There is no way that the obs indicator on the MINI is anything other than a guestimator using estimations and numbers to determine when you should change your oil. It is simply a counter.

And anyone that actually follows it to change their oil is a fool, plain and simple.

Why would you believe in such a hokey thing is beyond me.. I mean, I THINK that most of us are fairly well off, educated people, as the MINI isn't usually driven by stupid people..

Sorry but I had to say this, its amazing, astonishing and astounding that you would fall for BMW's line of BS.. and isn't it amazing that they will pay for all the scheduled maintenance.. when it just so happens the OBS calls for usually only 2 in that time frame.

And you use a MINI to test whether a synthetic oil can go the distance.. Gee, you must not have had to work very hard for that nice car of yours in that you use it as a guinea pig.. Makes me really scared to think about buying a used one..

And then to top it all off, I see people talking about taking thier cars to WAL-MART Are you people dry humping a porcupine or WHAT??!!

Then they be-yotch about brakes. Of all things to cheap out on, the most important safety item!!

Sheesh... go and buy a Corolla!

 

 

Move over and pass the popcorn...

 

just a clarification.. this isn't about what oil is best, or even how long to go, but rather, a commentary on why in the world would anyone actually believe that the OBS can do legitimately what it says it does..

 

hey, some people like to live life by the rules

what can you say....My father thinks his 99 camary 160k miles needs an oil change ever 5k miles (mineral base), When you open his oil cap. all you can see is SLUDGE everywhere!! still follows the manual...

 

The Camry and other Toyota engines had a venting problem. It had nothing to do with how often you changed your oil.

 

The 4 or 6 cylinder engine?

 

So BMW, one of the most RESPECTED engine builders in the world, WANTS their engines to fail. Their reputation and millions of customers around the globe mean nothing. Hello?? The OBS may not be the single most precise monitoring equipment ever built, but it is estimating, per the research of scores of BMW engineers, when your service is due.

Either way, the MINI dealer will perform the free oil change if one has not been performed in a calendar year. And despite what the TV commercial told you back in 1975, you DON'T have to change your FULL SYNTHETIC OIL every 3000 miles " to be safe".

I don't know what you drive, sounds like no evil BMW products for you, but you should lay off the Bacon Chalupas, as they make you very cranky at 4:00 am........

 

OP: I'm glad you were able to get that off your chest.

 

Use the dipstick to check your oil.
Go Barack!

 

I think you would be surprised how much it does adjust to driving conditions. A 25 mile jaunt on track will take 100 miles off the counter. Conversely a 1400 mile run at 75-80 with the cruise control on most of the time only takes about 1/2 that amount off the counter.

I agree with the message the OP is sending, not in the style, hence my popcorn munching in an earlier post.

I joined the BMW-CCA when I bought my MINI and read Rondel cover to cover every month. If there is one central message that is conveyed every issue it's that the maintenance schedule BMW's and MINI now enjoy are a function of the Marketing Dept. Previous to BMW/MINI covering the first 36K of maintenance the schedule was lot more often for fluid changes. Coolant was every 2 years, now it's 4. Oil was every 5K with an the first change at around 1200 miles. Transmission had a mileage schedule, now it's lifetime fill.

Granted, metallurgy, lubricant technology and assembly procedures have progressed over the years. However it's quite obvious when the change in maintenance schedules occurred. The exact same time as BMW/MINI shifted the cost from consumers to themselves. The costs are built into the final vehicle price so most people are duped into thinking they are receiving something for nothing with maintenance covered.

IMHO the BMW/MINI maintenance schedule is designed to turn cars every few years. Once people start paying the maintenance costs out of pocket they'll trade in the latest and greatest. We could go on and on about what this does to BMW/MINI's in the used market that saw only the recommended maintenance.

Those of us the start doing heavy mods and those that want the car to last forever need to preform basic maintenance more often. If your MINI is an appliance to be swapped out in 3-4 years, then follow the MINI maintenance schedule.

 

well they do know the automatics on the Coopers fail right after the warranty goes out so why bother changing the oil during warranty?

 

On a car itself, what else can it be besides a guesstimator? Ideally it would actually analyze the condition of the oil. I don't know of a car that does that.

The OBD estimates the service interval according to BMW specifications. On WhiteRoof Radio, they said that it calculates service interval according amount of gas consumed. This seems like a reasonable calculation for oil life and dynamically adjusts for changing driving conditions. Some people have an issue with the long oil change interval that BMW specifies, but how the OBD calculates its guesstimate seems reasonable to me.

 

I think the OBD might be a little bit optimistic in how highway driving compares to city driving in terms of being hard on the oil. On my first-gen 'S', the OBC didn't "come due" for the second oil change until 21,000 miles after the first oil change. But, I had changed the oil myself after about 10,000 miles and had the old oil analyzed. The analysis showed that the oil was pretty much shot, even though at least 5,000 miles of the 10,000 was steady-speed interstate cruising. I do a lot of cross-country driving, which I believe was the reason for my 21,000-mile OBC-recommended interval. But I don't think that highway droning is that much more gentle on the oil to justify extending the interval that much. Considering how the MINI oil tested after 9k, I'd be *really* afraid to know what it would have been like after 21k miles in the car.

I should be receiving the results of the 10,000-mile test on the RLI BioSyn 5W-30 in a few days, and if the results are as good as the 6,000-mile test is leading me to hope, then I'm probably done playing with different oils & intervals - I'll just stick with the BioSyn and 10k intervals.

(I am going to do one more test of the MINI oil after 6-7k, now that my car has 34k miles on it, just to make sure that the crappy results I've been getting with the MINI oil weren't just because the car had less than 20k miles on it.)

 

I change my oil every 3,000 miles, sometimes sooner as I beat on it like a rented mule. Much cheaper than replacing a stroker engine

 

For your application, I can certainly understand that. Although I autocross mine, I don't do anything to it involving near the stress you put on your car.

The only reason I've had a half-dozen analyses done so far in order to find a good oil and a suitably-long interval that still provides excellent protection is that my wife and I have two identical MINIs, and we tend to keep cars for a *long* time, so if I can extend the drain interval to 10k on both cars over the 150-200,000 miles that we historically keep cars, I'll end up saving a good bit of time and money, even with the initial "up-front" cost/effort of the analyses.

 

Scott,
I was in no way bashing your method, actually I have been following your threads on oil analysis. I would like to talk to you sometime when you get a chance Feel free to call if you like as this topic interests me greatly.
I have been so old school for so long with engines it's hard to let go

 

[quote=ScottRiqui;2223304]

I should be receiving the results of the 10,000-mile test on the RLI BioSyn 5W-30 in a few days, and if the results are as good as the 6,000-mile test is leading me to hope, then I'm probably done playing with different oils & intervals - I'll just stick with the BioSyn and 10k intervals.

[quote]


I am not sure how you can justify spending $10 a quart to go 10k when you could be spending less then half that and change it every 5k?

 

Although I don't really agree with the "style' that this topic was addressed by the original poster, I think there is a shred of reality to it.
My service reading was telling me that I should change the oil in 9,000 miles. At the time I had 11,000 on the oil. (so that would have the computer telling me to change the oil every 20,000 miles) I sent in an oil sample and they thought it was a bit of a stretch to go another 9,000 and suggested testing after 3,000. At $25 for a test or $61 for an oil change I just opted to change the oil shortly after the test. My TBN was down about as low as I'd like to see.
The motor is the heart of the beast, so if a little extra TLC extends it's life, I'm all for it. I don't have any plans of changing out this car anytime soon either and that plays a part in my decision. Here's my report...




Oh and to the original poster... you may want to tone down a little. For only being here a month with 12 posts you need to get the vibe and a little cred here before laying down the dry humping a porcupine comment. You can discuss that with your school buddies on Monday, but leave it out of here.

 

Well, the BioSyn is not quite $10 a quart in bulk, even with shipping, and I don't know of any other recommended oils that are less than $5 per quart (I know the Royal Purple has recently gone on sale for less than that as part of some kind of inventory reduction sale, though). I know that I haven't seen the MINI-branded oil for less than $5/quart.

Regardless, even if the BioSyn were a full $10/quart compared to some other oil at $5/quart, I'd be spending the same amount of money on oil, but I'll only be spending half as much money on filters, half as much time doing oil changes, and only disposing of half as much used oil.

Plus, I think the BioSyn is going to hold up better to 10k than the MINI oil will to 5k, especially with the R56 engine. I've only seen two R56 oil analyses here so far, but they were at 5,200 mile and 6,000 miles, IIRC, and the results weren't promising.

 

If you buy in bulk you can get cheaper, but I can get Mobil 1 for a lot less that $5 a quart. And I am not sure I want to go 10k w/o changing the filter.

But if you are convinced this is the way to go.....more power to ya!

 

I find it amusing (and a little amazing) that this thread started out with a seemingly nit-wit rant, and progressed to an intellectually stimulating discussion.
What a neat place to hang out!

 

Don't count your chickens just yet
this is NAM after all

 

obviously nothing stimulating coming from you! except for some name calling..

Perhaps the orig post was a bit on the PMS side it has to be, in order to get some of you to wake up and stop being the typical dumb human that goes along with whatever the BMW gods tell you all while bending over and saying, thank you sir may I have another.

As for how many posts I have here, that is irrelavant. You don't know me, nor do you know my experience with cars or the marketing tactics of companies that will do anything to get your money.

Many of you take this as an attack on you.. Sheesh, Im on YOUR side. And when I hear people beyotch about a simple oil change that would cost about 40 dollars but who most likely drink that much in Starbuck latte's, it really makes me wonder.


I can tell you one thing for sure. The VAST VAST VAST majority of the public will RUN away from your car when you go to sell it when you show them you changed the oil every 10-15K miles. I for one won't touch it with a ten foot pole. Your resale value is ZIP.


And the funny thing is that some people here get testy and pissed off at my comments.. LMAO, the truth stings a bit doesn't it? Truth is truth no matter if it comes from a poster who has 5 posts or 500 and if you let insignificant details like how many posts I have determine the validity of my statements, then you go right on changing your oil at those crazy intervals..


I'll apologize for the abrasiveness of my OP but start calling names and you'll have no respect from me to go along with your no resale value.

 

well it was worth a try............

Now go back to the hole you came from mini1966 and leave the discussions to more mature ones....




How was that Jan?