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Rough Guide On Maintenance


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#1 CCX

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 08:47 PM

Just wanted to check a few things regarding the maintenance of my MPi. If anyone could help me out with their advice on each of these that would be much appreciated.

 

  • How often to change the oil (miles or time)
  • How often to grease the joints etc (miles or time)
  • How often do all the filters (oil/fuel/air etc) need changing roughly?
  • Is it recommended to flush the coolant at certain intervals?

 

Thanks!



#2 Steve220

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 09:04 PM

Just wanted to check a few things regarding the maintenance of my MPi. If anyone could help me out with their advice on each of these that would be much appreciated.
 

  • How often to change the oil (miles or time)
  • How often to grease the joints etc (miles or time)
  • How often do all the filters (oil/fuel/air etc) need changing roughly?
  • Is it recommended to flush the coolant at certain intervals?
 
Thanks!
Personally -
-12 months or 6k miles which ever is sooner.
-Annually.
-Oil filter with oil, fuel filter every 2 years, air filter annually.
-Coolant, just reverse flush it a few times to get rid of all the rusty water then fill it with a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water. Should be good for a fair few years!

Edited by Steve220, 15 January 2016 - 09:04 PM.


#3 Jordie

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 09:08 PM

You need to grease more often than annually. On a daily id give it a quick grease every 2 months.

 

Oil is about right at 6k, but quality of oil is important.

 

Oil filter at each change, air annually, plugs annually, fuel filter bi-annually.



#4 CCX

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 09:08 PM

 

Just wanted to check a few things regarding the maintenance of my MPi. If anyone could help me out with their advice on each of these that would be much appreciated.
 

  • How often to change the oil (miles or time)
  • How often to grease the joints etc (miles or time)
  • How often do all the filters (oil/fuel/air etc) need changing roughly?
  • Is it recommended to flush the coolant at certain intervals?
 
Thanks!
Personally -
-12 months or 6k miles which ever is sooner.
-Annually.
-Oil filter with oil, fuel filter every 2 years, air filter annually.
-Coolant, just reverse flush it a few times to get rid of all the rusty water then fill it with a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water. Should be good for a fair few years!

 

That is perfect Steve, just what I was after. Thank you! Pretty much confirmed what I was thinking.



#5 Cooperman

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 09:49 PM

I use a top quality 20w50 mineral  oil and change it every 2000 to 3000 miles, together with the oil filter. Original service interval for the Mini was 1500 miles between oil changes and 3000 miles between filter changes.

Grease at the same interval.



#6 Steve220

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 10:21 PM

I use a top quality 20w50 mineral  oil and change it every 2000 to 3000 miles, together with the oil filter. Original service interval for the Mini was 1500 miles between oil changes and 3000 miles between filter changes.
Grease at the same interval.


That's because technologies in oil, fuelling and engine tolerances have come a long way since the mini was first introduced. Hence why modern engines can have 24k mile+ service intervals.

#7 Fast Ivan

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 10:31 PM

I use a top quality 20w50 mineral  oil and change it every 2000 to 3000 miles, together with the oil filter. Original service interval for the Mini was 1500 miles between oil changes and 3000 miles between filter changes.

Grease at the same interval.

this is what I do ^^

 

air filter yearly

and coolant flush I haven't really got a time scale on, but I definitely do as Steve suggests when I first buy the mini



#8 Cooperman

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 11:08 PM

 

I use a top quality 20w50 mineral  oil and change it every 2000 to 3000 miles, together with the oil filter. Original service interval for the Mini was 1500 miles between oil changes and 3000 miles between filter changes.
Grease at the same interval.


That's because technologies in oil, fuelling and engine tolerances have come a long way since the mini was first introduced. Hence why modern engines can have 24k mile+ service intervals.

 

Mine & my wife's road cars seem to have a 20,000 mile service interval. Maybe I'm 'old school', but I still change them every 8000-ish using top-grade LL-04 Castrol oil.

Although oil has improved over the years, the classic mini engine/gearbox has not changed significantly. The bigger 'bits of metal' still come off the gears and stick to the sump plug. The steel filings in suspension in the oil still go round the engine and are, hopefully, all trapped in the filter eventually.

That's why I change the Mini oils every 2000 to 3000 miles, sometimes a lot less. It is cheaper to do frequent oil changes than have engine and gearbox rebuilds.

But that's just what I do and I'm not saying others are wrong, just that I'm a bit fussy.



#9 CCX

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Posted 15 January 2016 - 11:26 PM

Very helpful info, thank you everyone!



#10 surfblue

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Posted 16 January 2016 - 08:16 PM

I dont like "modern" service intervals either, 10K is plenty long enough on modern engines which is what our Tdi VW gets, my Disco gets 6K changes these days previously did 10K on it as well, my mini does so few miles that 1K could be 2 years summer driving (and it leaks and gets topped up so the oil hardly even gets dirty).



#11 Slade

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Posted 16 January 2016 - 11:09 PM

I would just do a service once a year and a grease up every 6 months

#12 Ethel

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Posted 17 January 2016 - 12:35 AM

Service intervals are intended to get the car to the end of its service life. Do they apply to our Minis that we want to be immortal?

 

I'd certainly be changing the oil more often, but a lot depends on usage. 6000 miles seems reasonable, a might go a bit more if it was less than a year since the last change.

 

Antifreeze is strictly age limited, read its manufacturer's info.

 

Air filter when its needed. The worst that will happen is you'll lose performance if it's blocked.

 

Greasing joints amounts to checking they have some, you can't really do it too often. Doing it as part of a monthly check over isn't unreasonable on a daily runner - tyre pressures, brake adjustment, fluid levels...



#13 CCX

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Posted 17 January 2016 - 12:59 AM

Also I forgot to ask, what about plugs and HT leads?



#14 Fast Ivan

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Posted 17 January 2016 - 05:26 PM

Also I forgot to ask, what about plugs and HT leads?

I would be looking at the condition of the leads and base any changes on that rather than swapping them out at a certain interval, that said I would be starting with new anyway.

Plugs I would replace every couple of years

A lot of this maintenance will be down to millage and usage though



#15 blackbelt1990

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Posted 17 January 2016 - 08:25 PM

This is from the Haynes Manual

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