I'm with Danny on that. As he's finding out. Its cheaper to change your oil (for peace of mind) than to change your engine. Of course. make sure that whoever changes your oil tightens the plug.

BTW, yes, DiamondRacing.com is where the seat covers came from. Nifty match on the EB, no?

Luis

 

I take my car to the track, I autocross, and I also take it to drag racing every once in a while. To put it one way the car car gets driven hard often. I mainly do it for peace of mind. I have 27,000 miles on the car already, and the car and the engine were in great condtion. This last time I didn't have time to do the oilchange myself, so I left it at the dealership. At first I was doing the oilservice according MINI every 15000 miles, but I noticed the car was low on oil when time came to. So I decided chage every 3,500 miles.
All for my peace of mind.


Danny

 

Danny, that's a pretty unfortunate screw up. If you can't persue the dealer to take responsability for the engine damage, then seek legal advice. $6K for a new engine on a 2 year old car is no picnic.

 

After speaking with my Motoring Advisor it looks like the car will be covered under warranty. The only thing is, i'm going to have to what ever I can off that enginr to put on the new one. Luck me the only damage that occured, occured to the block. Thanks again Frank.



Danny

 

Seems to me that if your enigine siezed from zero oil there will be more than just a block that will be damaged. Best of luck to you.

 

Well I won't know till later. That is jut the way it looks now. Whatever can be salvaged will be.
Such as:
Intercooler
Intercooler air ducts
Supercharger
Fuel Injectors
Intake Manifold
Throttle Body
CAI
Cam
My Custom Cam gears
Then is possible the cylinder head





Danny

 

If the same dealer is putting the new engine I'd check
everything before I drove off. Motor mounts, etc.
Sounds like they should start drug testing!

 

I'm going to have to. Actually I got my trusted mechanic there to do all the work. I told him if he switched out all the parts I would take care of him. Simply because he can't send back the engine in that condition"with all those aftermarket parts".


Danny

 

answer to why bmw and mini have there oil changed at 15k is that these engines that bmw designs, dont need that much oil to be lubed, yes they burn oil but what motor doesnt, even e46 M3 get there oil changed at 15k, syntetic oil (i dont know i spelled that right) is a lighter oil and more pure then regular $1.50 oil, and it also lubes the motor better, more designed for performance engines.

danny that sucks about your motor, i didnt know you had a aftermarket charger on there, kind of wierd only producing 215whp, but glad to see that the dealership is somewhat helping you out, shat happens, i work at bmw and sometimes things like a drain plug not tighened right is one of them, happened to me on a e46 m3 that i did a oil pan gasket and did torque the drain plug to a "perfect" 13 ft-lbs and rattled out a block away from the dealership, luckily the oil pan has twin style baffels, and the oil came out in my bay on the shop floor and didnt harm the motor. later man, good luck

chris

your not selling the aftermarket parts off your motor are you???? if so i want that CAM.

 

The supecharger was from the factory but I had it reworked, and of course the 19% pulley. Since its being done under warranty my engine has to go back, so they can't send it wit all the mods I had on it. Luckily the damage was only to the oil pan, rod and block. So everything else will be transfered to the new engine, lets say even swap. I will let you guys know how everything pans out.



Danny

 

Back when we used leaded gas, I would have to put a new mufler on a car every 20,000 miles or so. Now, with unleaded gas and stainless steel exhaust systems, I've given away cars with 110,000 miles on them and the original muffler! Spark plugs were a 10,000 mile item. And don't get me started on points. Ah, points..........

 

I change mine every 5000 miles. At about $30 for the oil and filter, I like to think of it as cheap insurance.

 

. . . as long as you get the drain plug screwed back tight

Mike

 

Someone on here awhile back posted that they had their oil tested by an independent place that does this. I can't remember how many miles were on their oil, but it think it was at least 10,000 miles. The report showed the status of the oil, i.e., cleanliness and effectiveness, etc. The report showed that the oil either started getting dirty or breaking down long before 10,000 miles and even at 7500 miles probably needed changing. I'm going to play it safe and change mine every 5,000 miles, as it's easy to keep up with the mileage that way. But I personally don't think changing your oil at 15,000 miles using synthetic oil will make a huge difference in how long the engine lasts. They make engines so well these days and they last a long time. If I drove my car more, I'd probably change it every 10,000 miles, but I only put 6,000 miles on it last year. :smile:

 

I change my oil based on the onboard computer intervals and the recommended factory schedule. So far no problems.

If you are gonna change synthetic oil every 5K miles, then what's the point in having it in the first place? If you are adamant about oil changes, then switch to Dino oil and save the money, really.

I think there is too much "old school" thinking and some owners seem not to trust and be highly skiptical about the benefits of the synthetic oil technology.

If you want to spend $$$ more than you really should changing synthetic every few thounsand miles, hey be my guest, but as far as I am concerned that is a blatant waste of time and money.

If you think that synthetic can't hold past 10K miles, then spend the $25 or so bucks for an independent oil analysis test. You'll be surprised.

 

Please post a link to the "report" showing that synthetic oil brakes down long before 10K miles. So far I have not seen any evidence supporting that theory.

 

With the synthetics, I have extended my oil changes from 3000 miles out to 5000 miles on the last 2 changes, and I may go to 7500 miles the next time. Basically, I'm halving the OBC's indicated interval. For me, it's not an issue of the oil breaking down that makes me want to do the oil changes sooner, but rather the contaminants that it picks up over time. Given the stability of synthetic lubricants, the primary determining factor for oil change interval is contaminant load, and the condition of the additive package the oil contains, rather than the condition of the oil itself.

Although EFI has reduced the amount of combustion by-product that reaches the oil vs. carburetion, unburned hydrocarbons, acids, soot, etc. still form as the engine operates. These by-products are picked up by the oil as it circulates through the engine, and they accumulate at the same rate no matter what type of oil is in the sump. Given how rich the MINI likes to run during exuberant driving, I would expect that our cars produce a good bit of that material. The only way to get it out is to drain it with the oil.

Since it's doubtful that the processes that lead to oil contaminant formation have diminished by a factor of 5 over the last 15 years, I'm reluctant to accept that the change interval should have jumped by that margin, without seeing the lab data for oil drawn from my car to back it up. Given that the cost of oil sample lab analysis is about what I'd pay to do 2-3 oil changes myself (Red Line), for now I'll spend the money on the oil rather than on the report.

Conversely, there are a lot of quick-lube shops out there making lots of money off the 3000 mile dogma. It's in their interest to spread FUD to keep the sheep bleating the mantra and returning for frequent shearing.

Just my .02. :smile:

(edited for spelling 9:19PM EST)

 

Jazmini,


All the reports I have seen (between MINI2 and here it has been at least half a dozen). Have said that the oil was actually in good shape after 10k and was still providing good engine lubrication and protection. Now I'm sure it was not as good as brabd new but there was really nothing much negative in the report.

 

I should have my car back in a couple days. Finally, I really was missing not being able to enjoy the car. Thank you for all the support guys.


Danny

 

There are similar documents/web pages, but this one is the grand-daddy:

http://www.motoroilbible.com/

Its a huge pdf file, and the site asks for registration on their motor oil forums, but its worth the read. Explains why 15,000 synthetic oil changes are not harmful. And what driving conditions dictate why one should change sooner or later.

 

Hi everyone,

I did a search on: Oil Test Lab. I found this:
Second oil change: Analysis Results by boognish on 9-12-2004

This was the thread I had seen before, but I was wrong about the mileage at the test (his oil was not tested at over 10,000 miles but close to it). The thread said that he had his oil tested by Blackstone Labs for analysis at his first oil change at 8,932 miles, and got a good report. For the second oil change at 7,721 miles (total car miles was 16,653), the lab reported that the wear was only slightly higher than universal averages, which are based on an average oil use of 4,000 miles........we would recommend changing out this oil to keep wear levels low.....try running 8,500 miles for your next sample.

So, results are mixed, actually, if you think about it. Oil change at 8,932 miles was reasonably good. Then at 7,721 was still reasonably ok, but should be changed just to be safe. Then, the lab recommended going until 8,500 to be checked again. I'm a little confused, or at least just don't know exactly when the best time is to change the oil. Looks like a 7,500 mile interval may be ok. I don't think I want to go over 10,000 miles, though.

I don't know exactly what all this means, though, and each of us will need to determine the oil change interval that works for them. :smile:

 

CooperSdriver,

Hope your car is back by now and it all worked out ok. :smile:

 

If they only replaced your short block you could be in trouble. The top end of the motor (cam, valve train, etc) all need a good supply of oil. Even a few seconds of oil starvation can be catastrophic to these components. If it's not too late your head needs to be disassembled and inspected or replaced all together. Personally I would not accept just a new bottom end. Hope it works out. Sounds like you are very lucky to have a dealer cover it with your mods.

 

The question is Why not??? Why not play it safe . I do the same thing im not trusting any oil that long!!