[sky]

I just got a service notification through the I-drive (and my
dealership) that my e90 is due for its scheduled oil change.
Just out of curiosity, I wanted to see how well the oil filter
held up with BMW's recommended 15k oil change interval.

Here are the pics.

As far as I can tell, the filter element held up pretty well.
No tears or brittleness to it. Also, I couldn't see any metal
particles or shavings.

The oil, as expected, looked very dark/dirty. It also looked
very thin, almost watery, even after the car had cooled off for
12 hrs. I'm pretty sure the oil is shot at this point. The one
thing I would really like to see is what's under the head, but
that's too much work.

Here are the car's stats:

2007 335 sedan. (8 mos old)
14.2k miles
24 mi/gal (combined city/hwy)
1 qt of oil at about 9k.

[1WickedE90]

Was this your 1st oil change for the car?

[sky]

Yes...original oil and filter since getting the car new. I did have to top
it off at about 9k with 1 qt of oil.

[nyczyang27]

not bad

[E90330iS]

Very nice quality pictures!

[karliejai]

thats not bad.

[epiphone3]

its not bad for that long in the sump.

However, when I change my oil after 7,500 - 8000 km, the filter and oil both look significantly better than that and the oil still seems to have a similar viscosity to new stuff.

Interesting... thank you for this!

[sky]

Originally Posted by epiphone3

...
Interesting... thank you for this!

No problem. I thought I would share this because of the on-going
debate about BMW's 15k oil change interval. Normally, I do the
7.5k mile interval. Since I plan to get rid of it at 50k (before the
warranty period/mileage), I'll just stick with what BMW recommends
and let them change it at their cost.

[achien]

unless you are driving in extreme weather conditions (desert or north pole) or "track" your car, synthetic oil should do the job under BMW recommended interval.