[Flipflop99]

What do people think of the service intervals? 18,000 miles seems a lot between services. I have the service plan so it's not in my interest to service the car (just done 10,000 miles) now but my friend who I went to school with is a mechanic and he states that 18,000 miles between services makes him nervous and recommends every 12,000 miles max. We own our car and I intend to keep it for 10 years so I want to know it's had the best care in terms of oil and maintenance.

[plymjack]

20 years Ok that may have been the case - but with CBM - (condition based maintenance) and tech oils is is clear that it can easily be 18k+.
Not heard of a single engine failure so accept the service details for what they are.

[Tjalle]

I share your concern - I also plan to keep my vehicle for about 10 years.

I have two cars, and hence low mileage - about 10.000 km/year.

I have designed a serviceplan based on experience from SAAB:
-engine oil once a year - a bit over the top, but feels good.
-oilfilter every second year
-sparkplugs - check/adjust every year
-engine airfilter - change every forth year- no heavy industries nearby
-cabin airfilter - " "
-brakefluid - change every fourth year
-AUTO- change oil every fourth year

I do not plan to change coolant, transmission oil nor servofluid.

I am open for improvements based on experience from BMW.

I will NOT service at BMW dealer after free maintanence is out. (3 years)

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

I share your concern - I also plan to keep my vehicle for about 10 years.

I have two cars, and hence low mileage - about 10.000 km/year.

I have designed a serviceplan based on experience from SAAB:
-engine oil once a year - a bit over the top, but feels good.
-oilfilter every second year
-sparkplugs - check/adjust every year
-engine airfilter - change every forth year- no heavy industries nearby
-cabin airfilter - " "
-brakefluid - change every fourth year
-AUTO- change oil every fourth year

I do not plan to change coolant, transmission oil nor servofluid.

I am open for improvements based on experience from BMW.

I will NOT service at BMW dealer after free maintanence is out. (3 years)

If you're planning on keeping the car for 10 years why would you not change some of these fluids out around the 50k mark.

Lifetime to BMW means about 100,000 miles (which is the maximum coverage of an extended warranty).

[poiuytre111]

Originally Posted by plymjack

20 years Ok that may have been the case - but with CBM - (condition based maintenance) and tech oils is is clear that it can easily be 18k+.
Not heard of a single engine failure so accept the service details for what they are.

Are you excluding N47 timing chain issues from your comment "not a single engine failure" ?

[Flipflop99]

Originally Posted by poiuytre111

Are you excluding N47 timing chain issues from your comment "not a single engine failure" ?

This is exactly my concern. Timing chain failure scares the life out of me and many say the chance of failure is significantly reduced with regular oil changes.

[plymjack]

Not seen any evidence that the timing chain failure is linked to frequency of oil change.

I have seen a lot of evidence abut CBM - it was Ford who looked at it first and then dropped it - because the dealers would lose a lot from reduced servicing revenues.

It was picked up by others and has been widely adopted. In many many cases a lot of servicing was found to be a waste of time and money.

[Tjalle]

Polo: because I see no reason why - based on experience. Automatic gearbox is a tricky design - hence oilchange, while I have not changed coolant, oil in manual gearbox nor fluid in servo on my 17 year old SAAB 9000 - 275.000 km.

Do you have different experience? I am open for suggestion.

"lifetime for BMW is 100.000 miles" - 9000 was designed for 15 years and 225.000 km - mine is on overtime.

[Pinewood]

Both of my 5 series autos were sold with excess of 120,000 miles and the new owners ran them for many many years ( i bumped into one 3 years after selling the car to him and the car was at 170,000 miles)
I can't see lifetime meaning 100, 000

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

Polo: because I see no reason why - based on experience. Automatic gearbox is a tricky design - hence oilchange, while I have not changed coolant, oil in manual gearbox nor fluid in servo on my 17 year old SAAB 9000 - 275.000 km.

Do you have different experience? I am open for suggestion.

"lifetime for BMW is 100.000 miles" - 9000 was designed for 15 years and 225.000 km - mine is on overtime.

I drive 30,000 miles per year and track my ZF 8HP45. ZF usually specs a "severe duty" service interval of around 50,000 miles.

[Tjalle]

Then I should change oil in gearbox after about 8 years?

With transmission I meant all transmission components but automatic gearbox.

I have seen nothing about sensitivity for the clutches, that makes up the performance of the AWD. Anybody?

I found an instruction on how to remove sparkplugs - that put me off - I might wait 4 years, if engine running OK.

I will, of course, also see what BMW will do during the 3 years of free maintenance.

[pokerface]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

I will, of course, also see what BMW will do during the 3 years of free maintenance.

Not much - mostly just oil, brake fluid, and filters

[Tjalle]

pokerface, that was what I expected. I would like them to check sparkplugs, but they will be included in my serviceplan - starting year 4.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

Then I should change oil in gearbox after about 8 years?

With transmission I meant all transmission components but automatic gearbox.

I have seen nothing about sensitivity for the clutches, that makes up the performance of the AWD. Anybody?

I found an instruction on how to remove sparkplugs - that put me off - I might wait 4 years, if engine running OK.

I will, of course, also see what BMW will do during the 3 years of free maintenance.

If it's going to take you 8 years to get up to that mileage then don't bother.

[Tjalle]

Yeah - I agree. It will depend on how long my 9000 will work - I have high hopes.

[thenew3]

My previous BMW was a 1999 328i E46 with the M52TU 2.8l engine.
I followed the OBC as far as oil change interval and often went 15k to 18k miles between oil changes. Also never touched the transmission fluid.

When I sold it at 175k miles, engine and transmission was still running as smooth as day 1 with 6 miles on it.

The mechanic I sold it to did a compression test, and took off the oil pan and said he can't believe how clean it was (i.e. no sludge buildup) and no compression leaks.

Never had any engine or transmission issues in the time I owned it.

I've always followed the MFG recommended OCI on all vehicles and never had any issues even when it states 18k mile OCI.

[MichiganMike]

I concur with much of your original service plan. However, checking and adjusting spark plugs annually is excessive in my opinion and might even contribute to problems. Your current thinking to check plugs every four years unless there is a problem sounds reasonable. However, I would be more inclined to simply change the plugs at this interval given the time and effort involved to access and remove them.

Modern engines are generally not as prone to foul spark plugs. The spark plugs with platinum or iridium coated electrodes have a long life. Efforts to check or change the gap on such plugs may damage the coating. Repeated manipulation of spark plug wires and other components to access spark plugs may inadvertently cause damage to these components.

[Tjalle]

OK, I will change sparkplugs every fourth year- no big deal. Thanks.

I will, anyhow, not buy sparkplugs from BMW.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

OK, I will change sparkplugs every fourth year- no big deal. Thanks.

I will, anyhow, not buy sparkplugs from BMW.

I think the better way to do it is by miles.

I did mine at around 50k miles, but I believe the specified interval is 60k miles.

I ended up buying the spark plugs from BMW. They were not that expensive and they come pre-gapped.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1226053

[poiuytre111]

Originally Posted by plymjack

Not seen any evidence that the timing chain failure is linked to frequency of oil change.

I have seen a lot of evidence abut CBM - it was Ford who looked at it first and then dropped it - because the dealers would lose a lot from reduced servicing revenues.

It was picked up by others and has been widely adopted. In many many cases a lot of servicing was found to be a waste of time and money.

Recent post on 1 series forum for info:
postby Toed64 » Thu May 26, 2016 9:08 pm

Blackbmw120d wrote:
I change my oil every 12K on my Citroen/Peugeot diesel engined vans. Still managed to blow two turbo's. Some factors will not supply them as a replacement part now as it's such an issue.

A friend of mine was workshop manager for a trucking company for many years. To support the lorries and machines, they had about 70 service vehicles that needed to be dependable. He got fed up with spending so many man-hours on replacing turbos and pulling the heads off vans with snapped cam belts. So he changed the company policy - they changed the oil and filter on every diesel vehicle every 6000 miles, or less if it's getting close when it appeared in the yard. Cam belts got changed every 30,000. (The Escort vans got new belts every 20,000). They didn't have a major failure for the next 10 years!
2010 E82 135i n55
Forge intercooler, hardpipe, afe induction, jb4.
Brembo sport pads
Vredestein non rf
M3 LCAs, M3 ARBs, Whiteline bush inserts
CDV delete

http://babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=86764

[MichiganMike]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

I think the better way to do it is by miles.
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1226053

Some BMW owners at the link below recommend shorter intervals for spark plug changes than 60K miles. Also, if much of your driving is shorter trips, it may prudent to change the spark plugs earlier than if most trips are longer.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1128588

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by MichiganMike

Some BMW owners at the link below recommend shorter intervals for spark plug changes than 60K miles. Also, if much of your driving is shorter trips, it may prudent to change the spark plugs earlier than if most trips are longer.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1128588

It's completely unnecessary. I did mine at 50k miles which is 10k miles before the 60k mark. The car has been tracked as well.

If you're tuned and/or don't use top tier gas, then perhaps you might want to try shorter intervals.