does this oil change indicator in the dash count down and then say "OIL CHANGE" ?

Mine seems to drop by increments of 1000, I never really noticed it until now

my car has 9200 miles on it, and when I turn on the car it reads 9000 miles

seems like it wants me to go to 18,000 miles before an oil change?

 

Same here - I've noticed in seems to only change in increments of 1000 miles - I just went over 10000 miles and mine reads 8000, so it seems 18000 miles is the first incremental dealer change. Of course, I've already changed the oil myself, at 5600 miles, and will do it again here soon, at about 12,000 miles. Personally, I wouldn't go the full 18,000 miles without changing - but if you read the several threads about this subject around the forum, this is a hotly debated topic.

 

My car said 24,000 miles at first back in August. I had it changed at Harrison's Motorsports (non-dealer BMW-MINI shop) at 8K and 15K miles on my nut. Then it asked for service at 21,200 miles and I took it to the dealer.
Everything done there, new flashes done, and the countdown has said 7,000 miles to service for a month; it hasn't changed at all.

I love this car ---- these cars ---- but the whole BMW/MINI maze of pseudo-reality is tiresome. Between the numeric disadvantage of dealerships in general, to the reluctance of dealerships to perform mundane services, to the inconsistancies of reliability car-2-car, .....well, I'd just rather not ever have to step into another Mini dealership at all.

 

I changed mine myself at 6000 miles, looks like that was wise, I'll do it again at 12, and then the free one at 18k

I don't know what bmw is thinking, I've found a couple people that had oil tested, on the new direct injection turbo mini and 335i and it's gone at 10k, the new style injection is harder on the oil

 

Yep- It'll start giving you a warning that says something like "Service Required" around 2000 miles remaining.

Once you get down under 1000 miles it'll start dropping by 100 instead.

I'd think that driving style has more to do with oil condition that DFI- I keep hearing this though. What changes with DFI that makes for (comparatively) earlier oil failure? Somehow getting more fuel saturation? I figured that people would grab onto the turbo as a reason for the oil getting worked harder- the 335i's turbo'd too after all...

 

I think it's the raw fuel that can get down past the rings and into the oil,it's easier for this to happen with direct injection

the turbo too will definitely affect oil life, cylinder pressure is greatly increased

but yet, the turbo and non turbo have the same logic as far as I can tell, for oil change interval

I do not believe that dash indicator for a second, until I see some blackstone tests that were GOOD at 16,000 miles of spirited turbo driving, I have yet to find a blackstone test that showed good results at that kinda mileage in a turbo mcs, or 335i

 

We'll see with mine, although my spirited driving is limited to mostly weekends and I do lots of easy commuter miles.

 

With DFI, the fuel is injected at extremely high pressure directly into the combustion chamber, unlike the older FI systems where the fuel is injected at moderate pressure into the airstream prior to the cylinder head. This makes these engine more prone to fuel dilution from raw fuel being forced past the piston rings.

The BMW 335i engine is turning out to be *very* hard on oil, same as the Audi RS4 engine. If you go to the bobistheoilguy forums, there are a lot of Audi/BMW owners that have had their oil analyzed after only 2-3000 miles and found that the oil is completely shot (drastically-reduced flashpoint, lowered viscosity, high levels of fuel dilution, elevated acid readings, etcetera).

That's why I'm reallly curious to see R56 owners start posting oil analysis results, since the R56 has gone to direct injection as well. I was even having fuel dilution problems on my R52, to the point where I'm now using the same bio-based non-petroleum oil that's working so well for the troublesome Audi/BMW engines (RLI BioSyn).

 

If it's going to be another 9K miles Don't wait change it now.

 

Just sent my second sample in. 10k miles on the engine, ~4k miles on the oil I should have results in another week. The lab I'm using is kinda slow.

 

I was also concerned that the computer mileage was going down slowly. I called the dealer more than once & got the same answer, wait 'til the service light comes on or 1yr. It showed at 18k + one week before it was a year old. I added less than a qt. to it over the time from new & since it's under warrantee I figured they would cover it if a problem arose. Two items were taken care of (almost) while it was there, sunroof rattle & new flywheel. It went back for a new sunroof since their 1st fix made it worse. Today it'll be (car) hauled back because I hear a (gear?) whine when in 6th at 50+ mph. I hope this is the last of it's problems.........

 

I changed it at 6k, and I plan on changing at at 12k, and then the free one at ~18k

that works out nicely math wise, but I'm not sure if 6k is too much

the 335i oil issues concern me, I've not seen enough oil tests from the new turbo MCS's to know if I'm safe or not


if this was a lease I would not care, but this is my car and I want it to last 200,000 miles like my old 325is

 

I'm just going to do it when the car tells me to, if something happens with the engine then it would pretty easy to take legal actions against MINI/BMW if they didn't want to fix it.

 

long as it's within 3/36 for warranty

after that, your on your own

 

It's 4/50 for the warranty. The free service/maintenance agreement is the one that's 3/36.

 

I wouldn't trust the obc oil change estimates for a second. Mine has me changing my oil at 20k miles and I track the car once a month! I've been changing my oil every 3k miles.

 

I trust the oil change indicator less and less the more I read

the 335i guys have a similar engine, direct fuel injection turbo, every single oil test result that I've seen has fuel contamination

and NONE of them have gone the full year/16,000+ miles the computer thinks the oil is good for

I'm hoping more mini cooper turbo test results get posted

 

I'm waiting for the test kit to arrive from Blackstone. I'll post the results in one of these oil threads, or start another.

 

Robin, did you ever get your blackstone results? I'm coming up on 13,000 miles, and 1 year anniversary so I believe I get a free change

I'm not sure why the OBC does not do a 12 month counter or miles, my date counter says july of 2009 that's 2 years if I never changed the oil myself

 

my readout on the tachometer reads 11,000 and my odometer has 11400mi. when am i supposed to get my car serviced? now or 15000.

 

Actually at 22,400. The 11K is what you have left until service. As you get closer the miles will change. Mine went from 7k to 6k overnight.

 

MINI will give you a free oil change after you have had the car one year. Otherwise, you have to wait for the OBC (onboard computer) to count down to zero for a free service. It will be an oil change plus a number of other things, such as various filters.

If I were you, I'd change that oil immediately. IMO, 11,000 miles is a long way to go on the break-in oil.

 

Just an FYI, I changed my oil at 3,000 first time. Mainly for piece of mind and to satisfy my break in habits.
I'd schedule quickly.

 

It's easy to do your self if you are mechanic. Here is a link with pictures.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ange+with+pics

 

Yep he's right. I've had mine over a year but the OBC still says 6K with 13.5K overall miles driven. I got a free oil change (the car's 3rd now) this week and will get another when I get to 0 on the OBC.