Okay, I just received my '09 MCS on 10/18 and I am probably a bit paranoid, but I have a question about the level of oil I should have in the car.

When I opened the oil cap I could not see any oil and there was some smoke coming from inside the engine. Is this normal? I have tried to find the answer by looking through the manual and reading other threads, but I am at a loss.

 

That's normal. When you take off the cap, you're looking at the top side of the cylinder head and the valvetrain - almost the very top of the engine. The oil level is nowhere near that high. In fact, most of the oil is down in the oil pan underneath the engine, and it gets pumped from there to the parts of the engine that need it and then gets returned to the pan.

If there were so much oil in your engine that the level was even close to the fill cap, the engine wouldn't run (or at least, not for long).

As for the smoke, that's normal too. The components under the fill cap can get hot enough to burn off a little bit of the oil (and the moisture in the oil). The area under the valve cover also collects some vapors from combustion, so you might be seeing those. That's what the PCV valve is for - it sucks those vapors out from underneath the valve cover and sends them to the engine to be burned so that they're not released as pollution.

In short, all is well with your new baby - enjoy!

 

Your oil level is read on a 'dip-stick' that is pulled out from a verticle tube at left front of engine,
it is about eighteen inches long.

Near the end are two 'ferrules' and with cold oil, lower ferrule would indicate about three quarts and upper ferrule would be five,
when oil is hot, it would expand a ¼ inch higher.

Maximum oil level is 4½ Quarts or at the top ferrule when hot, to get most accurate reading;
wipe dry and insert all the way and pull it out and lay it in the fold of a small piece of paper,
squeeze the paper fold and you will see the exact level.

Oil level should be at least above 3½ Quarts and MINI Dealers sell their own brand of oil @ $6 or so per quart.

It is unlikely that you will need to add any oil for the first few thousand miles.

Most MINI Owners like to do (or have done) a change of oil and filter after "Break-In" @1200 miles.

There are THREADS on this board about the Oil Change and it is a simple job w/just a few tools;
(click underlines for two of them).

There is also a coolant tank that you can see the level through the tank, do not remove the cap
unless the engine is cold.

 

Thank you for the information. I do understand how to check the oil with the dipstick, but I still thought that I would still see some oil when I took off the cap. The little bit of smoke bothered me as well.

Thanks again for the insight, it all makes a lot more sense now. I am really glad that NAM is available. You saved me a trip to the dealership.

 

Hey Congratulations on your 09 mini , Welcome to Nam !
Like ScotRiqui and Pilotart stated not a problem , all the oil is at bottom of engine in oil pan.

 

Yep, nothing but valve trains under the oil fill cap, which is true of all cars these days.

Also, the "smoke" that you saw coming up was most likely oil vapor and normal crankcase gasses. All internal combustion engines have a small amount of pressure leakage past the pistons into the crankcase, plus a certain amount of lube oil is atomized by the rotating engine parts. These gasses need to be vented to prevent the pressure from damaging engine seals and in the bad old days they used to be dumped overboard. Now they're routed back into the engine for emissions control.

 

op lost some oil in the vapor. I never open it when hot.