I have a 2013 Mini S R56 with pretty much full bolt on and a tune. What’s the best oil I can be using now? I was using the FCP euro 5w-30 kit that comes with an oil filter. What do you guys recommend? I heard some people use 5w-40? And what’s the best oil filter? Thanks!

 

filter go oem or the purflux equivalent, I run LiquiMoly 5w-40 in my Clubman and I have LiquiMoly 5w-30 and oem filter waiting for the R53 I just picked up.

 

Purflux and LiquiMoly Molygen 5w-40 here.

 

5W-40 for the old gal

 

Castrol 5W-40 for me

 

Unless you changed the engine clearances bearing sizes the factory oil is fine. Run the oil the factory recommends. And filter.

While a 5w-40 oil might seem "better" with its higher viscosity it could run hotter when pumped into bearings with clearances suitable for a 5w-30 oil and in running hotter suffer from high temperature break down.

Be aware with the modified engine oil changes should be done more often. And even though you didn't ask use the factory engine air filter. Plugs might require one step colder although with newer cars plugs can be of the extended tip type and these run hotter at low engine speeds which keeps the plugs clean around town but at higher throttle openings and higher engine RPMs the tip is cooled by the incoming charge and thus don't run too hot.

 

From the 2013 owners manual, page 209:

https://www.miniusa.com/content/dam/..._all_trims.pdf

 

I have been running Pennzoil Platinum Euro Synthetic 5W-30. Might do the 5W-40 in the summer.

 

I've run Pennzoil Platinum 5w30/5w40 interchangeably depending on outdoor temperate for years, no issues, 3,000 mile interval. Fantastic oil.

Liqui Moly does incredibly poorly in tests compared to other oils such as Pennzoil, Mobil1, etc. Pennzoil for me and my cars!

Also yes, ONLY Perflux filter. I have seen a few cars now with collapsed "straight" filters without the zigzag. Significantly more surface area on the Perflux to avoid getting clogged and therefor collpasing.

 

Other cars had something similar in their manuals. But one line in the manual directed the owner to the dealer for the official factory oil to use. In more recent manuals -- like those for my MINI and BMW -- all one is directed to do is rely upon an authorized dealer/service department for the right oil.

Here's what I'm talking about;
Example:



The "recommended" oils were all over the map.

While one might think he could "trust" the manual regarding what oil to use it seems factories at least some factories have not bothered to keep the manuals up to date. A stop at the dealer and a friendly tech gave me a current printout of the *approved* oils.

Most of the oils in the above were *not* approved.

There were some 0w-40 oils, well, at least one: Mobil 1 0w-40 which was the factory fill. A number of 5w-40 oils and one 5w-50 oil (Mobil 1).

There was a caution present to use a 0w-40 oil when operating the vehicle in -25C (-17F) temperatures.

It is in some ways unfortunate but the take away I have is one can't rely upon the owners manual any more for something as critical as which oil to use.

 

The owners manual tells you to use 10w-40, and the dealer tells you to use 0w-40? I would question the dealer's reasoning.

Nothing in that owners manual chart is out of line with what I would expect from the engineers at Porsche. If you know what you're looking at, it basically tells you to use a lower viscosity oil if you plan on using the car in lower ambient temperatures. Totally normal. Use a thicker oil in the summer, and a thinner oil in the winter.

The general oil for use in the Mini engines is recommended 5w-30. The engines tend to run a bit on the hotter side, so a 5w-40 would help keep the "hot" viscosity from getting to thin.

If you understand oil viscosity ratings, you'll know what going up or down in the ratings will do for the oil.

 

While it makes sense to me to select oils with lower or higher "winter" indicator (i.e. the "X"w in the viscosity specifier) according to expected ambient temperature, I have never understood why the second indicator (viscosity at engine operating temperatures) ought to be dependent on ambient temperature. At least not when used in cars with modern cooling systems which adjust engine/coolant temperature irrespective of ambient temperature. Since the operating temperature of the oil stays within the specified range for a given engine, why is it necessary to increase or decrease oil viscosity at operating temperature according to ambient temperature?

The following is an extract from TIS (highlighting by me).

 

So you understand this oil viscosity stuff better than any car maker? Wow.

BTW, the approved oils list I mentioned was created/published by the *factory* not the dealer.

10w-XX, 15w-XX, 20w-XX oils are just not oils that I aware of any car maker recommending with some exotic car makers (Ferrari comes to mind) the exception. Also at one time I think BMW for its M engine recommended using a 20w-50.

10w-XX and on up oils are not for use in high temperatures. They are often touted as high mileage oils. As if at cold start the engine needs a higher viscosity oil for God only knows why.

To get the higher W (oh, and the W stands for winter or operation in cold temperature, at 0F IIRC) number an additive is used which when cold its molecules curl which increases viscosity. As the oil heats up the molecules uncurl. The flip side is for the high viscosity an additive is used that when cold the molecules are straight then as the oil gets hot these curl up.

What one would likely find if he bothered to analyze the oil after several thousand miles pretty much the oil's basically a 30 weight oil. The additives have broken down.

The 2nd viscosity number is arrived at 212F. In most cases this is the temperature the oil obtains though under some conditions -- after the engine is nominally up to temperature -- it can be less than 212F or more than 212F. I *like* to see oil at 212F as I then know any water is boiling out of the oil and its vapor will be removed via the crankcase ventilation system.

A 0W-XX oil offers good flow at cold start. A lesson some Porsche owners up in northern US and southern Canada learned the hard way when they felt 0W-40 oil was too "thin" and switched to 5w-40 oil. Upon cold start at admittedly pretty cold temperatures (< -25C/-17F) bore scoring was the result.

The high temperature viscosity index is based on what the factory arrived at from the initial design through prototype testing and beyond.

I have no trouble accepting in this case MINI wants 0w-20 oil used in my MINI's engine. Running the factory recommended oil in my cars I have never had a engine manifest any issues arising from the oil used. My 2018 JCW was fine even in triple digit temperatures and in town driving which can really raise oil temperature. For instance with my 2018 Hellcat courtesy of Performance Pages I observed oil temperature climb to 240F driving in town. The engine was fine. And it was fine at nearly 28K miles when I traded it in. Had there been any oiling problem I would have known it long before 28K miles...

My usual response to any and all who have some oil advice that counters what the factory calls for is all reasons for using anything but what the factory calls for are equal. And equally bad/invalid. The only authority on oil for engines is the company that designed and built and tested the engine then got it certified for sale in (this case) the USA by running the engine in a suitable vehicle for 100K miles with about the only servicing allowed is oil/filter services (on schedule) and tires and and which warranties the engine from new for in the case of my MINI 4 years 50K miles and in some cases an extended drive train warranty is provided.

When those that online make recommendations for using oils that conflict with the factory's recommendations and *offer* a warranty on the engine then I might pay attention.

NOT!

Internet oil experts come and go. Every car forum has one who often touts the silliest of oil recommendations.

OTOH, MINI is in this for the long term. And I trust MINI, as I have trusted (Datsun: Before it switched its name to Nissan), Ford, Chevy, Porsche, VW, Dodge, MINI, M-B, and most recently BMW when I acquired a new BMW back in May of last year and again MINI when I bought my current car back in December of last year.

 

 

2009 MCS here with 183K miles. Original owner, original engine

For first 130K miles, I used Mobil1 (0w-40) with 4K-5K mile oil change intervals.. At 130K miles I switched to Castrol (5w-40) and still using 4K-5K mile oil change intervals.

Imho - As long as you are using a 'recommended oil', the most important factor is the oil change interval. Suggest you keep it <5K miles between oil and filter changes. For oil filters, I've used mini oe, purflux, wix, and k&n. Stay away from oil filters that do not have the hard plastic end-caps on them.

Cheers!

 

Nitpicking somewhat but the words matter!

The purpose of the cold temperature additives is to decrease, not increase, viscosity. Viscosity = resistance to flow. Low viscosity = low resistance to flow, which is what we want at low temperatures/cold start.

 

Yeah, I gotta it backwards. My proofreading missed that. My bad.