I was accustomed to 1 quart every 1,000 miles when I was running British cars from the seventies.

In the 159,000 miles I have driven on my R53, with oil change intervals in the 5-8k range, I have added one-half quart once (that was on the first motor, at about 125k miles, and after a delay in the oil change interval).

On the 2nd motor (see "resetting the odometer the hard way" thread) I have at present 30k miles, and have never seen the oil level drop at all - ever.

It has been said I suppose, but with the onboard computer setting oil change intervals, and with the general expectation of 10k miles between changes, if my car consumed more than a quart between changes I would be seriously concerned.

Some of the situations in evidence here with regard to the R56 just baffle the holy living heck out of me. If there is someone at Mini corporate looking at failure data, and resisting the temptation to get to the bottom of an evident pattern of rapid oil consumption, I question their motives, their ethics, or their competence.

In the case of the OP, assuming that all the facts are in evidence, the outcome is so far from acceptable as to justify prompt and effect action from the manufacturer.

This is not a level playing field, as individual consumers have no means to aggregate data on any specific failure type (even though we try on the forum, there are too many variables and our expertise varies also). Only data from the dealers, aggregated and analyzed at corporate, would provide the necessary lens through which root cause analysis could be justified.

All that BS aside it's a damned shame!

Grumpily,

Charlie

 

Wow, I am sorry for your trouble. I am headed out to the garage to check my oil level!!!!!!

 

This is not a level playing field, as individual consumers have no means to aggregate data on any specific failure type (even though we try on the forum, there are too many variables and our expertise varies also). Only data from the dealers, aggregated and analyzed at corporate, would provide the necessary lens through which root cause analysis could be justified.



Fully agreed on that statement. I am no mechanic and I am not some hugely experienced person. But the people who I have turned to over this dilemma all agree that they too are baffled at what has occurred.

I have begun to inquire the issue with my friend 2007 MINI and from what they said, they said they cannot do anything and that because a service log was not kept with MINI, and only mini, they are in a position to do nothing.

My argument to me then is this, every certified location, that is licensed like Lube Extress, Jiffy Lube, Walmart, all have to go through a certification and training, to make sure they can do the job right. The only thing i wouldn't at those locations would be a more in-depth vehicle repair. So these places, at least for a service of an oil change, would be good.

Now, lets bring up another thing, for areas that don't have a MINI dealership, some people just can't get to one because of where they are. My friend would have to drive 1.5 hours to get to a MINI dealership and to do that for an oil change.... really???

Now, I have been finding more and more cases like my friend and obviously the ones in this posting that everyone has read. Apparently not just only 07 models are one experiencing this, but 02s, 05s, and 06s, from what i have read. And who is to say that some other vehicles, like Kopov's situation, that MINI is not buying the troublesome ones, while they can, to keep these reports down so no strong case can be made against them.... I have found over 10 cases and that has only been me just scratching around at the surface... I seriously think MINI is hiding something on this....

 

Well this made me go check mine and that has to be the worst dipstick made for a car anyway. In the picture it says the oil should be between the 2 marks on the dipstick which doesn't even exsist on mine. It's hard to even tell what's in the dang car.

 

So, by some random combination of odds and chance I had 46K miles of "abnormal" engine oil consumption (meaning less than 1 quart every 5K) and over the last 1000 miles it has become "normal" oil consumption?

Sorry. Can't buy that excuse. If, the motor was not broken in properly and had exhibited the same oil consumption from new then I can see this.

I've built a few motors over the years including race motors and 1/2 a quart in 500 miles usually means it gets pulled apart to see what is wrong. Hell, the old rotary Mazdas that injected oil directly into the carb for rotor lubrication were not this bad. If they were, it was a sign something was wrong, not normal.

 

Tell me about it, I finally went to the dealer and had them show me how to measure on the newer sticks because of what's shown in the book differs.

The depressed area between the top and bottom represents 1 qt. As the Tech told me, never let it get to being down 1 qt and check your oil often. I was 1/2 qt low with appx. 7k on the mileage. I'm at 10k and now I'm about 1/4 qt. low after checking it yesterday.

Lucky for me, my dealer is 8 miles from my house and they offer a free 30 minute service for checking and topping off fluids, wipers and scanning the key and doing a quick check of the vehicle overall. Needless to say, I'm going to have them record any amounts of oil added.

 

Jeez, did you even read my post before responding?
I said that most manufacturers say oil consumption of one quart per one thousand miles is acceptable. I didn't say "abnormal" or "normal", you did.

Dave

 

Yeah, I have an 11 too and my dipstick looks nothing like what's in my owner's manual.

I've checked the oil a few times but have a hard time telling how much oil is in the car.

 

My 07 R56S has just over 51K and within the last year it has started to eat a quart of synthetic every 1000mi or so. I too have suffered the timing chain tensioner issue and I can tell when the oil is low because the clatter comes back. I don't care what MINI says, there is something really wrong with these engines. It is NOT normal for an modern engine to eat oil this much. I don't care what BS MINI says. They are hiding.

I asked Classic MINI what is wrong, and of course, they said "they all eat some synthetic" and wanted me to come in and pay a $100 "inspection" fee to make sure the car isn't leaking oil anywhere. Trust me, there is no oil on my garage floor or my parking spot at work. The car is eating if folks.

Good thing I get to turn my MINI in at the end of its lease in 5 months and walk away. Thats right MINI after putting up with your inferior quality on 2 MINIs I've leased, you won't get my money any more.

 

I just recently made a 960 mile trip in 18 hours. Left Fontana Village at 11:15 on a Sunday morning and pulled into my driveway on Cape Cod just before 5:30 the next morning. I checked the oil before departure of course but not once in that 960 mile trip. Stopped only to shake the bush occasionally. The OP's tale is pretty damn scary.

BTW it was down just under a a third of quart when I checked it that afternoon. 83K on an R53.

 

I am picking up my 2011 MCS tomorrow, should I worry about this happening to me also in the long run?

 

No, I don't think so. You read a lot of horror stories on car forums, because this is where people go when they have problems with their car. No one posts that their car is trouble free and most of them are.

But, OK, I'll say it, "My car has been trouble free!"

I don't drive very much, I've only put about 6000 miles on my MINI in the last year, it burned one quart of oil in that time. I do check the oil with every fill up, it only takes a few seconds to do, I think every one should do that, no matter what kind of car they have, and keep a spare quart in the boot.

Dave

 

AMEN

my 2007 has not been back to the dealer for anything other than a factory funded / pre-paid oil change. I have yet to add a drop of oil, nor did I ever do so in my 2002 which we owned for over 80,000 miles.