[lostchild]

I would like to see the result of the oil analysis. When I had my Mini, I was reading the forum religiously and everyone who sent their oil in for analysis said that the synthetic oil is good for 10,000 miles + on normal driving. Some people who track their Mini has to change it every 5000 miles. I did the first oil change at 5000 miles on the CT just to be safe. After that I got the 10000 miles and 20000 miles oil change. Also I drive over 500 miles a week, so 10000 miles is only about 4.5 months. I don't feel too bad about changing the oil every 4.5 months.

 

[lostchild]

I can't see any mechanical problem if you change motor oil as regularly as you like. As for BMW, there was a big upset in Australia a few years ago. A batch of faulty oil was released from a refinery but all was well as long as it was changed at normal intervals. A number of BMW's, however, were caught out by their practice of extended service intervals. A rack of almost new BMW six and eight cylinder engines were sent back to the Fatherland for detailed inspection when the engines were totally ruined after the engine oil turned into sludge. Meanwhile, Lexus wasted no time in sending out a letter suggesting (gloating?) that their engineering recommendations for oil changes were a better idea.

My wife's BMW's and my Mini Copper's recommended oil change is based on the on-board computer analyzing your driving habit! When 10,000 miles came around, the light was still not on. When 15,000 miles came around, the light was still not on. According to the forums, unless you drive your car really hard, it doesn't come on until 16,000 to 18,000 miles! Many people said they sent in their oil sample to test and it started to go bad at around 15,000 miles. So I decided to change them at 10,000 miles... which happened to be the same interval as Lexus'