[PaulE]

I purchased BMW Ultimate Care for several years with my 2019 X3 M40i. My car just passed 4,000 miles and I'm considering having my oil changed more frequently than every 10,000 miles as provided by the Ultimate Care package. Does anyone here have any experience with that? I think I'd like to get the oil changes I'm paying for by someone other than the BMW dealer and not have the maintenance counter reset, so that I would get my Ultimate Care oil changes at the dealer when the car says they are due. If I go to the dealer for the additional oil changes, I suspect they will reset the maintenance counter at that time and then not give me the oil change provided for at 10,000 miles because the maintenance counter says its not due.

My last experience with BMW scheduled maintenance with with my 1997 Z3 2.8. Since I drove it so little, none of the maintenance lights ever went out over the course of a year. The owner's manual said the oil should be changed at least once a year regardless of mileage driven, and I had to fight with the dealer to get them to change my oil for free under the included maintenance. While things have changed over 20 years, I don't think dealer service departments have.

So, does anyone else here have Ultimate Care and have their oil changed more frequently? If so, what do you do? Thanks in advance.

[calintexas]

Suggest you call and ask the service manager at your dealer if they'll do additional oil changes for you and not reset the service indicator. I'll be really surprised if they won't. It's extra money for them. Just be sure and request the service indicator not be reset when you take the car in. It's unlikely you'll be the only one doing that.

Dealerships are seldom the low cost provider. It's very likely that you can find an independent shop that will do your additional oil changes at a lower cost. Just be sure they are using BMW oil filters and oil that meets BMW standards for your vehicle, and, of course, remember to tell them not to reset the service indicator.

[GT500R]

I have the Ultimate Care (I think) til 50k and received two oil changes within 14k miles (7 and 14). All depends on the service advisor and how much you drive. I plan on doing them every 7k or so moving forward.

[BMWGuySweden]

In Sweden I have my first oil change after 30,000km or about 20,000miles. It's so sick that the service interval is double what you have in the US

[weez]

Why do you want to cut BMW's service interval in half? Don't you think it's way overkill? I'd rather err on the side of caution, and of course more oil changes doesn't hurt, but I also think there is a point of diminishing returns. Car manufacturers have for years now gone to longer oil change intervals with modern engines and modern synthetics, and engines are lasting longer than ever.

[HighlandPete]

Oil services at 10,000 miles are virtually cutting BMW's European service schedules in half anyway. Seems overkill to cut them even further. It is not an oil quality issue anymore, more a US marketing/confidence thing on oils.

Some of us in Europe do have interim oil changes (at dealers) without a reset. Shouldn't be any issues. Most continue to use the CBS regime, which over here is ~18 - 20,000 miles or 2-years, whichever comes first.

[skier219]

I think historically, we have changed oil too often and manufacturers are now using science to come up with more appropriate intervals. Some people still insist on doing more frequent changes though, perhaps out of habit or just following an old wives tale. No harm in it other than the cost, the disposal of used oil, and the need for new oil. Those last two impact the environment, if you happen to care about those things.

[MechX3M40i]

Originally Posted by skier219

I think historically, we have changed oil too often and manufacturers are now using science to come up with more appropriate intervals. Some people still insist on doing more frequent changes though, perhaps out of habit or just following an old wives tale. No harm in it other than the cost, the disposal of used oil, and the need for new oil. Those last two impact the environment, if you happen to care about those things.

Agree! Oil change more frequently than suggested by manufacturers benefit nobody except car shops who get paid doing the oil change.

I had been asked numerous time to change air filter and cabin filter for $50 each at car Stealership where I get free lifetime oil change. I asked them to show me how the air filter is dirty enough to warrant a change and they just said 'oh it's recommended to do it every 12k miles' without even taking a look at the actual filter. :

[MediaMan]

Originally Posted by weez

Why do you want to cut BMW's service interval in half? Don't you think it's way overkill? I'd rather err on the side of caution, and of course more oil changes doesn't hurt, but I also think there is a point of diminishing returns. Car manufacturers have for years now gone to longer oil change intervals with modern engines and modern synthetics, and engines are lasting longer than ever.

There is a strong school of opinion in the UK that 18-20,000 mile oil changes are not good for engines and such long service regimes have been behind the N47 timing chain issues and also timing chain failures on R56/57 Mini's.

One leading motoring website advocates 10,000 mile oil changes or once per year if lower mileage, but the jury's still out on the benefits of longlife oil but longer service regimes suit the fleet market. The problems caused by longer oil change intervals (and can be worse with diesel) tend to appear after the car has passed the end of the 3 year manufacturers warranty, often leaving the new owner with a rather large and unexpected bill - all for the sake of consumables worth under £100 and an extra few hours in the workshop.

[PaulE]

Thanks for the input. I may ask the service manager at the dealer but I expect a miscommunication between the service writer and the actual technician doing the work. While manufacturers are going to better quality oils and modern engines are cleaner, oil contamination is still an issue. I came out of a 2012 Acura TL with 128,000 miles, primarily highway driven, and the service monitor on that car had my oil changes every 10,000 miles. On that car I had no problems, but that's always been my experience with Hondas and Acuras. On the other hand, I have a 2003 Porsche Boxster S that I've had since new and the engine is currently being rebuilt despite the fact that the oil was changed every 5,000-6,000 miles as opposed to the manufacturer's recommended 15,000 miles. Even though I did the preventive IMSB upgrade that was supposed to prevent the kind of failure this car had, it still happened. My feeling is that there could be some issue with these BMW engines that we won't know about for a couple of years and an extra oil change won't hurt, at least at 5,000 miles since the engine was just broken in. Which is why I also extended the warranty, but not for as long as the Ultimate Care, as the Ultimate Care is transferable but the extended warranty isn't.

[weez]

Originally Posted by MediaMan

There is a strong school of opinion in the UK that 18-20,000 mile oil changes are not good for engines and such long service regimes have been behind the N47 timing chain issues and also timing chain failures on R56/57 Mini's.

One leading motoring website advocates 10,000 mile oil changes or once per year if lower mileage, but the jury's still out on the benefits of longlife oil but longer service regimes suit the fleet market. The problems caused by longer oil change intervals (and can be worse with diesel) tend to appear after the car has passed the end of the 3 year manufacturers warranty, often leaving the new owner with a rather large and unexpected bill - all for the sake of consumables worth under £100 and an extra few hours in the workshop.

I tend to agree with that given the 20K mi/2 yrs intervals that you guys have, but I do think cutting 10K mi/1yr intervals is overkill. There's actually decades of data to support that.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by MediaMan

There is a strong school of opinion in the UK that 18-20,000 mile oil changes are not good for engines and such long service regimes have been behind the N47 timing chain issues and also timing chain failures on R56/57 Mini's.

One leading motoring website advocates 10,000 mile oil changes or once per year if lower mileage, but the jury's still out on the benefits of longlife oil but longer service regimes suit the fleet market. The problems caused by longer oil change intervals (and can be worse with diesel) tend to appear after the car has passed the end of the 3 year manufacturers warranty, often leaving the new owner with a rather large and unexpected bill - all for the sake of consumables worth under £100 and an extra few hours in the workshop.

I agree there are debated issues around the long service intervals we see in Europe. The timing chain issues being a key reason for suspecting oil quality to be at least partly involved. Hence why some of us have interim oil changes.

10,000 miles changes have been around for something like 20-years. Fully synthetic oil has allowed this change interval without any discernible change to engine longevity. 20,000 miles may be pushing it, particularly in diesel engines, but for average use more frequent oil changes (~10,000 miles) do appear to be overkill.

[weez]

Originally Posted by PaulE

Thanks for the input. I may ask the service manager at the dealer but I expect a miscommunication between the service writer and the actual technician doing the work. While manufacturers are going to better quality oils and modern engines are cleaner, oil contamination is still an issue. I came out of a 2012 Acura TL with 128,000 miles, primarily highway driven, and the service monitor on that car had my oil changes every 10,000 miles. On that car I had no problems, but that's always been my experience with Hondas and Acuras. On the other hand, I have a 2003 Porsche Boxster S that I've had since new and the engine is currently being rebuilt despite the fact that the oil was changed every 5,000-6,000 miles as opposed to the manufacturer's recommended 15,000 miles. Even though I did the preventive IMSB upgrade that was supposed to prevent the kind of failure this car had, it still happened. My feeling is that there could be some issue with these BMW engines that we won't know about for a couple of years and an extra oil change won't hurt, at least at 5,000 miles since the engine was just broken in. Which is why I also extended the warranty, but not for as long as the Ultimate Care, as the Ultimate Care is transferable but the extended warranty isn't.

Damn everything you said there is counter to the argument for increased oil change intervals. To each there own though, and as you said, extra oil changes won't hurt the engine.

[calintexas]

When BMW was still using conventional motor oils and blended (some synthetic in a mix with mostly conventional oil) oils and a 15K service interval this is what the inside of an engine would look like by 130K miles. I recall that vanos issues in the 60K range were fairly common. It seems that true synthetics have made extended intervals safer. The only way to really know for sure what is the correct oil change interval for your engine, is to have a sample of what you drain out tested.

[XXX3]

For me, with direct injection = more frequent oil changes. IMO, these extended service intervals are all about marketing lower operating costs over lifetime of vehicle.

[PaulE]

Well I called my dealer today and asked them if they could/would change the oil early at my own expense and not reset the service minder. After being on hold for about 10 minutes the service advisor finally came back and told me it took him a while to find someone who knew the answer which was yes. He laughed when I told him when I brought it in I'd be reminding him to make sure the technician doesn't reset it! I'll probably tape a note on the idrive as well when I bring it in next Thursday.

[BobsM3Coupe]

Originally Posted by PaulE

Well I called my dealer today and asked them if they could/would change the oil early at my own expense and not reset the service minder. After being on hold for about 10 minutes the service advisor finally came back and told me it took him a while to find someone who knew the answer which was yes. He laughed when I told him when I brought it in I'd be reminding him to make sure the technician doesn't reset it! I'll probably tape a note on the idrive as well when I bring it in next Thursday.

I would leave a couple of large notes for the tech to hopefully see.

[Rhidium]

Originally Posted by PaulE

Well I called my dealer today and asked them if they could/would change the oil early at my own expense and not reset the service minder. After being on hold for about 10 minutes the service advisor finally came back and told me it took him a while to find someone who knew the answer which was yes. He laughed when I told him when I brought it in I'd be reminding him to make sure the technician doesn't reset it! I'll probably tape a note on the idrive as well when I bring it in next Thursday.

Find out how they would reset it and then put the note in the location where they have to access.

[Wgosma]

OP: have the shop pull a sample of used oil at your next change and you can send it to Blackstone labs for analysis- 25 bucks and you'll get a detailed report and recommendations in the narrative regards service interval going forward.
Good luck /Bill

[PaulE]

Originally Posted by Wgosma

OP: have the shop pull a sample of used oil at your next change and you can send it to Blackstone labs for analysis- 25 bucks and you'll get a detailed report and recommendations in the narrative regards service interval going forward.
Good luck /Bill

Thanks I should have seen this comment before I went. I had the oil changed today and they didn't reset the service interval. Maybe I'll ask for a sample next time. All it costs for an oil analysis is $25? I always assumed it cost a lot more, I'll look into it for this car and my Porsche Boxster after its engine is rebuilt.

[Wgosma]

It's cheap, give it a go next time -the lab does give short blurb specific to your results, kind of interesting.

[mrich1353]

I just hit 10k
Miles on my M40. I’ve decided to change oil every 5k. BMW covers at 5k; yesterday’s at 10k not covered. They did not reset service reminde so 15k should be covered. I also buy a bottle of BMW fuel additive every 5k to add to a full tank of Shell premium. Old school, but this may be the one I keep
Longer than 2-3 years