02-02-2012, 08:15 AM | #23 |
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It's a sign of the times I believe.
I work in the construction/mining industry around heavy plant here, and the service intervals for vehicles weighing anywhere from 20 ton through to 500 ton is stretching longer and longer with every new product release. It's all down to more anal environmental impacts and the need to make machines/engines run cleaner for longer with whilst limiting the need to exhaust useables (oils) as regularly as in the past. Motor vehicles will come under even harder scrutiny as the emphasis on global warming etc etc takes hold... Manufactures have no choice but to fall in line... |
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02-02-2012, 08:23 AM | #24 | |
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02-02-2012, 08:38 AM | #25 | ||
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BMW doesn't have the power to suspend wear/contamination/oil breakdown. If that's the case, then why don't they offer longer powertrain warranties? I mean, they have these magical frictionless engines and transmissions with "lifetime" oil after all. Oh, and don't get me started on BMW engineers if they are the same goons who decided to make the e46 subfloor out of paper mache. Ask anyone how thankful they are for these guys when their low mileage car has its entire subframe tearing apart from the chassis. Last edited by bren; 02-02-2012 at 08:44 AM.. |
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02-02-2012, 10:06 AM | #26 | |
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02-02-2012, 01:11 PM | #27 |
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I've driven BMW's for almost 20 years and I've always followed the service intervals stated by BMW. Never had any issues with any BMW engine. Ranging from the first cars where the intervals were around 7k to the modern ones that take us to 14-17k.. result is a huge saving in overall ownership costs.
As to anyone in their right mind.. well, this seems to be a very American thing, there was even an article on the news over here about the huge usage of oil in the US because drivers change their engine oil so often, and its encouraged by oil suppliers. Now i'm not saying one way or another what is right or wrong, I think if you own a car, then you do what you feel is the right thing for you to do. Since I have service inclusive with my X3 I can just pop in any time to get top ups, although I doubt they would entertain changing the oil much outside the range stated by the computer. |
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02-02-2012, 09:06 PM | #28 | |
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02-02-2012, 09:27 PM | #29 |
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I just had the dealership change my oil yesterday. I was not charged as I have owned the car for one year and had less than 6,000 miles. I asked the service advisor twice to check the bluetooth device as I have not been able to link three different phones. He kept saying he would help me when I picked the car up. Well he and a mechanic finally said my car probably has a combox issue and I need to reschedule. Oh well. I think BMW engines should have the oil and filter changed at least once per year or 12,000 miles.
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02-03-2012, 01:17 PM | #30 |
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Perhaps I'm the lucky high mileage oil change guy, my computer shows me 7000 miles to go with 13,500 on the odometer. Mostly highway miles, with one cross country trip in the first month of ownership of about 3500 miles. Will the dealer change it at 15000 or when the computer tells me to?
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02-03-2012, 02:34 PM | #32 |
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The owner's manual for my 2011 BMW 128i says you should change the oil at least once a year; but the manual for my wife's 2012 X3 28i doesn't say anything about a maximum time interval.
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02-10-2012, 03:23 PM | #34 |
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Unless you're driving really hard or in very bad conditions, the synthetic oils will handle it. The first change is the most important. I pay for a change to be done at the end of the break-in period, and then I follow the program after that.
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02-10-2012, 04:50 PM | #35 |
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No need to keep dragging this out, but I'd be really interested to see some oil tests after high mileage oil changes in the n55 in particular.
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02-10-2012, 05:10 PM | #36 |
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In my opinion, the sole and only reliable method of determining when it is necessary to change the oil in an engine is by testing the oil. Any other method, be it miles driven, time, temperature, or some combination thereof, is nothing more than an educated approximation when to change the oil. Since it is not practical or even economic for a car owner to regularly sample/test the the oil, we really have no choice but to do the next best thing and make an educated guess.
Since anything but sample/testing results in an essentially open loop feedback system, everyone is going to have a different opinion as is very evident from all the comments above. In other words, there is no right or wrong method, including BMWs wait til the computer tells you to do it system. That being said, a few years ago I completely stopped using a local garage for tires, oil changes, and minor repairs because of their insistence on always pushing 3000 mile oil changes. I felt this was disingenuous and made me want to question any other advice they would give. For me, I have been using Mobile One since 1979 or so and change every 7,500 to 8000 miles. Without testing, I cannot begin to mount a convincing argument that this represents the optimum interval. However, this allows me to sleep well as I perceive this is probably very conservative. Perception is reality. |
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02-11-2012, 12:52 AM | #37 |
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newer oils better oils...
A study by the Calif. goverm. for their fleet vehicules show you can go 30K miles between oil changes and more on the big trucks.
They lab analyzed the oil in the vehicles over a long period of time to determine the degradation of the oils. Based on that study, we went to 15K miles oil changes on PCs that I managed in my unit. And they're not driven to go to the corner store....They're floored to the corner store... Anyways, the quality of the oils is much better today than they were 25 years ago. Manufacturing standards are also better making for lesser engine wear (who breaks in engines anymore?http://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/images/smilies/iono.gif??). I've been on 15K miles oil changes for quite a while. My '95 318 has 198k miles on it and it's still going strong. The X3 burns about a quart every 10k miles. |
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12-28-2022, 11:52 AM | #39 |
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The 28i and 35i engines use (7) quarts of oil which is quite a lot for a 3L engine.
Note: 28i (N20) uses 5 quarts of oil... |
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