Quote:
Originally Posted by zhp43867
Nothing will happen if you stretch a 7,500 mile oil change to 8,000 miles a few times, but stretch (or even follow) the 15,000 mile interval a couple thousand miles regularly, keep your car for 100,000 miles, and let me know how it turns out.
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Ok, I will. With the exception of one half-interval change to swap the factory fill at 7500 miles, I've exclusively changed the oil on my E46 exactly when the OBC tells me to, which turns out to be around 18,000 miles. At the change closest to 70k (forget the exact mileage), I sent the old oil out for analysis. The lab said everything was in spec, and they told me to KEEP USING IT. But alas, it had already been changed.
Now I've got 102k. Last fall I had the valve cover and the VANOS unit off to replace the seals, and I was expecting some serious sludge on the valvetrain and the inside of the cover. Nope. Both looked absolutely brand new, with a thin coat of golden amber-colored oil on everything. And again, this was at an OCI, so this oil was 18k old, and had only been changed 5 times in the vehicle's lifetime.
When I replace it with an F30 in a year or two, I have absolutely no qualms about following the recommended interval. And my E46 is in such good shape after doing so, I'm actually thinking about keeping it rather than trading it in.