[335rocket]

I just hit 8k miles today. I know BMW's use synthetic oil and the dealer says you can wait to 15k miles until you change your oil, but for some reason, I fee I should change it now. Should I wait, or change it asap?

[BMWDAD]

I own my car. I went to a local BMW enthusiast garage, and he advised to change at 1,500, then let BMW do it at one year/15,000. After that one at 6 months, and one scheduled. That is what I will do. My son (25) wants to take perfect care of the car, he figures it to be his after 4 years.

[rambalu80]

There have been several discussions about this and you'll find people asking you to do it and others suggesting there is no need. Its really up to you. Also, if your car is 12 months old and hasn't reached 15,000 miles yet, BMW is supposed to change your oil for you in 12 months and then they will do the regular 15,000 miles one when you reach 15,000 miles.. I have about 12,000 miles on my car and it will be 12 months old in 9 days. I have an oil change schedules next week and I'll get another one in approximately 3 months when I reach 15,000 miles.

[cgpublic]

That said, I had my oil & filter changed by my dealer on my own dime at 2500 miles. Next change in February 09.

[Socratesbmw]

For those that have ahd it changed and felt it was the right thing to do, did you get an analysis done? All this talk of you should have it done etc. etc. but no one ever provides any sort of proof to support their stance.

[nyc3r]

no analysis, oil change every 3k.. piece of mind

[mayja6]

Originally Posted by rambalu80

There have been several discussions about this and you'll find people asking you to do it and others suggesting there is no need. Its really up to you. Also, if your car is 12 months old and hasn't reached 15,000 miles yet, BMW is supposed to change your oil for you in 12 months and then they will do the regular 15,000 miles one when you reach 15,000 miles.. I have about 12,000 miles on my car and it will be 12 months old in 9 days. I have an oil change schedules next week and I'll get another one in approximately 3 months when I reach 15,000 miles.

pretty sure you will not get another free one at 15k, you get 1 per year or when the service indicator says to do it, whichever comes first, they will reset it when they do it at 12,000 which will mean you wont be due for another year or 10-15k miles

[BK]

Originally Posted by mayja6

pretty sure you will not get another free one at 15k, you get 1 per year or when the service indicator says to do it, whichever comes first, they will reset it when they do it at 12,000 which will mean you wont be due for another year or 10-15k miles

Weird -- when they reset mine, it was to 10K. And it took 17K before it asked for an oil change the first time.

FWIW, I've had 3 oil changes so far, 2 were free:

4K mi = break-in, paid for it myself
12K mi = one year passed, free oil change - service indicator not reset
17K mi = service indicator goes off, free oil change - reset to 10K mi

I'll do it myself or pay for another one in a couple of months. For peace of mind, I'll change the oil approx every 6 months.

[rambalu80]

Originally Posted by mayja6

pretty sure you will not get another free one at 15k, you get 1 per year or when the service indicator says to do it, whichever comes first, they will reset it when they do it at 12,000 which will mean you wont be due for another year or 10-15k miles

That is not true. I asked my SA and he told me that I will get another free one at 15,000 miles which would be approximately 3 months from now when they will perform other services as a part of the scheduled 15,000 miles service. He also told me that they will not reset the oil change interval when I take the car in for the 12 month oil change.

Check out this thread.

[Socratesbmw]

Originally Posted by nyc3r

no analysis, oil change every 3k.. piece of mind

Why is this piece of mind? I'm not trying to start anything, I just find it odd how blindly people follow some old made up rule about 3000 miles. European cars have been using longer intervals between changes for decades now. The 3000 mile "myth" was perpetuated by American oil companies looking to increase their profits. The scientific evidence that used to support the myth was based on the fact that there was no multi-weight oil or detergents. That no longer applies and there are very few cars that require a 3000 mile change.

To each his own, but just think about those unecessary oil changes when you're complaining about the price of gas. You're driving up your own costs.

[lauer87]

Originally Posted by Socratesbmw

To each his own, but just think about those unecessary oil changes when you're complaining about the price of gas. You're driving up your own costs.

Unecessary oil changes? Then i suppose people shouldn't drive their cars unless absolutely necessary? A few extra oil changes for one car over its lifetime is so insignificant in terms of global demand.

[Kadarin]

Originally Posted by Socratesbmw

The 3000 mile "myth" was perpetuated by American oil companies looking to increase their profits.

Actually, I think it was started by Jiffy Lube.

[cgpublic]

...after 1K to 3K is reasonable, and every 10K to 15K pending driving and climate variables when using a synthetic. Analysis has been done by many others, and the bottom line is that there is no absolute answer. For the vast majority the oil is OK, and for others a change may not be critical but by the same token not unreasonable. I'm not sure where the 3K 'practice' came into play, for those manufacturers that use a special type of non-synthetic oil for break-in period, e.g., Honda, the buyer is advised to change the oil at 3K to drain and switch type.

[dcar335i]

If you decide to change it early, tell them to NOT reset the oil service indicator. That will keep you on schedule with the BMW maintenance program (free changes).

[STE92VE]

Originally Posted by BMWDAD

I own my car. I went to a local BMW enthusiast garage, and he advised to change at 1,500, then let BMW do it at one year/15,000. After that one at 6 months, and one scheduled. That is what I will do. My son (25) wants to take perfect care of the car, he figures it to be his after 4 years.

Who do you go to?

[nhhiep]

here is what I did to mine at:
3K
9k
16k - dealer
27k
35k - dealer
I am at 37.5k miles now.

basically, every 6months/7.5k

[alan93rsa]

Mine is scheduled for a change this Monday with 1600 mi. After that I'll change it on my own every 3k. Old habits die hard.

[nhhiep]

every 3k with synthetic oil is a big waste. Even 7.5k miles is also consider a waste to many (I know for BMW and Porche)

but hey, if you feel good doing it. go for it. it's your money, your car.

[mfstout]

Change it now. Can't hurt. Use exact same oil BMW uses. Good piece of mind. You might not need it, but then again, I'm changing mine at 1200 miles on my new e92. It's worth the money. Good luck.

[Socratesbmw]

Originally Posted by lauer87

Unecessary oil changes? Then i suppose people shouldn't drive their cars unless absolutely necessary? A few extra oil changes for one car over its lifetime is so insignificant in terms of global demand.

I saw this coming. It sort of like the argument that you only threw a single napkin on the ground, not a whole bag of trash. In the end its still littering. In the case of oil, there are so many people who think this way that the overall additional consumption is outrageous.

And yes, to the poster who pointed out Jiffy lube, they were the first ones to actively market that changing your oil every 3000 miles was the right thing to do. Best marketing campaing yet, they still have people buying into it. When oil companies saw how many 100's of millions in additional revenue was being created by this they jumped on board too to keep the myth going as their profits kept growing.

[742]

Originally Posted by Socratesbmw

For those that have ahd it changed and felt it was the right thing to do, did you get an analysis done? All this talk of you should have it done etc. etc. but no one ever provides any sort of proof to support their stance.

Here is one done per the BMW system:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...t=oil+analysis

There are oil analysis results on this and other forums. I have never seen one past 10,000 miles that I would want in my car, but to each their own.

[garyhgaryh]

I change my oil last week at 1700 miles. I don't plan on changing it until the next service, which is right at 16k miles or so. After looking at the oil that came out at 1700 miles, I feel changing it later would not have decreased the life of the engine . Since I plan on owning the car for at least 10 years, I'm ok with changing this early since the engine is still wearing in...