[PhizzurpF]

I got an oil change roughly 5,000 miles ago at an authorized bmw dealer. This was in July.

This morning, my service light came on stating I needed an oil change in 1200 miles. Is it normal for a dealer to "forget" to reset the maintenance light? Or could it be they never actually changed the oil?

[Billfitz]

The don't reset a light, they reset the interval, by 10,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. You can bring up the next service date due in iDrive. From your manual (highly suggested that you read it):

On the Control Display:
1. "Vehicle info"
2. "Vehicle status"
3. "Service required"
Required maintenance procedures and legally
mandated inspections are displayed.
4. Select an entry to call up detailed information.

Neither you nor the car can tell if or when the oil was last changed, only when the service record was last changed.

[PhizzurpF]

Thanks Bill. Did this already and there's no record of service for my July oil change, which is why I'm concerned.

[thatBimmerBloke]

I've seen a few CPO cars up for sale with little to no oil change history in CarFax, I started looking when it was missing even on my car.

[PhizzurpF]

Do all authorized dealers report to car fax? I just looked at mine and I don't see the entry for an oil change in July.

I do, however, see my other services reported.

[scottmoyer]

I recently reported on here that I had an oil change done at the dealership for scheduled maintenance. When I picked up the car, the service light came was still on. I asked the service writer about it and he said they probably just forgot to reset it and that I could do it easily. About two weeks later, I noticed oil stains under my car. Upon further inspection, I found the oil drain plug wasn't tightened. I drained some of the oil and it was thick and black. I also found a week later that the cabin air filter wasn't replaced either.

So, to answer your question, I would question if they changed your oil. My experience is telling me that if a simple reset wasn't done as part of the job, there's a good chance they didn't do the job at all!

[PhizzurpF]

That's what I'm worried about. What worries me more is that was the first oil change I did with the car since ownership.

It's concerning that looking over the car fax I can see all services performed by the previous owner (lease return) and even the most recent service I did. Everything's there EXCEPT the oil change I did on July 19.

I might as well mention the July 19 oil change was done by a dealer other than my primary. It's still an authorized BMW dealer just not my primary one.

[Billfitz]

Car Fax is a voluntary program. Most dealers don't report anything to it. Between the one thing and the other, however, I suspect your oil wasn't changed.

[PhizzurpF]

Discussed my concerns with the SA and he assured they changed the oil and reset the interval.

He also mentioned, which he thought was strange, the average interval for the car to prompt an oil change has been roughly 6800 miles.

The manual states the intervals should be 10,000. Neither me or him can make sense of why the car is prompting service sooner than 10,000. I assume this is because the service intervals have been updated to be based on condition rather than a set range. Can anyone confirm?

[Billfitz]

It would be normal for the car to say you have 1200 miles until your next oil change is due if you had either driven 8800 miles since the last change or if it calculated, based on your recent miles per day, that you'll only drive 1200 additional miles between now and July. When does it say the service is due? If it's not July they didn't do a reset.

[supermarket]

It’s not a hard and fast 10k. The car monitors conditions and adjusts the interval accordingly. The actual interval will depend on how hard you drive, how many cold starts there have been, ambient temperature, etc. It gets cold in Minnesota, right?

The system’s called CBS (condition-based service). Here’s the service guide for your car. You won’t find 10,000 anywhere in there, it just says “as specified by CBS.”

[PhizzurpF]

Thanks supermarket this is what the SA described as well. I've only driven 5,000 miles since the last oil change.

Still have my doubts on the dealer. Good thing I don't go to them regularly. I was impressed, however, the SA pulled all of the cars service history. It was releasing to know the previous owner changed oil every 6.8k miles.