealer :smile:

 

>> Less time to spend at the dealer :smile:

Or is it less time they have to spend on you.... <insert tense music>

 

>>>> Less time to spend at the dealer :smile:
>>
>>Or is it less time they have to spend on you.... <insert tense music>

 

True, 10k and then again at 15k intervals; seems like MINI's scheduled maintenance for the first 36k ain't much more than an oil change or two. Here's what I do. Change my own oil and filter every 4k or so miles, rotate my own tires every 5k miles. The oil changes might only make me feel better, especially if MINI is right about not needing to change so frequently. The tire rotations are essential for decent tread life.
Maybe I'm being a wee bit obsessive, but hey, its a MINI we're talkin' about.

 

>>Like this?
>>
>>**DUM DUM DUUUUUUM**


That is too funny!!!

Actually, I do plan on following the 15K mile oil changes myself.

 

Yeah....you would!



And I bet you can get a deal on filters!

 

>>True, 10k and then again at 15k intervals; seems like MINI's scheduled maintenance for the first 36k ain't much more than an oil change or two. Here's what I do. Change my own oil and filter every 4k or so miles, rotate my own tires every 5k miles. The oil changes might only make me feel better, especially if MINI is right about not needing to change so frequently. The tire rotations are essential for decent tread life.
>>Maybe I'm being a wee bit obsessive, but hey, its a MINI we're talkin' about.
____________________-
You're probably doing both too frequently. There's been a lot of discussion on synthetic oil and oil changes (Hey Amsoil man, where are you?). The consensus is to change oil in between scheduled servicing, i.e., every 7,500 miles or so. Seems reasonable.

For the average driver, and I emphasize, average driver, a once-a-year tire rotation or at 10k mile interval (whichever comes first) is adequate.

 

Seriously, why not get down and dirty and change your own oil more frequently Christina? It's fun! And I bet you can get a deal on filters!
___________________
By deal you mean anything less than $7.50 ? Hey brother, how about cutting me in on the deal.

 

hmmm...

1. I was told--at time of delivery and then later on the phone after specifically asking--that the service intervals were 10k miles. a 10k oil change really doesn't bug me, but 15k just seems like too much. And when I showed up at the service dept. for my "20k service" (apparently fictitious) the nimrods actually performed the 30k service without telling me and without doing anything useful like checking washer fluid/tire pressure. Nobody blinked about my showing up 10k early. I can't wait til the service warranty is up so that I never have to show up for maintenance at the bloody dealership ever again!!!

2. Also heard that tire rotation was a bad idea due to differing camber settings?

 

My first one was at about 12k mi. Now I'm at 23.7k, and still have 6k to go to the next one. Fine by me.
:smile:
M.

 

Hmmm...this sounds weird to me. At the very least, you should be able to rotate tires front to rear. If you do this regularly (every 1-2K), then the difference in camber between front and rear that could cause premature tire degradation will be pretty inconsequential. For this reason, I would think that any differences in camber from front to rear should actually encourage you to rotate!

 

10K and 15K oil changes will probably get
you past the warranty period without any problems.

 

When I get my MCS in Jan I plan on a change @ 3,000mi (to clear any flakes from breakin), the 10,000mi. After that, I'll probably do 17,500, then 25,000 (dealer), about every 7,500mi thereafter. About 40% "city" driving, the remainder highway or fairly free flowing (>10mi trips, little stop/go).

Benchmark, tho not the same. My 02 Corvette has a built in computer with % remaining to a change. I usually change it at around 10% remaining, which amounts to about 7,000mi between changes usually. OEM oil is Mobil 1.

Tire rotates around every 7,500mi also planned.

caio,

-Matt

 

<<<Hmmm...this sounds weird to me. At the very least, you should be able to rotate tires front to rear. If you do this regularly (every 1-2K), then the difference in camber between front and rear that could cause premature tire degradation will be pretty inconsequential. For this reason, I would think that any differences in camber from front to rear should actually encourage you to rotate>>>

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh..... m'k, thanks Chi!

 

For those interested in a discount on filters try Classic MINI in Ohio.

 

Yeah this pisses me off! So they say 3 yrs/36k miles but really it's only 25k miles (and one year!) in my case, right? I had my 26k mile service a month ago. Now I'm at 29k miles. I don't have to return until 43k miles (according to the computer). So how is this free maintenance for 36k miles? What's going to happen in the next 7k miles? Does this mean in case my wiper blades wear out or my brakes in the next few months they'll do it for free? Or does it mean nothing?

 

OK, here's my stats so far.

13,300 first oil change
indicator reset now says 15,000 miles until next service
Have 21,335 miles now on the car total (8,035 since it was reset). It'd leave one to believe that there should be 6965 miles left until the next service, right? Nope, it currently says 9675 left to go. So After driving 8k miles is only decreased it by 5.3k. If this holds true, then my 2nd oil change and 1st service won't even be covered by the 36000 miles of free service!!!

 

Seriously! I can't imagine a car making it to 100k miles without significant engine wear (or destruction) without more regular oil changes. I would think 7,500 miles would be the max, even with synthetic oil. And this of course is considering top of the line synthetics...NOT Castrol synthetic!

 

I'm at 26K (actually 25999 ), my gauge says 1700 miles to go. I hope they change the air filter this time, its really dirty.

 

I think that the 10000mile then 15000mile intervals suck. I think the first oil change should be much sooner. I'd probably buy 10000 mile interval after the first oil change but 15000 sounds a bit excessive. I know someone who works for BMW in the parts department and he says he's seen engines that follow BMWs recommended maintenance with their oil and he'd recommend changing it more often. Sure it will get you through the warantee but after that do you think BMW still wants you driving it? Or do you think they want you to go buy a new car?

With most synthetics, personally, I'd gor for an oil change around 7000-10000 miles. I know a bunch of Amsoil fans go longer and if I ever started using it I might go 10000-15000 miles on that but not on the MINI/BMW oil. If you wanted to keep the free service, I'd change your oil and filter halfway through the interval as well.

goin440: get yourself a K&N or other "rechargeable" air filter. It's a straight dropin replacement and you never need to replace it, just shake it out and recharge it every once in a while. It's so easy to change and it's something I've done in all of my vehicles. (Although in my MCS I put the typhoon intake in along with the filter but you can just get a panel filter to replace the stock filter)
-Chris

 

I got something better I'm working on.