[gippy]

as per topic....
bought my car with 19k on the clock, previous owner had done no prior servicing on it, and dealer did the following:
oil service, new oil + filter
microfilter

that was it. I'm coming up to the 29k mark - currently the car says Engine oil in 8000 miles.

Is there any benefit in me doing an oil service every 10k rather than the recommended? I saw on pistonheads forum that people having issues with the oil filter and therefore to do an interval service?

is there any drawback to replacing the oil + filter sooner than recommended?

[robbiep]

Relevant questions :

Do you 'own' the car (i.e. lease it), or do you OWN it.
Will you be keeping it long-term, or to the end of warranty (or possibly extending the warranty by a year).
Can you afford a £5k+ bill

If it's lease, going back at the end of warranty, etc. , then stick with CBS. Someone else will be picking up the bill.
If you own it, are keeping it for the long-term, then do oil changes every 9-10k.

Engine oil changes are (relatively) cheap. Engines are expensive.

I've had my car since 3k miles. It gets an oil and filter change every 9-10k. Now on 75k. So it's had additional services at 9k, 27k, 45k, 63k. That's about an extra £700 in costs over nearly 6 years, compared to sticking to 'normal' service intervals. So an additional £120 a year.

[Soul_Glo]

No drawbacks whatsoever changing earlier. The earlier the better. On my E92, I changed it every 6k miles. On the 435d every 12k miles. On the X5M every 8-10k miles. It's a performance machine so must be maintained as one.

BMW of North America recommends changing under 10k miles. Why BMW Europe don't follow I have no idea.

[gippy]

Originally Posted by robbiep

Relevant questions :

Do you 'own' the car (i.e. lease it), or do you OWN it.
Will you be keeping it long-term, or to the end of warranty (or possibly extending the warranty by a year).
Can you afford a £5k+ bill

own own. I'll be keeping this car for a long time. Probably 5 years or more.
Cool, verdict has been made, oil change i will do.

warranty ends this september i'm hoping i can take it to an independent bmw specialist as i don't want to be raped by dealers.
would it void warranty?
if i can prove they use OEM parts etc, should be alright?

and i'm assuming an independent can reset the car indicator?

[Hooded]

Originally Posted by robbiep

Relevant questions :

Do you 'own' the car (i.e. lease it), or do you OWN it.
Will you be keeping it long-term, or to the end of warranty (or possibly extending the warranty by a year).
Can you afford a £5k+ bill

If it's lease, going back at the end of warranty, etc. , then stick with CBS. Someone else will be picking up the bill.
If you own it, are keeping it for the long-term, then do oil changes every 9-10k.

Engine oil changes are (relatively) cheap. Engines are expensive.

I've had my car since 3k miles. It gets an oil and filter change every 9-10k. Now on 75k. So it's had additional services at 9k, 27k, 45k, 63k. That's about an extra £700 in costs over nearly 6 years, compared to sticking to 'normal' service intervals. So an additional £120 a year.

I agree with this advice^

[Wills2]

I honestly can't get my head around this bed wetting around oil changes it's not the 70's anymore gents.

[gippy]

Originally Posted by Wills2

I honestly can't get my head around this bed wetting around oil changes it's not the 70's anymore gents.

well that's kinda why i started the thread really.
if anyone can find some factual information around this it'd be nice.

but i suppose there cannot be any harm in changing oil more frequently, can there? can only be upsides, or at the very worst, no benefit...

i'd rather err on the side of caution.

[pjkbrit]

Originally Posted by Wills2

I honestly can't get my head around this bed wetting around oil changes it's not the 70's anymore gents.

Timing chain/ guide wear is the usual result of long oil changes ... Range Rover, Mini and BMW have had serious issues in the USA with this and it's all avoidable with 5-7500 mile oil changes with today's modern oils. You will shit the bed when you are hit with the cost of a timing chain repair
Cost of oil changes (do myself) isn't worth discussing in comparison. JMHO

[ossi1]

Originally Posted by robbiep

Can you afford a £5k+ bill

Are you suggesting someone might get a £5K plus bill by following the manufacturers recommendations.

Ridiculous.

[imperfectluck]

As I'm sure you've seen already OP, the interval for some ranges between 3k - 5k and north up to 9k. It really depends on how you drive the vehicle. If you're one to be on the rather easy going side with some occasional spirited driving then you can lean towards the upper end of the interval in terms of when to change the oil. If you tend to get on the car and push it from time to time then understand that if you were to compare the oil after 5k miles on two different vehicles given the above situation, the oil quality will sure differ due to their usage.

From personal experience, I change mine every 4k miles. My personal reasoning is that, I'm not a track rat nor do I hammer on the car but I do spirited driving here and there and my car has quite a few mods running on it and I plan on keeping the car for quite a while. I couldn't see a downfall for putting in fresh new oil and a new fresh functioning filter earlier than usual.

Again, use your judgement in terms of your own personal usage of your vehicle to make sense of should you do your oil changes more frequently or less.

[Hooded]

Originally Posted by Wills2

I honestly can't get my head around this bed wetting around oil changes it's not the 70's anymore gents.

There's must be a reason why BMW revised the oil service interval down to every 10k miles or 12 months in the US in 2014.

[bishbosh]

Originally Posted by ossi1

Are you suggesting someone might get a £5K plus bill by following the manufacturers recommendations.

Ridiculous.

BMW are not renowned for having bullet proof timing chains! My old car was serviced as per manufacturers recommendations (before I bought it) and I had to get the chain changed under warranty as it was making a racket.

Since then I changed the oil every 8k miles - approx twice as often as recommended.

In reply to the previous poster I think oil changes every 4k miles is a little OTT. Unless you're tracking the car regularly. My old car was remapped and I certainly made use of the power when I could.

[Wills2]

Over 17 years and 500,000 miles tells me there is nothing wrong with CBS...

There are always variances between different markets as an example BMW offer an unlimited mileage warranty in the UK but not in the US why?

That's just another example of differences that we encounter across markets, does that mean US spec BMWs are at risk? Perhaps they are, hence the 10k oil changes....but we don't drive our cars in the US and BMW have a different service and warranty schedule in the UK, seen as how they build and develop the cars spending billions in process I'll go with their prevailing advice in the market I drive the car in.

[robbiep]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Over 17 years and 500,000 miles tells me there is nothing wrong with CBS...

There are always variances between different markets as an example BMW offer an unlimited mileage warranty in the UK but not in the US why?

That's just another example of differences that we encounter across markets, does that mean US spec BMWs are at risk? Perhaps they are, hence the 10k oil changes....but we don't drive our cars in the US and BMW have a different service and warranty schedule in the UK, seen as how they build and develop the cars spending billions in process I'll go with their prevailing advice in the market I drive the car in.

You say over 17 years and 500k+ miles ... but (joking about changing cars more often than underwear aside) how many of those cars have been run to high mileage, and out of warranty ?

I'll ask it in another way.

You're buying a cheaper BMW - you're in the sub-£10k market
Car A has 100k miles on the clock, and has had a total of 5 oil changes.
Car B has 100k, and has had 10 oil changes.

Are you really saying you'd view the long-term engine life (the next 100k miles) of those 2 cars as being the same ? Or would you look at the first one, and think 'timing chain', and veer off and buy car B

[robbiep]

Originally Posted by ossi1

Are you suggesting someone might get a £5K plus bill by following the manufacturers recommendations.

Ridiculous.

Out of warranty, and once the car has got considerable mileage ? Yes, I'm saying it is a lot more likely than for a car that gets serviced more often.

In fact, that's precisely what I did say in my original reply.

Maybe what's 'ridiculous' is someone selectively looking at one line out of a 9 line reply, and only replying to that one line, out of context ?

[TiredGeek]

Originally Posted by ossi1

Are you suggesting someone might get a £5K plus bill by following the manufacturers recommendations.

Ridiculous.

Errrrr, YES.
When it's 2 years out of warranty I'd like to see you take it in and say you've changed the oil when they said and now the engine has excessive wear and you'd like a new one free of charge.

Ridiculous.

[TiredGeek]

OP, it's your car, your money, there's no downside mechanically speaking to changing the oil early, do what the **** you want and ignore the rest of us

[rosstin]

Originally Posted by gippy

own own. I'll be keeping this car for a long time. Probably 5 years or more.
Cool, verdict has been made, oil change i will do.

warranty ends this september i'm hoping i can take it to an independent bmw specialist as i don't want to be raped by dealers.
would it void warranty?
if i can prove they use OEM parts etc, should be alright?

and i'm assuming an independent can reset the car indicator?

Use a genuine filter and good quality oil of course. Indy is fine. But I wouldn't reset the indicator if you are doing your own changes - no affect to warranty if they don't know you've had it done! Then take to a dealer for the official changes, if you want to maintain a full bmw service history.

[Techno 9000]

^ This.
Had mine serviced at the dealer until out of warranty, now changing the oil & filter yearly when the MOT test is due, if no other service is needed.

The last oil change (Castrol LL-04) & genuine filter cost around £40 given that I'd bought in bulk.

[RENT-A-GOAT]

Doesn't anyone just extend/renew their warranties with BMW after the 3yrs is up? That way you have total piece of mind. Sounds like I've been doing it all wrong renewing on my cars I should just not worry and change the oil more as it won't break that way. Really!

Drove just under 100k in my previous E91 stuck to CBS regime serviced at a dealership and it never skipped a beat or have anything other than recalls & wear/tear replacements, yes I extended the warranty every year for piece of mind yes it cost additional amounts but I factored that cost into the ownership cost of the car & just did it.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by imperfectluck

As I'm sure you've seen already OP, the interval for some ranges between 3k - 5k and north up to 9k. It really depends on how you drive the vehicle. If you're one to be on the rather easy going side with some occasional spirited driving then you can lean towards the upper end of the interval in terms of when to change the oil. If you tend to get on the car and push it from time to time then understand that if you were to compare the oil after 5k miles on two different vehicles given the above situation, the oil quality will sure differ due to their usage.

From personal experience, I change mine every 4k miles. My personal reasoning is that, I'm not a track rat nor do I hammer on the car but I do spirited driving here and there and my car has quite a few mods running on it and I plan on keeping the car for quite a while. I couldn't see a downfall for putting in fresh new oil and a new fresh functioning filter earlier than usual.

Again, use your judgement in terms of your own personal usage of your vehicle to make sense of should you do your oil changes more frequently or less.

No downside I'm sure, but is 4K really necessary? Seems a bit over the top, unless you only drive 2k a year.

I'd be doing 6 oils changes a year on that schedule! Reading this thread, I think people sometimes do it just to be able to piss about with their cars and feel like they're maintaining it themselves, like they did 20-30 years ago.

[APJ]

For me and especially once the car reaches three years old and due an mot, you service it with the mot every year, whether i've done 6k that year or 12k, i know it gets more complicated with the guys who are doing more than 20k every year, but then if a car is sat on a motorway at 70! all day, surely that can not be over stressing the engine at all and therefore some cars need to be changed at 10/15 whereas those driving round town stop starting and maybe the odd bit of spirited driving need to change at 5/10. Don't think everyone's oil change regime is the same, all down to how the car is driven.