[jsouth]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

Is there a link to this study? I remember reading something similar, from a Mini(?) owner, that did regular blackstone plus top off. He might have done a filter in between 15k miles too.

Having said that, turbo longevity can be a reason for 7-8k OCI, except in CA(and other PZEV states), the turbo is covered 15 years and/or 150000 miles.

It had been years since I read this and it took a while, but I finally found it:
https://www.brianschreurs.org/neptun...es/mobil1.html

From the page:
"More than anything, what this shows is the incredible effect top-up oil has on the longevity of the motor oil. Even with the minute amounts of oil we added over the course of the study, we extended the "age" of the oil by 8,000 miles compared to adding no oil at all. Indeed, the filter change at 12,000 miles refreshed the oil so well that its corrected age actually remained below the 12k sample's corrected age for almost 3,000 miles! It's no wonder extended-use oil change schemes demand frequent filter changes. The top-up that follows the fresh filter is practically a time machine for your oil."

I have no idea how this transfers to more modern LL-01 (or later) oils, but the oil filter change is something I do religiously at half my oil change interval. I live in a fairly sandy and dusty area. It's cheap insurance, and SUPER easy on my F30 to do a filter change.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by jsouth

It had been years since I read this and it took a while, but I finally found it:
https://www.brianschreurs.org/neptun...es/mobil1.html

From the page:
"More than anything, what this shows is the incredible effect top-up oil has on the longevity of the motor oil. Even with the minute amounts of oil we added over the course of the study, we extended the "age" of the oil by 8,000 miles compared to adding no oil at all. Indeed, the filter change at 12,000 miles refreshed the oil so well that its corrected age actually remained below the 12k sample's corrected age for almost 3,000 miles! It's no wonder extended-use oil change schemes demand frequent filter changes. The top-up that follows the fresh filter is practically a time machine for your oil."

I have no idea how this transfers to more modern LL-01 (or later) oils, but the oil filter change is something I do religiously at half my oil change interval. I live in a fairly sandy and dusty area. It's cheap insurance, and SUPER easy on my F30 to do a filter change.

This is great stuff. Thanks! The study I saw should be a different car/owner, if that can be located I will post it here too.

The article does say the test was 15k miles and 10 months, so OCI of 12 months should probably be observed too if mileage is low.

The key summary of the article is:

"Based on the results we've got here, we'd recommend 8,000 miles between oil changes on an engine that uses no oil at all, perhaps 10,000 miles on an engine that uses some oil, and 15,000 miles or beyond with a filter change every 5,000 miles."

[jsouth]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

This is great stuff. Thanks! The study I saw should be a different car/owner, if that can be located I will post it here too.

The article does say the test was 15k miles and 10 months, so OCI of 12 months should probably be observed too if mileage is low.

The key summary of the article is:

"Based on the results we've got here, we'd recommend 8,000 miles between oil changes on an engine that uses no oil at all, perhaps 10,000 miles on an engine that uses some oil, and 15,000 miles or beyond with a filter change every 5,000 miles."

I'm not sure I'd do 15k miles with a turbo engine, but perhaps it works! In any case, changing oil at 3k or 5k miles seems wasteful and environmentally harmful. I suppose one would have to do their own samples every 1000 miles and see what the result is with their choice of oil and their engine/environment/driving style.

[Patterson]

I paid $20 for an oil filter at the dealer yesterday, but today I found them for $12 at BimmerWorld.com. Did my first oil change on this car last night. I really like the oil filter placement, easy to get to. I also like the rubber pads where you place your jack to lift the car. Using Mobile1 I plan to change oil every 7K miles plus.

The oil change on this car is so easy and clean, I'll always do it myself.

[sspade]

Originally Posted by Patterson

I paid $20 for an oil filter at the dealer yesterday, but today I found them for $12 at BimmerWorld.com. Did my first oil change on this car last night. I really like the oil filter placement, easy to get to. I also like the rubber pads where you place your jack to lift the car. Using Mobile1 I plan to change oil every 7K miles plus.

The oil change on this car is so easy and clean, I'll always do it myself.

I buy my OEM filters on eBay for about $14, all in.

Also have been running Mobil 1 0w40 but about to switch to LiquiMoly Leichtlauf 5w40 to see if I notice any difference. Will be doing a blackstone analysis as well.

[jsouth]

Originally Posted by Patterson

I paid $20 for an oil filter at the dealer yesterday, but today I found them for $12 at BimmerWorld.com. Did my first oil change on this car last night. I really like the oil filter placement, easy to get to. I also like the rubber pads where you place your jack to lift the car. Using Mobile1 I plan to change oil every 7K miles plus.

The oil change on this car is so easy and clean, I'll always do it myself.

The F30 is the easiest car to change oil of any I have ever owned (I'm 61), but please:

• Ramps (if you have a place to store them) are much easier than jacking the car up for oil changes
• I would only use oil that meets the BMW spec for your car (mine is LL-01). Unless I am mistaken, Mobil 1 currently does not.

[Patterson]

In the first post on this thread the owner says he used Mobil 1 5W-30. Reading further into the thread I found that this is not the right oil considering the LL-01 spec, Thank jsouth! Mobil 1 5W-30 is what I've used in my Jag for 7 years, so I thought Great! Same oil. But now I'm wondering if I should drain the Mobil 1 and get the Castrol LL-01 spec'd oil.

Could running say 5K miles on Mobil 1 cause any damage? There may not be a straight fwd answer to this, but I'd appreciate any thoughts. I should have read the thread closer and realized my old stand-by oil was NOT for this car.

[Patterson]

I found this post on BimmerForums. The LL in LL-01 appears to stand for Long Life. I think I'll be fine to go a much shorter interval with the M1 I put in. But I'll switch to an approved oil for the next one.

The BMW dealer oil is produced by Shell nowadays, as opposed to Castrol previously. Their LL-01 product is a 5w-30. You don't want M1 5w-30, that is actually too thin... In simple terms, there is a reasonable range of viscosity for each value; e.g. M1 is on the thin end of the -30 scale ("fuel conserving"), whereas the dealer stuff is closer to a -40.

Also bear in mind the new "FS" M1 0w-40 DOES NOT meet BMW specification anymore, if you are looking for such an oil.

If you're not running the factory interval (9.3K miles by the 1998 E36's), LL-01 isn't strictly necessary, although it would be wise to use an oil in the xxW-40 range, really. Unless you look at data-sheets or use the LL-01 oils, finding the correct xxW-30 oil will be akin to a needle in a haystack.

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...Approved-5W-30

[sspade]

Ive been running Mobil1 for 35k miles without issue whatsoever.

LL01 only comes into play for long oil change intervals. If you're changing every 5k, like me - wont matter.

[Jimpmaddox]

For anyone wondering if the Harbor Freight composite (plastic) ramp will work with a 328i F30
I did an oil change today and drove right up the ramp with a minor tweak. Placed an 8 inch piece of 2x6 snug to the tire and just over the start of the ramp.
Needed to do this so the front would not hit. Mines the m-sport model which is a bit lower.

[Wolfus Aurelius]

I wish I had someplace to change my own oil. On my last two Mercedes I had, you could suction the oil up and out through the dipstick tube -- yes, it got out all the oil, and yes, that was the way MB dealers did it then -- and change the filter which was on top, all without climbing under the car. I don't mind doing that, but I have no place to store ramps or space to do the job.

Ah, well, I'll buy the filters online, the oil at Walmart, and have my regular mechanic do it while he rotates the tires, every 5K miles or so. Certainly it will be better than the dealer price.

[SXX360]

I've driven my car nearly 60k miles, I too was concerned about 15k being too long.
Most of my changes were 7500-9k miles, I have submitted samples from my 2 most recent oil changes to blackstone labs and found out that at this point I have actually done an extra oil change.
First sample had 9200 miles and they recommended 11k. Second sample had 10.2k and they recommended extending my interval out to 12k miles, if I wanted to.

I run Amsoil Euro classic 5w-40 and a Mann filter. Oil and engines sure have come a long way in the recent years.

[Linc0909]

I'll say this much about being worrisome over extended oil changes,, I am a Sheriff's Deputy, we have Crown Vic's that are 10-15 yrs old (the loaner I'm in right now has 213,200 miles on it), we have new chargers, impalas, 10 year + Tahoe's,, all running bulk standard oil and using Auto Zone white box filters and we run 8k mile service intervals. My Crown Vic when I turned it in for my Charger had 286,000 on the ticker. There have been advances in oil, fuel and engine refinement. It's not a conspiracy theory that BMW recommends 12-15k. I worked for Infinity in the late 90's to early 2000's and the factory recommendation was 7,500 and that was 20 yrs ago. Jiffy Lube was who convinced us that we needed to change our oil every 3k, and THAT was a money making scheme most of us fell for.

If a new all aluminum 4.6 in a crown Vic can run 8,000 miles under the stresses we put them through on a daily basis and still turn out 250,000 miles you may want to stop wasting your money changing synthetic oil every 3-4,000.

But hey, it's your money....

[Dave turbo]

Originally Posted by Wolfus Aurelius

I wish I had someplace to change my own oil. On my last two Mercedes I had, you could suction the oil up and out through the dipstick tube -- yes, it got out all the oil, and yes, that was the way MB dealers did it then -- and change the filter which was on top, all without climbing under the car. I don't mind doing that, but I have no place to store ramps or space to do the job.
.

A pair of jack stands and a floor jack can be stored in a closet.

Years ago, I didn't have ramps or a floor jack but drove one side of the car up a curb, lifting the car by about 4 inches. That worked. Start driving up the curb at a driveway so the drive is smooth.

Originally Posted by jsouth

The F30 is the easiest car to change oil of any I have ever owned (I'm 61), but please:

• Ramps (if you have a place to store them) are much easier than jacking the car up for oil changes
• I would only use oil that meets the BMW spec for your car (mine is LL-01). Unless I am mistaken, Mobil 1 currently does not.

In my experience, a Saab 900 (1981-1992) and Saab 9-3 (2003-2012) is easier. Neither needs ramps. The oil drain plug is not in the middle of the car but within arm's reach. The 9-3 is even easier to work with using about 1.5" (3 cm) of lift. That little amount of lift can be obtained by making a ramp of 2 squares of bookshelf wood nailed one on top of the other. Even better if you can saw a bevel to the edge to make a nice square ramp.

[jsouth]

Originally Posted by jsouth

The F30 is the easiest car to change oil of any I have ever owned (I'm 61), but please:

• Ramps (if you have a place to store them) are much easier than jacking the car up for oil changes
• I would only use oil that meets the BMW spec for your car (mine is LL-01). Unless I am mistaken, Mobil 1 currently does not.

Updates to my comments almost four years later:

• I have had Blackstone oil analysis done to feel better about my 5k mile filter and 10k mile filter and oil change regimen. The analysis at 10k said the oil had plenty of life left and I could stretch the interval further if I wanted. I haven't wanted to stretch it, but I feel good about my choice.
• Now that I am completely out of warranty, I feel no need to follow the LL-01 spec. If my car were in warranty, I would follow the spec, whatever it is.
• I now use Quaker State Full Synthetic 5W-30 - very reasonably priced in the US and available locally at my least favorite gigantic corporation with a star in their logo.
• This website (https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/201...-test-ranking/) is the basis for my use of Quaker State Full Synthetic. Once at the site, you can read all the introduction or search "WEAR PROTECTION RANKING LIST" to see the results straightaway.

[Billfitz]

You're still going to hear from the naysayers who believe the BMW oil hocus-pocus.

[jsouth]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

You're still going to hear from the naysayers who believe the BMW oil hocus-pocus.

Nah - they can use whatever they want. I'm just saying what I use and why!

[edycol]

Originally Posted by jsouth

Updates to my comments almost four years later:

• I have had Blackstone oil analysis done to feel better about my 5k mile filter and 10k mile filter and oil change regimen. The analysis at 10k said the oil had plenty of life left and I could stretch the interval further if I wanted. I haven't wanted to stretch it, but I feel good about my choice.
• Now that I am completely out of warranty, I feel no need to follow the LL-01 spec. If my car were in warranty, I would follow the spec, whatever it is.
• I now use Quaker State Full Synthetic 5W-30 - very reasonably priced in the US and available locally at my least favorite gigantic corporation with a star in their logo.
• This website (https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/201...-test-ranking/) is the basis for my use of Quaker State Full Synthetic. Once at the site, you can read all the introduction or search "WEAR PROTECTION RANKING LIST" to see the results straightaway.

That is absolutely BS web site.
What is your TAN on QS? Shearing? Flash temperature?

[jsouth]

Originally Posted by edycol

That is absolutely BS web site.
What is your TAN on QS? Shearing? Flash temperature?

Use what you like! It's your car.

Flash Temperature (from another site) is 234C
Couldn't find TAN or shearing. I want the oil to protect from wear and I trust that oil tester's psi number.

[Billfitz]

Can't say I didn't warn you.

[edycol]

Originally Posted by jsouth

Use what you like! It's your car.

Flash Temperature (from another site) is 234C
Couldn't find TAN or shearing. I want the oil to protect from wear and I trust that oil tester's psi number.

That is NOT how oils are tested.
What are your numbers of USED oil, not new? All oils have similar flash point when new, put on a side few exceptions. What meters is shearing, TBN and TAN of used oil.

[jsouth]

Originally Posted by edycol

That is NOT how oils are tested.
What are your numbers of USED oil, not new? All oils have similar flash point when new, put on a side few exceptions. What meters is shearing, TBN and TAN of used oil.

So what do you use in your vehicle?