Approaching 1 year on PU 5w-40

[Quattro Pete]

... in my 530i, but by the time the 1-year mark arrives, I'll only have about 5K miles on it. The engine usually does get up to proper operating temp whenever I take the car out. My last OCI on GC was 10K miles, but I was driving a lot more last year, so it took less than a year to rack up 10K miles.

I'm thinking I'll just pull a sample at the 1-year mark and do a UOA. If the results come back OK, maybe I'll just keep it in there until next summer. It's a 7qt sump.

Any thoughts?

 

[Artem]

Sounds like a plan. No point in wasting good oil (if the results show that it's in good condition)

 

[mongo161]

Originally Posted By: Artem
Sounds like a plan. No point in wasting good oil (if the results show that it's in good condition)


+1 Sounds like a great idea.

 

[chubbs1]

All the way Quattro, good plan.

 

[Highline9]

oil and filter change cost same as uoa

 

[gomes512]

Yes but knowledge of knowing for later runs will be worth way more.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Highline9
oil and filter change cost same as uoa

Not quite. Oil and filter change will cost me about $60. UOA will cost about $24. Besides, UOA is typically done once to establish a safe interval going forward.

And, I was planning to do a UOA on this fill anyway, so a UOA will get done one way or another. The only difference is whether the oil will get dumped at the time of UOA or not. I figured I can always wait another week or two for the UOA results to come in and dump the oil then, if it looks spent.

 

[LeakySeals]

Non-scientific opinion - Your approaching a year, and it gets really cold where you are. If the car is garaged, you may be able to go on. If the car is outside exposed to winter extremes, why not change it. Cheap insurance for an expensive car.

 

[zoli]

Is there any OLM in your BMW?
But anyway, I should change the oil after 1 year - too nice car to save some bucks with oils...

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yes, there is an OLM. It is fuel consumption based. According to it, I still have more than 50% of oil life left. If my fuel consumption remained at the current level, the total OLM estimated OCI would have been around 15K miles.

It's not really about saving money. It's more about eliminating unnecessary oil changes. Plus we've seen a number of UOAs where the oil was in service for several years and it did not appear to be hurting anything. Although from an emotional perspective, sometimes I do get the itch to change it at least once a year.

 

[HTSS_TR]

If I was you I would hold off UOA until 7000-7500 miles, then decide to change oil or not after UOA result.

 

[Scum_Frog]

Based on your gut, any opinion on GC 0W30 vs PU 5W-40

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Scum_Frog
Based on your gut, any opinion on GC 0W30 vs PU 5W-40

Too close to call, IMO. Both should do well and I'm not expecting any big differences between the two.