2011 Mini Cooper oil suggestions

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Rat407

Rat407

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A friend of mine just purchased a 2011 Mini Cooper, not sure if it has a turbo or not, I still need to find out exactly what is in it. I do know that living here out in the stixs and 70 miles from the nearest Mini dealer or any other similar dealer parts are not readily available. Found out at Advance Auto the oil filter had to be ordered and is $26 for a purolator.

I did do a search on here and could not find what I was looking for.

Since I will be doing the oil changes for her, I was just wondering what would be a good choice in the way of an oil. She is waiting for the owners manual to come in, the place that she bought it from had to order one for her.
 
My friend's wife has a mid-2000s Mini Cooper; IIRC he uses xW-40.

Call the dealer about the filter, they may be much cheaper than AAP - may be worth it to stock up.
 
I don't know about the turbo but for the naturally aspirated MINI, Mobil 1 0W-40 is a good choice as is BMW 5w30. My local BMW dealer sells the 5w30 at a surprisingly reasonable cost but if your nearest dealer is far away that isn't going to work. Any LL-01 should be acceptable for that Mini including Castrol 0w30 (GC).

And yes check an online dealer for the filter. You can do better.

Originally Posted By: Rat407
A friend of mine just purchased a 2011 Mini Cooper, not sure if it has a turbo or not, I still need to find out exactly what is in it. I do know that living here out in the stixs and 70 miles from the nearest Mini dealer or any other similar dealer parts are not readily available. Found out at Advance Auto the oil filter had to be ordered and is $26 for a purolator.

I did do a search on here and could not find what I was looking for.

Since I will be doing the oil changes for her, I was just wondering what would be a good choice in the way of an oil. She is waiting for the owners manual to come in, the place that she bought it from had to order one for her.
 
I think any BMW LL-01 oil will work fine. Here is a list:

BMW Long-life rating LL-01 Approved Synthetic Oils for the US Market:


Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30

Mobil 1 SAE 0W-40

Pennzoil Platinum European Formula Ultra SAE 5w30

Valvoline SynPower SAE 5w30

Out of those I like Mobil 1 0W40 because you can get it for $22.xx at Walmart in the 5 Quart jugs. And it's a great oil.
 
If the engine is still under warranty then it's best to use any BMW LL-01 oil.

Once the warranty is up, (or if you're not concerned) and the engine is normally aspirated then any 5w30 synthetic will be more than fine if you keep the OCIs under 10,000 miles.
 
Well I just went over to her place and it is NA. Cool to see the oil filter so easy to access, that is a plus. I did a search and I can get a Mann HU71151x oil filer from AMSOIL for $8.65. That is not a bad price. I guess I can pick it up along with their EFM 5w-40 oil which is $5.70 a qt.

I have not looked up the MiniUSA site yet to read up on it. I take that the oil change intervals will be once a year since she doesn't put but 9k miles on it in a year.

Thanks for the help.
smile.gif


Just called the dealer and the oil filter is $14.55 including tax. But I just looked it up on Amazon and it is a prime item at $8.41, so I can order it and get it with second day shipping.
smile.gif
 
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Well there you go
cool.gif


Originally Posted By: Rat407
Just called the dealer and the oil filter is $14.55 including tax. But I just looked it up on Amazon and it is a prime item at $8.41, so I can order it and get it with second day shipping.
smile.gif
 
my wife drove a NA mini cooper for just over 150k trouble free miles. we sold it when the clutch gave up, they also have an amazing resale value, i remember getting very good money for that car with 150k on the clock and a blown clutch. the car was just a ton of fun to drive, even with the small engine. the car basically defines the saying "it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow"! great car and i miss it.

anyway i ran 8000 mile oil change intervals with Mobil 1 0w40 and wix filters ordered online for every one of the 150k miles.
 
+1 and buy a bunch of filters from Rockauto to have them on hand. Stick with the OEM filters made by Mann, Mahle or IIRC for her car Perflux. They don't go bad sitting.

My MINI gets M1 and a Mann every 7,500 mi.
 
Because you are really going for the LL-01 spec rather than a specific viscosity.

Originally Posted By: Rat407
It states on the engine to use a 5w30 oil. I was just wondering why so many are using a 0w-40.
 
Originally Posted By: Rat407
It states on the engine to use a 5w30 oil. I was just wondering why so many are using a 0w-40.

What does the owner's manual state?
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Rat407
It states on the engine to use a 5w30 oil. I was just wondering why so many are using a 0w-40.

What does the owner's manual state?


The owners manual state to use BMW oil 5w30 or if not available an oil meeting the LL-01 spec.
 
Well, there you go. The LL-01 spec covers a number of different Xw-30 as well as Xw-40 grades. The grade itself is not all that relevant. What's relevant is that the HTHS viscosity be at least 3.5 cP and that's what the LL-01 spec assures.
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Because you are really going for the LL-01 spec rather than a specific viscosity.

Originally Posted By: Rat407
It states on the engine to use a 5w30 oil. I was just wondering why so many are using a 0w-40.

That is the reason, it meets BMW's requirements in a number of areas including long drain capability.

Mobil 1 0W-40 being a 40wt oil (HTHSV 3.85cP) is heavier than necessary for the Mini and most BMW's but it's likely the cheapest LL-01 that readily available in the States. IMO the Castrol made BMW 5w30 is a better oil choice since it is significantly lighter especially in service (it shears a lot) but Mobil 1 0W-40 is a high VI oil which means it's it's not that much heavier start-up and will actually be lighter on very cold start-ups.
 
I'm still under 10k miles, so it's probably a bit early to offer much advice so far, but it's probably best to avoid Motul X-Cess in this engine. It meets LL-01, but the wear numbers I saw with it weren't great (even compared to the factory fill). Here's a used oil analysis with the FF and the X-Cess:

coopers2013.png

--Matt
 
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The current X-Cess formulations are not as good as the old ones. The group V content is way down and they're not much better (if any) than the off-the-shelf stuff.
 
That must explain the lackluster used oil analysis that I was seeing on the later used oil analysis with it on my GTI too. Interesting. I switched that car over to Redline when I noticed less than great performance, but I don't want to move this one over to a non-LL01 formulation until the warranty is up.

--Matt
 
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