This is my attempt at beating a dead horse...

I know there was a thread or 50 threads discussing the best way to check your oil, but I couldn't find it, so Im posting a new one. Sorry.

I have an '11 MC Hardtop. 15k miles. When I got my oil changed at about 7500, the dealer told me a was about 1.5 quarts low. I was shocked because I checked my oil at least every other week. So obviously Im either an idiot (possible) or just reading the stick wrongly (still an idiot). Ive tried every way I've seen on these forums and in MINI's video section on their site. While the car is running, before I start it for the day, after it had been running, while standing on one leg singing a melody.... It all reads the same to me.

I pull the stick out, wipe it clean. Put the stick back in and wait a few moments and pull it out. The plastic tip reads with oil, as a matter of fact, oil reads all the way up the stick. Note that, I haven't put any oil in since my oil change, so it can't be that I have too much oil in there unless they did it.

At this point, since Im 7500 since my last oil change, Im guessing Im low again. I don't want to put more oil in it based on a guess though.

 

Best time to check it is when the engine hasn't run for a while, like first thing in the morning. Pull out the dip stick and place the end on a clean paper towel, this way the oil stains the paper and you can see the level on the paper towel as you hold it against the dip stick. Not that hard.

 

Mini dipsticks blow!
I have a hard time reading it as well!

 

Benibiker gave a good example of how to read the dip stick. Also, I'd be changing the oil at 7-7.5K intervals and not the 15K Mini recommends. Your synthetic oil after a couple thousand miles should look darker than when it's new. If you're seeing oil way up the dip stick, that sounds like it has too much oil in it. Either too little or too much oil in a Mini is not good.

 

No, the dipstick blows.

I think I'm first in line for the new Craven Speed dipstick when it's available.


Anyway. I drilled a series of small holes, (dent actually), on the plastic tip of the stock dipstick. It helped a little. But it still blows.

 

Same here. After reading and meeting with mini owners I kinda have the hang of it. When it was the easiest thing to check on a car, mini made it pretty complex lol.

 

I don't find the dip stick hard to read (when the oil is not brand new) so much as the issue that the end of it gets covered and smeared by oil as it is traveling in the tube. Sometimes one side of the red part is covered and the other is not. Sometimes oil is smeared all around making it difficult.

It looked like I was at 1/2 point yesterday which is odd. Will check again to be sure as it was in my parking spot which is slanted. The car is new and I didn't check when I first got it - for all I know it came that way from the factory

 

 

The MINI factory owner's manual instructs you to check the oil with the motor at normal operating temperature (fully warmed up), and this is the assumption under which the dipsticks are calibrated. This is now the typical instruction for most cars, the logic being that "most" cars will get the oil checked at the service station when the engine is hot.

Oil expands somewhat when heated, so if you top-up a cold engine with a dipstick calibrated for a hot engine, it can result in an over-fill condition when hot.

 

We have a new one available for Pre-order...just sayin.

 

Ooooh nice! Can't wait for Gen2!

 

When I checked my oil that way, at the dealer, before taking delivery of our new MINI, the dipstick showed that the oil was over filled. The Mini video "checking your oil" shows the oil on the stick above the mark too (overfilled). It looks like the book's instructions and the video dialog are both contradicting the factory set oil level and the as measured results in the Mini video. You can check the oil cold and see consistent results but you can't use the same marks as when checking the oil warm. You just't cant win with the Mini dipstick. So the only way to really check the oil level is to drain the oil out and measure the volume. Then put the proper ammount of new oil in the car. The dipstick is near worthless.

 

The dipstick looks great, but $75 seems AWFULLY steep.

 

$75??? Are you guys serious? And I bought a bunch of stuff from you guys directly over the past 3 years.

I would have bought one for $25 but no way for $75.

 

3 years in and I have no clue how to read the dip stick.

I have the oil changed at least every 7,500 miles. I have never had to top it off. Not that I would know if it needed to be topped off.

 

Rolling it on a paper towel works perfect. Pull it out immediately place it flate on a paper towel and roll it one revolution and you should see an imprint of the oil level.

 

This method works pretty consistently. Also, it's how my SA said to do it.

 

New 2011 Mini Conv - 6,500 mi, great car so far, except I (also) cannot determine an oil level on my dipstick. This Forum site thing is full of owners with same problem, but no solutions... I've never seen a problem like this.... and I paid CASH for my car!!