Mini Service "WHEN"

[Blacky]

GF Mini is nearing it's first service or past it, we can't quite tell.
The service kms on Odometer have been slowly coming down (car does not travel many kms), and now the service km are below the actual km of the car.
However the service km are still going down.
So when are you suppose to know when to get the car serviced.
Car has done 8,000 km (over 1 year old) and the service kms is 7,900 km today.
Any help would be appreciated.

[Beezerk]

I was told to take mine in for service when it gets below 1,000 miles on the service indicator. So what's that, around 1,500 km roughly.

[Blacky]

That makes sense, the first service could be at 15,000km????
Can anyone else help here?
Thanks for your help Beezerk

[laura f]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blacky

That makes sense, the first service could be at 15,000km????
Can anyone else help here?
Thanks for your help Beezerk

It could be, as the service indicator adjusts to how you drive.... if you do more urban i believe you need services quicker if you do more motorway/long journeys you don't need them as soon, if that makes sense....

on ours we've done nearly 8k miles and the service indicator is showing 3k till 1st service (lots of urban driving), on previous minis they've been serviced at 15k, hope this helps

[fred3]

If you keep track of when the computer says it's time for service you won't go wrong as it's based not only on distance traveled, but the type of driving you do(hard, easy, etc). Of course you knew that so what Beezerk says(and my service dept. confirmed) is that when that number reaches to within +/- 1000 miles you can schedule service. So could it be at 15,000km? Theoretically yes, but not likely. There is no exact answer. Just keep looking at the computer when you turn on the car.

[nike61]

Funny I was goin to post a similar question. I was told that as mentioned it depends on the distance travelled, but my question is when does this start calculating? ie From Factory Production date or When Dealer activates?
I was also told to expect between 15-20,000 kms for first service.
Interesting is that I took delivery in June 05 and have done 7,000 which is about 1,000 per month. The indicator showed 10,000 due for Service, which based on distance so far is after 10 months since delivery. So I was wondering why it was being serviced only after 10 months and not 12. I can only assume the other 2 months was due to a April Production meaning it was being serviced in 12 months, but from Production not delivery.
The other point is that Mini do not do a first service after 1500 kms which others do and change the oil at this first service, so this may explain why the MCS service is 10 months but 12 months from production.

Are my assumptions correct?

[Root Ginger]

I think you're getting confused here Nike61. There is no time for when the service is due like other cars. The car works it out by how the car is driven. Yes, you get a display telling you the amount of kilometres until this is due every time you switch on the ignition, but this number may go quicker or slower than the actual kilometres indicated.

For example, if you drove your car hard or did lot's of short journeys it may take 1km off every 0.75km travelled shortening your service time. If you did lots of gentle motorway miles for long periods it may take 1km away every 1.5km lengthening your service time. There are lots of complex algorithms which calculate this within the MINI's ECU.

The dealer normally resets this counter after the PDI so you will normally see the maximum preset distance when you first buy the car.

[Beezerk]

Yep, it's as Root says. The saleswoman said, when I bought mine, that if you drive the car harder, the service mileage will go down quicker. I suppose it's like mpg, the harder you drive, the less mpg you get.

[SteveM3]

Quote: Originally Posted by Root Ginger

I think you're getting confused here Nike61. There is no time for when the service is due like other cars. The car works it out by how the car is driven. Yes, you get a display telling you the amount of kilometres until this is due every time you switch on the ignition, but this number may go quicker or slower than the actual kilometres indicated.

For example, if you drove your car hard or did lot's of short journeys it may take 1km off every 0.75km travelled shortening your service time. If you did lots of gentle motorway miles for long periods it may take 1km away every 1.5km lengthening your service time. There are lots of complex algorithms which calculate this within the MINI's ECU.

The dealer normally resets this counter after the PDI so you will normally see the maximum preset distance when you first buy the car.

The above is right, if it causes a headache thinking about it then don't. Let the service
indicator go to zero and book your car in.

[beken]

I booked my car in for service 200kms before hitting zero. I was 120 kms (it reads as a negative number) over by the time the appointment came up. Dealer didn't think anything was wrong with that. So it's no biggy. BTW....if you need a replacement car to drive while your car is in the shop the wait time is about 2 weeks.
So plan ahead.

Incidently, when I picked up my car, the service due was at 15000kms. By the time my car was due for its oil service, it read 17000kms.

Cheers!