2011 Mini Servicing... every 7k!?

[DanQyou]

Hey guys,

my 2011 cooper D is asking for a service every 7k. I use cruise on the motorway fairly often its not hammered all the time.

any ideas on the cause (car is fully standard)? It was serviced in February and is now stating 1.8k to next service

Thanks in advance,

Danny

[sykes]

Hi Danny

I recently learned the 'service' message can mean a host of things. The indicator on my 2011 Cooper S recently said 'service' - turned out it thought the front pads were low, they weren't, Mini reset it, all's good.

So hopefully it's just overly cautious self-diagnosis, but maybe worth dropping into a dealer to check.

[Pablo16v]

What does your service book say?

[DanQyou]

its not a service error light though, it just show up when i start the car with a Mileage countdown. Is yours the same?

Thanks,

Dan

[sykes]

Yeah mine was the same. Switch on, bong, 'service', little car and spanner icon, mileage countdown. I booked it in assuming it was just due a service as hadn't kept an eye on the usual countdown.

It disappeared after a few seconds, didn't stay on like an error.

[DanQyou]

The service book doesn't state a mileage, it basically says its 'conditional'

cheers,

Dan

[DanQyou]

Thanks man, so how do i know when it actually needs a service? :/

[Limpet]

All BMWs work this way. It's what they call Condition Based Servicing. The service countdown on start-up shows the countdown to the next required item under the SERVICE heading, regardless of what it is.

On my 3-series I can go in to a menu and see the list of CBS items with their individual mileage count downs. It separates out engine oil, inspection, front pads, rear pads, MOT and brake fluid. The brake pad warnings are all over the place. I've seen 46000 mile countdowns drop to 5000 miles, and then back up to 26000 miles over a few days.

Is there any way on the Mini of checking the items individually to find out what it is needing doing? Should be buried in a menu somewhere.

[DanQyou]

I don't think so, tried to take a look but nothing seems to be hidden. (I don't have the tech pack so i just have the orange screen with basic options)

cheers,

Dan

[Limpet]

This is the kind of thing I was thinking of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xBx7SyXT4o

[sykes]

Ah that's handy, Limpet. Thanks for that!

[DanQyou]

Thanks Limpet! I will give this a try once im out of the office.

Dan

[sad61t]

The conditional service, especially under the TLC pack, means only the current need is flagged. For example, I've been in for a service and then had the service light come on only a couple of days later for something else on the schedule. So if the oil needs changing one week and the brakes the next, you end up with two separate visits to the dealer. This happens even if the service technician can see the brakes are due because (I was told) the dealership wouldn't be able to include it under the TLC until the car says so.

OK, the services are 'free', but that doesn't mean it isn't a pain organising my day around visiting the dealer.