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      12-29-2012, 01:52 PM   #1
HighPlainsCruiser
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10K+ Oil Changes

It was none other than Consumer Reports who did a study of a large number of cars that had driven over 200,000 miles and determined that the one common denominator they all had was that they changed the oil at least every 3500 miles. How do you folks feel about the much larger distance between changes that BMW is using?
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      12-29-2012, 04:25 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HighPlainsCruiser View Post
It was none other than Consumer Reports who did a study of a large number of cars that had driven over 200,000 miles and determined that the one common denominator they all had was that they changed the oil at least every 3500 miles. How do you folks feel about the much larger distance between changes that BMW is using?
I think it would depend on whether using conventional or synthetic oil and what type. From what I have read, there is zero benefit to changing synthetic oil that often.
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      12-29-2012, 05:10 PM   #3
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Way too many variables. Most accurate way to do it would be to do oil analyses during intervals - new, 3k, 7k etc. With modern Syns 9x out of 10 you lose very little oil performance through 10k. 3500 is no longer relevant for most applications.
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      12-29-2012, 05:44 PM   #4
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I changed the oil around 9500 miles.
Before this change the OBC would show 510 - 520 miles range on a full tank.
Now, although just 2 top ups since the oil change, the OBC is showing 600+ both times..
So I beleive it was worth it just for the extra miles per tank
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      12-29-2012, 07:47 PM   #5
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Having mine changed on the 7th with 10K miles...
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      12-30-2012, 06:29 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Broch View Post
I changed the oil around 9500 miles.
Before this change the OBC would show 510 - 520 miles range on a full tank.
Now, although just 2 top ups since the oil change, the OBC is showing 600+ both times..
So I beleive it was worth it just for the extra miles per tank
You cant say that is because of an oil change. Much more likely to be simple bedding in/freeing up of the engine and drive train. - If you really got a 15% saving in fuel consumption a lot of other people would have noticed it by now.
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      12-30-2012, 07:29 AM   #7
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I changed my oil (to Castrol Edge FST 0W30 BMW Oil Filter) at 9000 miles and the consumption has definately got 10% worse!
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      12-31-2012, 02:57 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by plymjack View Post
You cant say that is because of an oil change.
plyjack, you are correct in what you say.

I stated 3 facts.
Fact 1 = I changed my oil
Fact 2 = Before the oil change, the OBC would show 510-520m/tank
Fact 3 = After the oil change, the OBC has shown 600+m/tank, twice.

It's too early to tell, and only future top ups will tell, but in the meantime,,,I'm a happy camper
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      12-31-2012, 06:03 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Broch View Post
I changed the oil around 9500 miles.
Before this change the OBC would show 510 - 520 miles range on a full tank.
Now, although just 2 top ups since the oil change, the OBC is showing 600+ both times..
So I beleive it was worth it just for the extra miles per tank
Could it just be that the OBC takes into account your recent driving style when calculating the range in the tank? If you have been driving more efficiently since the oil change it may have revised the range figure. Or perhaps you have put more fuel in than previously?
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      12-31-2012, 06:18 AM   #10
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Interesting. My OBC gives me 10 000 miles to oil change... and I have 13 000 miles on the clock now.

Also next service is due 12/2013, even though the car was manufactured 12/2011.

So I am yet to experience oil change and its effects on consumption.
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      01-04-2013, 07:14 PM   #11
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It's interesting that in years past when the customer paid for maintenance, BMW recommended shorter oil change intervals. Now that they are footing the bill, oil change intervals have lengthened. Draw your own conclusions from that.

My oil change philosophy comes from my late father, a life-long mechanic. As he was fond of saying, "Oil is cheap. Engines are expensive."

So I changed the oil (myself) in our X3 at 1,500 miles and again at 4,000 miles. Didn't do an analysis, but the oil was pitch black both times. I'll probably change it again around 7,500 miles. After that.....for "mature" engines I usually change the oil every 9 months or 7,500 miles, whichever comes first. Synthetic of course. (Mobil 1 0w-40)

At around $45 per oil change, I consider it cheap insurance.

As always, your mileage (and opinions) may vary.
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      01-04-2013, 08:23 PM   #12
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Are you just doing a transfusion or filter and oil?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eurocar11 View Post
It's interesting that in years past when the customer paid for maintenance, BMW recommended shorter oil change intervals. Now that they are footing the bill, oil change intervals have lengthened. Draw your own conclusions from that.

My oil change philosophy comes from my late father, a life-long mechanic. As he was fond of saying, "Oil is cheap. Engines are expensive."

So I changed the oil (myself) in our X3 at 1,500 miles and again at 4,000 miles. Didn't do an analysis, but the oil was pitch black both times. I'll probably change it again around 7,500 miles. After that.....for "mature" engines I usually change the oil every 9 months or 7,500 miles, whichever comes first. Synthetic of course. (Mobil 1 0w-40)

At around $45 per oil change, I consider it cheap insurance.

As always, your mileage (and opinions) may vary.
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      01-05-2013, 12:01 AM   #13
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The 3,000 mile oil change interval has been around since the 50's and back then the oil was inferior, so was the gas, and vehicles didn't run nearly as clean as they do now. With all the improvements to oil, gas, filters, and vehicles in the past 60 years I'm not surprise that pretty much everyone auto manufacture is now recommends much longer oil changes. If you are sticking to 3,000 mile oil changes you are just wasting money and resources.
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      01-05-2013, 08:49 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HighPlainsCruiser View Post
It was none other than Consumer Reports who did a study of a large number of cars that had driven over 200,000 miles and determined that the one common denominator they all had was that they changed the oil at least every 3500 miles. How do you folks feel about the much larger distance between changes that BMW is using?
I agree with a prior poster that there are way too many variables to come to a definite conclusion. A reasonable explanation for the above could be that people who change their oil more often take better care of their cars overall and other variables (or a combination of factors) may account for the longer lasting cars and not just the oil change.
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      01-05-2013, 08:53 AM   #15
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When was the test done? One which vehicles? With which oils?

And how many of us honestly intend to keep driving this car that long before getting a newer one?

The above said, I did two "interim" oil changes on mine applying the "cheap insurance" concept in the early miles of the engine. After those, I'll just be sticking to the schedule.
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      01-09-2013, 09:33 AM   #16
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I changed my oil and filter following break-in (at about 3,000 km) as I've seen many oil analyses on these forums that show it is a good idea. My car shows that it will be due for the first scheduled oil change at about 24,000 km. From now on, I will most likely change the oil after every winter (once annually) or split the 24,000 km in half and do 12,000 km per oil change.
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      01-09-2013, 10:19 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Broch View Post
plyjack, you are correct in what you say.

I stated 3 facts.
Fact 1 = I changed my oil
Fact 2 = Before the oil change, the OBC would show 510-520m/tank
Fact 3 = After the oil change, the OBC has shown 600+m/tank, twice.

It's too early to tell, and only future top ups will tell, but in the meantime,,,I'm a happy camper
On my N52 E90, I got much better fuel economy and performance (seems to have freed up the engine) after my first ol change at 10,000kms. After that, I did not notice any improvement from subsequent oil changes.

I think it was more related to break-in oil and the break-in process itself.
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