The title says it all. I bought my mini about 2 months ago. Checked the oil last month and it seemed fine. Checked it again today and the dipstick was dry after wiping it off and putting it in a second time. Put a quart in and it got about an 8th inch up the dipstick within the perforated measuring part, not from the end up. So I'm thinkin I was about a quart or 3/4 low. I didn't hear any odd noises, motor ran just as quiet, all seemed fine.

The only odd thing I noticed was it didn't seem to pull as hard and the supercharger seemed a little less powerful, but that was only within maybe the last day or two and it's been like that before. Kinda like an off day, I thought just because of the weather. And I probably wasn't in the right gear. No odd sounds from the charger either, sounded and ran just fine.

My question is, did I do any damage to the motor? I know my jeep can run pretty low and be perfectly fine, the thing had 240k before I went in to do the rear main seal and checked the bearings, not even a scratch. Just one single shallow wear line, perfectly normal.

I'm just worried I made my $9k mini into a ticking time bomb after some more miles rack up. What are your opinions? And yes, I know I'm an idiot for letting it run low, but I thought it was a little less maintenance than the old jeep. A new quart of oil every week and a half to offset the oil leak in that thing, hahaha.

 

Should be fine...
Motor holds about 5 quarts...one shown full to add on dipstick...
So you ran it with about 3....
So in general, no oil psi light, no issue.....
Might be good to change the oil sooner....the oil that was left likely ran a bit warm....
Time to check the oil pan and crank position sensor oring....
And check it more often.... Especially till you know your car more.
The sc has its own oil supply....and is BELT driven, unlike a turbo....so you could run the motor till it blows...then take the sc off...and use it on a different car...no dammage.

 

Thanks man! Yeah, I'll probably do a change within the month just to make sure everything is fine. It's just so expensive because of running synthetic in it. Do I ever need to change the oil supply to the SC? I'm new to these fancy things. No psi light came on and it had no symptoms of low oil. Not even running abnormally hot either. Should've really checked it sooner, idk why I didn't. I'm not one to neglect my cars. Do everything myself and learn on my own (well, with my dad too).

 

I had the unfortunate experience as well. However, mine was 3L low (my R53 holds 4L).

The engine consumed 3L in 3000Kms (and Mini Canada say that's within spec). It was just after I bought the car, and had no idea anything could consume oil at that rate without some signs (Yes, I have since learned to check the oil every week - bad of me to have owned decent engines before I guess)

For the record, my Oil PSI light never came on until the engine entered the limp mode, but by that point the bearings were toast. It turned out that the pressure sensor was seized.

My best recommendation is to NOT change the oil until you can get a couple of oil test kits from Blackstone (but do that immediately) or keep a significant amount of the oil you take out (according to Blackstone's method) so you can send the sample when the kit arrives. Document the quantity of oil that you've added since finding it low and send them the sample. They'll be able to tell if there is metal particulate in the oil. As soon as you get the sample change that oil and do another sample at 5000Kms (or whatever miiles). If you can manage to get 3 tests done (over time) from this point you should have a good idea if the engine was damaged.

My idiot tax ended up costing me well over $5000 and it will be about 2 years of headaches after it is all resolved (although I did upgrade to a new JCW crate engine along the process). I have also learned how to remove an engine in an R53, and I now have a spare W11 in the garage for sale. I am now confident that I can fix anything on this car and I plan on keeping it well into the future.

Speaking from experience; if, in the end, the bearings are toast - if you want to keep the car, buy a new reman engine from one of the vendors (unless you're in Canada - then you may be screwed like I was) it will be a better solution than having it rebuilt. Even if it may seem cheaper to have it rebuilt yourself, you'll never know until you have to change the entire internals - price out a crank, conrods, etc and you'll quickly end up with over $4000 in parts. A quality rebuild may cost $4000 in labour and basic internal parts alone (finding a quality rebuilder may also be a challenge)

 

I would suggest you change the oil & filter now, not in a month. Might as well get any metal out of the engine if there is any now. It's only about $40 to change the oil yourself. Also get in the habit of checking your oil more frequently. If I had to guess I'd say your MINI probably survived this, not sure how many times one can survive being that low on oil.

Good luck.

 

I'm gonna order the filter and canister socket so I can even get the thing out. Then I also have to order a new canister since the nut on top has a chunk missing (something I realized after I bought it). And instead of going through the headache of getting the oil tested, I'll just do it the old fashioned way and stick the oil pan in direct sunlight and look for anything shiny. It's much easier and I'm poor. Any abnormal bits of metal will be easily seen. Like I said before, it ran just as quiet as usual and had no problems. I put a quart in and it registered on the dipstick like I described, put less than half a quart in today and it was full. So my best guess is it was just a half quart under the minimum mark. In my experience, if the valves aren't chattering and the lifters are quiet, it didn't sustain any damage. I'll keep my eyes on it and see how things go. Gotta save up a good $60 for the oil change. Synthetic around me isn't cheap, and I need to order the tool and such.