[Jkegarch]

Question. Is the default "time" interval 12 months or 24?

I purchased a 2011 328i in April. The oil was changed in late Feb of 2013 however the I drive reads that the oil should be changed again by 2/2015. That would put the "time" interval out 2 years. Since I've only put 11,000 miles so far I have no history to go by. Obviously, I would rather BMW change the oil at 1 year than wait until the "mileage" interval is reached.

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

A default 15,000 mile OCI is a misnomer. The system is called Condition-Based Service (CBS) so the need to change the oil is dependent upon many operation variables that determine the condition of the oil. So, there is no set mileage oil change interval; around 15,000 miles is generally a range of where most cars fall when the oil needs changing. My car with an N52 and the driving conditions I drive under consistently called for oil change that averages around 17,500 miles. Recommends changing the oil every 12 months regardless of mileage, which you can consider a default OCI.

If you had an oil change between resets of the CBS and the service indicator was not reset by the tech, the car will not know the difference and continue to calculate the interval based on the inputs to algorithm uses to determine the OCI.

The CBS system always provides an estimated mileage left to the next required oil service, so you can always check if it was or was not reset after an oil change.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Jkegarch

Question. Is the default "time" interval 12 months or 24?

I purchased a 2011 328i in April. The oil was changed in late Feb of 2013 however the I drive reads that the oil should be changed again by 2/2015. That would put the "time" interval out 2 years. Since I've only put 11,000 miles so far I have no history to go by. Obviously, I would rather BMW change the oil at 1 year than wait until the "mileage" interval is reached.

In the US the low mileage interval is 12 months. In Europe it is 24 months. A few years ago BMW changed the US interval to 24 months and everyone pitched a bitch about it, so BMW reverted back to 12 months. Too many of us Americans have been brainwashed by Jiffy Lube and their 1950's oil change schedules.

[UncleWede]

Mine never says Please, it always says "Bing"

[Tom K.]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

In the US the low mileage interval is 12 months. In Europe it is 24 months. A few years ago BMW changed the US interval to 24 months and everyone pitched a bitch about it, so BMW reverted back to 12 months. Too many of us Americans have been brainwashed by Jiffy Lube and their 1950's oil change schedules.

I seem to recall something from BMW about the poorer quality of US fuel a few years back to justify the difference. But why are the dash countdowns still set for 2 years in the US?

Tom

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Tom K.

I seem to recall something from BMW about the poorer quality of US fuel a few years back to justify the difference. But why are the dash countdowns still set for 2 years in the US?

Tom

Fuel issues a side. I'm going to assume BMW just never programmed the USA market cars for a 1-year low mileage OCI. Considering 2-year low-mileage OCIs don't kill off the European side cars maybe BMW just didn't worry about it since its a rare case when an American doesn't drive 12,000 - 15,000 miles in a year.

My car has always had a 2-year OCI date even when the 1-year low mileage OCI was originally in place in 2006 when I bough my car. I always thought it was strange and funny because I originally thought the date was a prediction of when the CBS thought the next oil change would be required until I finally figured out it was the low-mileage OCI date.

[lol slow]

whoa?! you guys wait forever to change oil, that's shocking! I get a little paranoid with myself when I have to wait 6k miles, but yeah I change it every 5k or so with Royal Purple full synthetic oil. I do drive my car quite hard and I also have mods, otherwise I'd probably wait to 10k+ as well.