It's not, I've seen the drainplug sensor on a friends car and my car has a normal plug. I'll have to go through RealOEM and try and find my sensor, it would be a good thing to know the location of if it ever were to fail.
The only thing I can find on either RealOEM or in the Bently Manual refers to a pressure switch near the filter housing but the gauge I have does vary depending on engine RPM and oil temperature so I know it's not a dummy gauge like Ford used to do (where the oil pressure gauge was actually just a camouflaged idiot light that would show standard oil pressure as long as there's a little oil pressure.)
Lest ya'll thought I forgot.... Today at the MM.org DIY Day hosted by the very accommodating MINI of Dallas it was fluid change time during my pre Dragon "tune-up". it was July of last year since the last engine and gearbox oil change. I've covered a whopping 4712 miles since then. Note to self when this revisited at next change 45,528. Yes I know there is really no reason to be changing the gearbox oil at this time. I wanted to see what the magnets had attracted. Engine Gearbox - Lower Plug Gearbox - Upper plug
They seem to be working well. We are using the magnetic plugs in most of our regular customer cars now. Sad to see that much metal, but good thing the magnet is catching it.
On the subject of changing oils, my R56 manual is filled "lifetime" OEM oil. So what's the consensus of changing out the manual transmission? There is no such thing as non degrading "lifetime" oil. Or, is MINI, on the second generation, using some type of "better" oil? I understand the need of getting rid of all the loose metal particles that are attracted with magnets and draining the oil and replacing with new. And if so, what would the frequency be for a manual transmission? It doesn't seem correct to keep the original oil in for a lifetime.:nonod:
The first Gen MINIs is OEM filled with a similar if not exactly the same 'lifetime' oil. I have a thread in the Track Talk section concerning track duty oil changes. But I am sure that many street only used cars go with 50k intervals, or even never.
Thanks! I can't seem to find your section on Track Talk and oil changes. Where should I look? Couldn't find it in the library?
Oops, my bad.....different forum. [ame=http://www.metroplexmini.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28577]Track Duty Oil and trans fluid change interval - MetroplexMINI[/ame]