I guess I'll call mini when they open.

Sunday I have the normal yellow service thing
and 5000 miles to go.

Yesterday, it turns red, and says
service 2/2008.

What's the deal?

I am a slightly bit concerned.

 

You must need your oil changed...mine did the same thing in January. It said 7000 miles/1 /2008, the dealer said that the oil needed changed.

 

I forgot to mention.

I have 10k miles.

I changed the oil at 4200 miles and 8500 miles.

My aim is to have a change every 8000 miles.
one from me, one from the dealer.

The 4200 was the first oil change which I meant to be
2500 miles but I didn't have the 27mm socket.

Should I mention to the dealer that I have changed my oil
reguarly?

 

i went ahead and made an appointment.

although i wanted to wait until july, which is about
a full year.

it is very befuddling why this thing wants service.

 

Mine says 2/09 and it's 11 months old ?

 

this is my whole main idea.

mine is 7 months old.

sunday, i had 5000 miles to go for service.

monday, it is saying 2/2008.
the little icon went from orange to red.

i've changed the oil twice in 10,000 miles.

the more i think about it the more disturbed i become.

 

What kind of oil did you put in ?

 

Did you buy your car off the lot, or order it? Because if you bought it off the lot it would be going from the build date and not the date you picked it up for the yearly service. That's the only reasoning I can come up with, but there are countless threads about the indication. Maybe do a search and read through to see if you can find anything.

 

You could ask the service person if he would let you bring it in later since you changed the oil.

 

OK, that makes sense.
I bought it off the lot.
It had been there a while. The battery had to be
jump started. I'm not sure how long a while is exactly.

I used castrol 5W-40 full synthetic.

I now realize this has something to do with the build date.

It's fine, albeit inconvienent to me right now, to take it in
for a 1 year service at 6 months. It's been problem free.
I'm out $30 for that recent oil change but that's OK.
I'll just plan to change the oil again about July myself LOL

A few months early if I have an explanation is not a big deal.
I'm a person that trys not to sweat on the small things in life.

 

I think if you do DIY oil changes, keep proof that you did it...that is receipts for oil and filter purchased.

 

It doesn't matter how many times you change the oil, if you didn't reset the reminder. I had mine done at the MINI dealer in October, at 7500 miles, then the light came on in January for the 1/2008 oil change. I asked the dealer, and was told that they will only reset the reminder when they do the oil change that is under warranty, meaning, when your car tells you it needs service. So, basically my car got it's oil changed twice in 3 months....would have been nice if they would have told me that before I spent the $80 on the oil change at the dealer. Needless to say, now when I want the oil changed at the halfway point, I will buy the $12 filter and do it at home.

 

Mine says 8,000 miles till service, and has 3/08 for a date. Sounds like its time for me to go in too.

 

Mine was at 11K for a long time and just this past weekend jumped to 19K!

 

It could have been the build date, or it could have been the kind of driving you do. If you do a lot of city driving, the OBC could have determined that it needed service at 10,000 miles, rather than 15,000. My understanding is that it uses things like number of starts, trip duration, average speed, etc. There is debate as to whether it actually monitors oil viscosity or not. I suspect not. I've seen no indication that the OBC notices an oil change.

 

These service indicators are a real PITA, IMHO. The mileage until due changes around so often that it's ridiculous. Yes, I know it has to do with your driving patterns, but it is hard to figure when it's due to go in. You get an oil change annually, regardless of the countdown meter. In my case I got it on the annual basis, although there was still 7,000 showing on the computer. I had about 17,000 miles on it--that would have been 24,000 miles 'til the change! (Of course, I'd already changed it a couple of times.)

Changing oil yourself doesn't change the countdown. The dealer has to reset it. And I would go in when "told" to--don't take a chance of invalidating the warranty!

I just noticed that my dealer forgot to reset the meter last week. Grrr. Another trip to "visit." Fortunately it's quick, and I have to drive near them tomorrow anyway. They should have done it, though.

P.S. I think the annual oil change is based on your delivery date, not manufacture date, but I don't have the book handy so I won't swear to it.

Condor--your gauge/sensor might be out of whack. Again, a trip to the dealer...

 

Thanks to all.

I intend to keep this thing a long time and keep it nice.

So I'll for sure go to the dealer friday.

It was just so shocking to go from 5000 miles to
service needed now, in one day.

I also wanted to wait the full year and if any warrenty issues
popped up I could get it all done at the same time.
It's about 120 miles to the dealer.
I end up taking a day off from work.

Although with a couple weeks notice which I don't have this time
I can have my sister pick me up and hang out for the day.
So I'm a little disappointed on that too.

 

How soon is your appointment? Around here, there is often about a week waiting period before the dealer can take the car for work.

 

They got me in for friday.
Evidently I had my choice of quite a number of days
but I'd have to wait a month to come in on a saturday.

Flow is always packed, but I also think they are
very efficient.

There is no where near (that I know of) to walk and
go do something. So I just sit there and play my
nintendo.

 

Ditto, although it does seem that it's partly if they need to provide a loaner. I got an appointment within 3 days, but it was just for an oil change and I "sat" on it.

 

Mine said 2/2008 also. I had mine in for service in February. When I got home I noticed that they did not change the oil. I only have 3600 mile on it but the oil has been in it since 12/2006 (manufacture date). I called the dealer and was told that they change the oil once a year measured from the delivery date. I bought mine in July 2007. They told me to bring it back in July 2008 for an oil change. My dealer is about 2 hours from me so it's not like I can just drop by. Oh well, I guess that's just the way it is.

 

I have the answer.My car was demanding a state inspection sticker.I guess they put the sticker on when it was delivered(Feb 07), and I purchased like sept 07.There is a way to get the computer to tell you that it isjust an inspection (didn't know that), and a way toreset it if you get the inspection from other than the dealer(didnt know that either).I thought I read the book but I must have missed that section.So, letting all of you know, if you have 5000 miles to go one day,and the red service thing the next day, start with gettinga new inspection sticker (assuming it is expired of course)I knew the sticker had expired. But I was more of the mindsetwell, i have to go to the dealer anyway, i'll just get a stickerwhen I'm there.

 

I had that very same situation. My inspection expired in Feb. I took delivery in July 07. That's the main reason that I took it in for service. My service indicator said 2/2008 so I just "assumed" that they would change the oil also. Didn't happen. Now my service indicator says 2/2008 in red. You would think that they would have reset that but they didn't. I called about the oil change and was told what I said in my previous post. I asked if there was any way that I could reset it and they said no. So I have to put up with the needs service in red until July.

 

I found something weird (to me, anyway) about the service indicator. The dealer did an oil change the other day--due by dates, rather than mileage. They didn't reset the computer countdown, though, and I asked about this. Turns out that if they change the oil on an annual basis, and not by computer countdown, they don't reset. The car will have to come in again when the computer counts down, whenever that is. And at that time they will do ANOTHER oil change--even if it's just a few weeks down the road. My SA said that some people go months after that annual oil change before the computer tells them to come in. And they do some other minor maintenance at that time, not at an annual change. Interesting, but I'm surprised MINI would potentially waste a lot of oil, filters, and tech time.

 

What a policy That makes no sense at all. I would love to hear what is behind this logic.