I looks like the 1st oil change was done at 18K miles and the second one has not been done yet, currently at 35K.......

I'm reading all these posts about having the oil done at 3-7K and I'm concerned that this car I just got, is off to a bad start!

Is there anything I can do at this point to make this engine last longer?

Thank You

 

This is a debatable subject and I am sure with many opinions.

Mini recommends oil changes every 15k miles. And I am sure the oil is capable of going that far, but I seriously doubt the oil filter is that capable (In my opinion).

Personally I will change my oil and filter every 5k miles just because I plan to keep my Mini for many many years.

Will it hurt you Mini to run 15k miles between oil changes... probably not, unless you drive in a lot of dusty driving conditions or use cheap fuel or cheap oil. All of which will cause the oil to get dirty faster.

 

You don't say what year the car is, but MINI recommends changing the oil at least once a year.

I do mine every 7500, and I use the factory oil filter. I buy my synthetic oil at Costco - Mobil1 5W30 is what I use....

 

I'm sure I'll get Flamed, but I have my Flame-retardent Undies on......

You do what you feel is right for YOU! I am old school, I was brought up and worked on cars from the 60's thru now. I change oil every 3k, regardless of what some cubicle sitting engineer claims the "New and Improved" oil can do or tolerate. I can just imagine whats floating around in your crankcase at 15K. Yet some people treat their automobiles like appliances, and have never even lifted the hood on theirs, let alone know how. If you are really concerned about the lack of regular oil changing, there is a way to ease your mind. "Seafoam". You stick half a can of that in the oil with a new oil change and filter, drive it for about 50 miles and change the oil and filter again. That should take care of any build-up you might believe is in there, and you get peace of mind.

But don't just listen to any yahoo on the internet either, do a google search, other car forums and make up your own mind.

Good luck.

 

You start with:But then say this like it's a bad thing:Some people just want to drive their cars, not maintain them themselves. Nothing wrong with that attitude. And some people like to turn wrenches and get under the hood.

 

I do mine every 2500 miles. Its cheap and easy to do. If you aren't doing it yourself, make sure to call MiniCorsa if your close by. Good service with good pricing.

 

IMO, I go by the old Fram Oil Filter commerical... "pay me now or pay a whole lot more later! If you change your own oil, you can do so for less than $40 or so; this is cheap insurance to me!

 

Mini recommends oil changes every 15K miles!!!! That's nutz...

Call me old school, but I change synthetic every 5K miles and petroleum-based oil every 3K miles...

 

Any damage that was done is done, all you can do is change the oil more frequently from now on if that'll make you feel better. I'm sure the car is fine, lots of people just change the oil when the OBC tells them and that's 15k or more. I don't hear of any problems being reported... I do it every 6000 by the way...

 

I haven't decided what to do either. I am not a wrench turner and "just want to drive my car." It certainly makes sense to do it more frequently I guess but I am NO mechanic by any means. Many people on this forum and others have reported driving their MINI's well over 100k with oil changes done about every 15k or so as suggested by MINI. One guy has over 400K on his 2002 MINI and changes his oil only when the OBC says to and has not yet had any major issues. SO, who is to say really. Time will tell. Some luck maybe as well. I do know that I baby my MINI so hopefully that will help in the long run as well.

 

Forgot to mention its an 09 clubman.

Thank you for all of the replies, i definitely am a wrencher so I can easily see my self changing it every 5K.

Now the next question....

what do you guys think of the topside oil suction devices?

they look nice and handy...but for some reason i feel like i should crawl under and let it drain out....so whatever is in the pan can come out.

what do you guys think?

thank you!

 

The topside oil device does not work great. I had it and stopped using it after a few times. It does not get everything out, and starts leaking oil if there is too much pressure in the canister. Just do it yourself, or have a Mini mechanic chage your oil for little money.

 

I know nothing about maintaining a car other than how to fill it with gas and how to check the oil. I am hoping that my salesperson was right when he said to bring it in for service when the service light comes on. I hope to have my MINI for many years and this is the first vehicle I was really hoping to have 100% serviced by the dealer -- but from the sounds of it, I might be waiting too long to get my MINI serviced? I pretty much just do city driving and occasionally hop onto the highway. My MPG are phenomenal at almost 34 -- so something must be working right, right?

 

You can still have it 100% serviced by the dealer, but if you take it in when YOU want it done vs when the computer says it needs done, then you will pay the dealer to do it. You need to decide what interval you want (and are willing to pay for). The way I understand it, if you decide you want a 5000 mile interval, you would pay for the 5000 mile and 10000 mile oil changes and the dealer would do the 15000 mile oil change.

EDIT: I only have 1200 miles on mine so far and I haven't decided on what interval I want yet, but I'll be doing my own. Also, if you are interested at all in doing it yourself, the local KC MINI club has lots of capable people that are willing to teach and help.

 

That is good to know, guess I need to call the dealer to clarify. Thanks for that info!

 

Never ever go beyond a year on oil changes ! !

 

This gets debated about once a week on this website. Two points and I'll shut up, do you think BMW would risk killing the resale value on all their cars but letting them prematurely have major engine problems because the oil wasn't changed every 5-7,000 miles. What would they gain by saving maybe $100-$150 per car over 5 years. Point two, consumer reports did a study of New York taxi cabs over 10 years ago, they had some change the oil every 3,000 and the others change the oil every 7,500 as recommended by the mfg and ran them for 100,000. There was no statistical difference in repairs. If your going to put 200,000 on you car change it when you want, if your going to keep it 5 years and put 60-90,000 on it you are probably only supporting the oil companies who have sold you on this concept. Yes, if its a race car change the oil, if not save your money.

 

Yes I do. BMW is a company. A company that makes money by selling cars. They don't care about your or your car. That's not just my opinion, I have experience with them. Our other car is '06 Z4. We've had it serviced at the local BMW dealer.

With that said, I think the weak point in the Mini engine with respect to the engine oil is the turbo. Without the turbo, the oil change debate is over statistical differences in the life of the engine...120K or 150K or 180K. For most folks, it won't make much difference.

Adding the turbo to the equation, changes everything. It's a small piece of machinery, moving very fast and generating lots of heat. It needs lubrication. Plus it's expensive to repair/replace. Add on top of that, some Mini dealers like to blame "bad gas" for early turbo failures, so it won't be covered under warranty. I can pay for a lot of oil changes for the cost of just 1 turbo replacement.

Still think 15-20K between oil changes is ok? Pull your dipstick at 15K and rub the oil around between your fingers. Get your oil changed and check the new oil with your fingers. Feel the difference? Your car can tell too....

 

I owned a E46 325 bimmer since new, and when the warranty ended, I've switched to M1 0-40W, went approx.16.5k miles as per OBC, and the the next change (DYI) sent the old oil to Blackstone Lab for analysis. It came back with all oil parameters within specs, incl. viscosity, metal content, etc. So I stick with the BMW recommended inteval. 90K miles of trouble-free motorring before the car was sold.

Having said that, on my other car - Audi with twin-turbo 2.7l engine,- I've chosen to go with an extra oil change b/w factory 10k miles intervals just for the peace of mind (each turbo is ~$1K and couple of grands in labor to replace). 130k miles of trouble-free motorring before the car was sold.

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and these are just opinions. I own a 335i and have owned 13 BMW's but it still just opinions. I don't agree with the statement that the number one premium car manufacturer in sales (1.4million a year) doesn't care about their cars. How do you get to be number 1 with some of the highest resale values, how can you lease cars if your resale value is terrible, how do you continue to increase sales and get repeat purchases if your engines fall apart due to not getting the oil changed.
Yes there are some corrupt dealers that are poor businessmen, that is a seperate issue from engineering of cars and their design. I've had many issues with the local BMW dealer, there are some good ones and some bad ones and some good MIni dealers and bad ones.

I absolutely think 15,000 miles is OK. The majority of people do not change their own oil, I have not changed my own oil in 30 years and I doubt most women change their own oil. The people that make the Synthetic oil say its good for 15,000+, the car manufacturer says its good for 15,000+. If you put 150,000 miles on your car once out of warranty your talking paying for 7-8 changes at let's say $70 at a Mini dealer or $525 out of pocket. If you change it every 2,500 miles as some have suggested that's 60 oil changes at $70 which is $4,200, even at Jiffy Lube it would be at least $2,500. Even at 5,000 miles your going to spend a lot of money fearing something can go wrong that may go wrong even if you change the oil frequently.

I don't disagree with the turbo argument and the heat it generates but I had 3 M3's and they ran up to about 7,500 rpm's and put out a lot heat as well. My point is a small few amount of people change their own oil. It would be a good survey to start on this board but remember this is a board for avid Mini owners so more are going to say they probably change it themselves than probably the general public.

 

I appreciate what is being said and I don't want to argue. Preventative maintenance is not a black-n-white thing. The line is different for everybody.

I spent several years involved in maintenance of high-performance turbine engines and we did regular oil analysis on every engine. The minute you start a brand new engine, it starts to grind, bash, burn and shear itself to death. Every minute it runs, it is wearing itself out. Oil can help significantly to slow that process. But engine wear is inevitable. It will either die with a wimper or bang, but it WILL die.

Oil analysis is designed to identify contaminants in the oil. The first oil analysis for a motor isn't very helpful, but it does set a baseline. Subsequent analysis help define a trend. Many results, taken at regular intervals and you can almost extrapolate to the point where the engine will fail. Rebuild points are identified for evenly wearing engines and they are pulled with a wide safety margin. Engines with sudden spikes in contaminates are flagged and pulled early for rebuild because they are likely headed for catastrophic failure.

It's all about the engine. It's not about the oil. When we had a problem motor (more rapid wear than normal), we watched it closely and changed the oil more often. $100K engine rebuilds get your attention and oil changes are cheap by comparison.

I read a lot on this forum about oil and the Mini. I paid attention when we got our BMW's serviced (2000 Z3, 2006 Z4) at the local dealer. I talked with the local Mini dealer (where I bought my car). Car companies have competing agendas. They want to sell you a car. They want you to be happy. They want to see you for service, but not too often. They want the car to last, but not forever. BMW (and Mini) make a lot of design decisions based on marketing (my opinion). They want the car returned to them for service. I'm more of a "fix it myself" kind of guy....I don't agree with many of their positions. Oil change intervals being one. (run-flat tires being another!)

After reviewing all the info (thanks to the folks here on the forum that have gone before me!), I decided that 7500 miles was the max I was willing to go between oil changes for the Mini (2009 MCCS). Since I don't drive very much (<10K/year), I dropped that down to 5K because it's about the right time between oil changes and it's also easy to remember (every 5K miles!). If I tracked it better, I could probably get by with longer intervals in the winter (it's mild here in FL), but I like the simplicity of remembering 5k intervals.

Sometimes I change it myself (rotate the tires too!) and sometimes I pay to have it done. It's a $50 event when I do it myself, $80 if I pay someone else to do it. I'm comfortable with the situation. It works for me.

 

All of these claims of going 15K on an oil change apparently have never read the oil manufactures recommendations for severe driving (which we all do) as being no more than a year between oil changes.

If you do 15K a year, then great....if you only do 8K don't wait 2 years to change your oil !

Verify this with the SA at your dealer.

 

Pleanty drive more than 15K a year.

For those driving low annual miles the maintenace manual tells you at least once a year:

"Note: Change oil at least once a year."

Doubt the CBS tells you at 1 year though........ Does it?

 

Exactly.........don't rely ONLY on the service indicator.

 

If Mini recommends changing at "least once a year" as you state, will this cost be covered by Mini under their maintenance program? My Mini is one-year-old today, and has 7,296 miles.