My mini has 1320 miles..i checked the oil its dark brown...
Is this how it is?


anyone have advice??

 

I would change oil when its black

 

You can't tell anything by the color of the oil, this is a myth.....

You can follow the manufacturers recommendation or change it early, your choice. Color means nothing though and if you are really concerned about it, then pull a sample and send it in for analysis.

 

I'd change it @ 1500mi., get the Factory Oil out of there and then set a good LOF interval for yourself!! Molly's oil has been changed every 6mo. since new!!

 

yeah I would get it out at around 3K miles, then get some good synthetic in there and change every 3-5K. 6 months seems like wayyy too long to me, unless you barely drive it. I know MINI recommends every 15K, but that just makes me cringe.

 

This x1000! Color says nothing. You have to send a sample to be tested to accurately know when you oil is bad. (http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ for example. I think it's like $25 to have your oil tested.)

Plus, the oil filter is more likely to be bad before the oil. I believe oil can last 10-15k...but not any filter that I've encountered. So I change my oil around every 7-8k (because I do 95% speed-limit-obeying highway driving, so not much wear and tear on the car.) In the summer, when I'm likely to do some more "spirited" driving, I'll likely change every 5k. I go 27k miles a year, so I change my oil based on mileage, not time.

When my 2012 comes in, my first oil change will be at 1500 miles to get any 'new engine funk' out of there, then every 5k-8k after that.

 

Molly used to be a Garage Queen, now she is driven more often, approx. 200mi. per week M-F and rarely on the Weekends, but now that I've been elected PDX MINI Club President 2012 I know the mileage will be ticking up. I still feel comfortable with the 6mo. intervals for her, she's a Justa and not likely to need LOF sooner than 6mo. I'll see if my MA sees a need for changes sooner, I doubt it though.

 

Thank you all for your help!!

 

Sounds like you have a new car. Congratulations. If you want you can change your oil before the car tells you to. It has a CBS "condition based system" that that will tell you when to change the oil based on such things as speed, temperature, length of trips, engine temp and ambient temp et. Your owners manual and other documentation that came with the car will explain this. I would read ALL of the documentation that came with the car, cover to cover.

I would use Mini oil or equivalent oil as this is a pure synthetic high mileage oil. But many people do not feel comfortable going the distances that the CBS system may let you go. Some owners say they go as far as 15K miles. You must change the oil at least once per year.

But I, like others on this forum prefer to change the oil more often. I changed the oil in all 3 of the Mini's that I have owned at 2K miles and then every 6 months or 7 or 8 thousand miles. It really depends on your type of driving and how many miles you drive in a year. if you only drive 10 K miles you really could change it once per year and be ok. If you drive 25 K miles per year then you would want to change it 3 times per year.

Personally I have not seen an oil related failure, unless the oil runs out, on these cars and virtually no car since the advent of the superior oils used nowadays. Lack of oil is the killer.

I agree with others that you cannot go by the color of the oil. The color of the oil really does not mean much. Use mileage and time to be the indicator of when it's time to change the oil.

Pat

many people use the CBS only to determine when to change the oil and they have no problems. I used the same method on my high Horse power GTO and have never had a problem and it has 113K miles on it. No turbo thought but NA. But still 113K of hard miles with 400 HP.

It's really up to you and your comfort level. If you don't change the oil yourself the cost can be high at a Mini dealer. My dealer charges $77.00 but i have heard of some as high as $120.00.