I hit 5000 this past week, so today I changed my oil on my MCS. I had downloaded some instructions from one of the boards (sorry, don't remmeber which one..doh!)...anyway....

Things I learned:

1. I was very suprised to find out that the drain plug was a 1/2". I thought for certain it would be a 10, 12 or 14 mm. Nope. It's a 1/2". I tried an 11, too tight, a 12, too loose. A 1/2" fit perfect.
2. I'm glad I got a Mini brand filter. I got a couple while at the dealer picking up my Mini, and I compared it with a Puralator at Pep Boys - and the Mini brand filter is made slightly different. I'm sure the other one would "fit" but I'm not sure I would have wanted to use. Lesson learned - stick with the Mini brand to be safe. And it's the same price too...so really there is no reason to not use the Mini brand part.
3. I packed about a dozen rags around the filter to cath any spills when it's removed. That worked really well, as a couple of the rags caught all the oil keeping the surrounding components nice and clean.
4. Getting the filter canister installed again is a pain. I fuddled with it for about 5 minutes and then pulled it back out to make sure I wasn't hurting anything. I was going very slow and cautious to be sure not to mess anything up. That's when I discovered that there was a little green dot of paint on one side of the canister that lined up with where the threading started. I felt around with my finger and found that the threading on the mount point started at the top. So I put it back in with the green dot lined up with the top of the mounting spot, and voila! it screwed right on. I'm not sure if that was the purpose of the green dot, or coincidence, but it worked.

Now I'll just wait for another 6200 miles to go by, then I can take the Mini to the dealer. My onboard computer says my next oil change isn't due for another 6,200 miles... (I did NOT reset the counter!)

 

For a few good tips on changing your oil without any spills see https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=52853 posts #7@#8. Hope that helps.

 

I just did the second Mini this afternoon, and found blue dots instead of green, but the same thing worked - blue dot up, and it turned on and aligned the threads right.

Oh, and I tried the trick from the other post about leaving the drain plug open to suck the oil down from the canister - that worked pretty well, less oil on the rags, but still some spillage (about a teaspoon on the rag, so better than the 1/4 on the first Mini).