Hi Everyone,

So I decided to change the oil in my 2006 Cooper S on Friday and ran into a problem. I drained all of my oil first then went to go take the filter off and it is just not happening. I put a pipe over my wrench and pushed as hard as I could and the thing just wouldn't budge. I don't know what the problem is but I've decided I'd rather just take the car to the dealership and have them change the filter.

Here's my question though, I have a 15 mile drive to the dealer. Should I just put the new oil in and drive it down there to put the filter on or should I leave the oil out and have it towed? According to the Mini service guy the towing is possible it will just be very inconvenient for all parties because they will have to "drag" my car onto a flatbed. He said that driving the new oil 15 miles with an old filter isn't a big deal and is equivalent to a 99% perfect oil change as opposed to 100%.

What would you do?

 

Put new oil in and drive it!
Philip

 

+1
Much easier and no harm.

 

Thank you both, that seems to be the general consensus with all of my friends I've asked too. I think that's what I'll do.

 

I agree with putting new oil and driving. Putting it on a flatbed is not the best thing to do to a Mini because they connect the hold-down straps to the front suspension which tends to crush the lower control arm bushings that are already a problem item on the Mini.

How many miles since your last oil change and who did the oil change. If at the same dealer, I would ask for a free oil change beacuse the filter was installed too tight.

 

Thanks, quikmni. I'm actually the second owner of the car so I have no idea who did the last oil change. I have some of the paperwork that came with it but I don't know if that info will be in there. When I go in I'll have them check and see if I can't talk them into doing the labor for free. At the very least I'll make sure they don't ask He-Man to install the new filter. I've never heard of an oil filter being so difficult to take off but this was ridiculous. Thanks for your input.

 

It's unfortunate that you have run into this problem. Some oil change businesses hire people with little or no experience. Meaning there is no concept that an oil filter doesn't need to be as tight as a lug nut. "What's my experience? I changed a flat tire once."

This is not to condemn all oil changers. I don't mean to paint them all with the same brush.

Previous recommendations to add the fresh oil for the trip to the dealer are on the mark!

 

Hopefully, the cap wasn't cross-threaded onto the housing which would have buggered up the threads, which would make the cap very difficult to get off.

Unfortunately, the cap is easy to cross thread if the installer is unfamiliar and impatient.

 

This falls under the 'make sure you can open the fill plug before you open the drain plug' banner. Hopefully they got you taken care of.