BMW Drops OCI to 10,000 miles.

[KenO]

Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: KenO
Originally Posted By: oliveoil
I've been doing 10-12k OCI's for the life of my 1998 BMW M3, now with 180k+ miles. used oil analysis tell me I could comfortably go much longer. Clean as a whistle under the fill cap. Uses oil like most European cars (2 qts during 12k OCI, which replenishes the oil), holds 6qts and has a big oil filter. Silly to waste good oil by changing it early. Sort of like paying for good tires but changing them every 15k miles. No one does that. so why waste good oil? Such behavior is Fiscally and environmentally irresponsible. We all need to think of the bigger picture of living together in this world. We In the US waste much more than our worldy share of natural resources and energy. Our BMW's will die of mechanical issues unrelated to lubrication. It is a shame to waste good oil.




6 quarts? You sure your dipsticks right? Most E36's hold between 7-8. I ten to put 8 in mine, and thats slightly over full. I drive pretty hard though too, including autox & trackdays, so...

I thought regardless of driving habits, exceeding max is not good for engine!



These engines have oil starvation issues with high-G cornering. Running .5-1 quart over full helps keep the oil pump pickup submerged in those situations (helps - still doesn't 100% alleviate if your car makes a lot of grip). These engines also have factory windage trays, so airation from churn isn't a huge concern.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: KenO
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: KenO
Originally Posted By: oliveoil
I've been doing 10-12k OCI's for the life of my 1998 BMW M3, now with 180k+ miles. used oil analysis tell me I could comfortably go much longer. Clean as a whistle under the fill cap. Uses oil like most European cars (2 qts during 12k OCI, which replenishes the oil), holds 6qts and has a big oil filter. Silly to waste good oil by changing it early. Sort of like paying for good tires but changing them every 15k miles. No one does that. so why waste good oil? Such behavior is Fiscally and environmentally irresponsible. We all need to think of the bigger picture of living together in this world. We In the US waste much more than our worldy share of natural resources and energy. Our BMW's will die of mechanical issues unrelated to lubrication. It is a shame to waste good oil.




6 quarts? You sure your dipsticks right? Most E36's hold between 7-8. I ten to put 8 in mine, and thats slightly over full. I drive pretty hard though too, including autox & trackdays, so...

I thought regardless of driving habits, exceeding max is not good for engine!



These engines have oil starvation issues with high-G cornering. Running .5-1 quart over full helps keep the oil pump pickup submerged in those situations (helps - still doesn't 100% alleviate if your car makes a lot of grip). These engines also have factory windage trays, so airation from churn isn't a huge concern.

Are you talking about 328?
I know that they had problems.

 

[cutlassvillager]

Originally Posted By: KenO
Originally Posted By: oliveoil
I've been doing 10-12k OCI's for the life of my 1998 BMW M3, now with 180k+ miles. used oil analysis tell me I could comfortably go much longer. Clean as a whistle under the fill cap. Uses oil like most European cars (2 qts during 12k OCI, which replenishes the oil), holds 6qts and has a big oil filter. Silly to waste good oil by changing it early. Sort of like paying for good tires but changing them every 15k miles. No one does that. so why waste good oil? Such behavior is Fiscally and environmentally irresponsible. We all need to think of the bigger picture of living together in this world. We In the US waste much more than our worldy share of natural resources and energy. Our BMW's will die of mechanical issues unrelated to lubrication. It is a shame to waste good oil.




6 quarts? You sure your dipsticks right? Most E36's hold between 7-8. I ten to put 8 in mine, and thats slightly over full. I drive pretty hard though too, including autox & trackdays, so...


Same here. My M52 usually takes about 7 and the last oil change on my parents M54 powered 3 series it took 7.5 quarts to get it to the top of the dipstick.

 

[cutlassvillager]

Originally Posted By: cutlassvillager
Originally Posted By: KenO

I've been doing 10-12k OCI's for the life of my 1998 BMW M3, now with 180k+ miles. used oil analysis tell me I could comfortably go much longer. Clean as a whistle under the fill cap. Uses oil like most European cars (2 qts during 12k OCI, which replenishes the oil), holds 6qts and has a big oil filter. Silly to waste good oil by changing it early. Sort of like paying for good tires but changing them every 15k miles. No one does that. so why waste good oil? Such behavior is Fiscally and environmentally irresponsible. We all need to think of the bigger picture of living together in this world. We In the US waste much more than our worldy share of natural resources and energy. Our BMW's will die of mechanical issues unrelated to lubrication. It is a shame to waste good oil.




6 quarts? You sure your dipsticks right? Most E36's hold between 7-8. I ten to put 8 in mine, and thats slightly over full. I drive pretty hard though too, including autox & trackdays, so...


Same here. My M52 usually takes about 7 and the last oil change on my parents M54 powered 3 series it took 7.5 quarts to get it to the top of the dipstick. I usually lose a quart over an oil change (11k) and no noticeable oil in my parents. We don't always go long enough (we usually max out on time first 1-1 1/2
years) to have to add oil

 

[MCompact]

My wife's 3er and son's X3 both take seven quarts as well...

 

[bimmerdriver]

It's about time they changed this. I think 15k miles is far too long for OCI. IMHO, it should be not more than 10k miles or 12 months.

I recently purchased my M3 (luckily with only 12k kms on the odometer). When I was looking for it, I came across several relatively low mileage M3s that had been treated to recommended OCI. One car in particular had only 59k kms, but because of the 20k+ kms OCI, it had been given only 2 oil changes. Inside the valve cover, the varnish was dark caramel coloured. The dispstick was rusty in the middle and had sludge on the bottom. Needless to say, I walked away from the car.

Over on M3Forum, there is a maintenance thread that shows the difference inside the valve cover that frequent oil changes makes. Cars with frequent oil changes are clean inside. Cars that are not given frequent oil changes have dark varnish inside the engine.

 

[Mark_Walk]

So, you bought an 11 yr old car and it only had 12k kms on it??

 

[bimmerdriver]

Yes. It actually had 11,638 on the odometer when I picked it up.

 

[demarpaint]

Obviously they shortened the OCI for a good reason, they probably had issues with longer OCIs. They didn't just decide to do it for no good reason, something prompted them to shorten them.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: bimmerdriver
Yes. It actually had 11,638 on the odometer when I picked it up.

SCORE!!!!!!

 

[bimmerdriver]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: bimmerdriver
Yes. It actually had 11,638 on the odometer when I picked it up.

SCORE!!!!!!

Yah, I was lucky to find it. Nice to start with a clean slate. No oil has been in the crankcase long enough to deposit any varnish. I'll do my best to keep it that way.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: bimmerdriver
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: bimmerdriver
Yes. It actually had 11,638 on the odometer when I picked it up.

SCORE!!!!!!

Yah, I was lucky to find it. Nice to start with a clean slate. No oil has been in the crankcase long enough to deposit any varnish. I'll do my best to keep it that way.


Yup, that's what I'm doing with my M5. Clean aluminum under the valve cover (this is from shortly after buying it):

I've also seen some rather horrific pictures of varnish-laden S62's, it is pretty disgusting!

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM


Originally Posted By: dparm
BMW also dropped the 10w60 oil requirement for the new M cars -- they can now use ACEA A3/B4.

Is that all M cars starting MY 2014? Any back-dating?



They're not backdating it.



Well, yes and no. The F-Series M cars (Any M-car which has a factory turbo) does NOT use the 10w60. They all use 5w30.

 

[Paws]

15K on oil changes was always insane and anyone who has ever crawled under a care knew it,knows it and I have no earthly idea why anyone would let a lovely motor go that long.
Ive seen tons of nice BMWs with nasty gunk in the engine. Ive lost customers as a mechanice after telling my clients that 15K is NUTS.
I took the advice of a fleet operator in the trucking biz,yrs ago. He said,Everyone operates their truck fleets differently,but ALL the successful ones are based on a program of clean oil.
I own two bmws,I run em wide open,all the time,and change the oil about 2800 miles. Thats when I see the oil start to darken. I steal my oil from my own company,so I guess I have no cost worries,but Im telling you,15K is nuts.

 

[HTSS_TR]

If I'm near you I would love to have your 2800 miles used oil to use in all my cars !

The shortest OCI is Honda S2000 at 5k/12mo with dino. The longst OCI is LS400 at 15-16k/12mo with syn, the E430 has medium OCI at around 11-13k/12mo.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Paws
I own two bmws,I run em wide open,all the time,and change the oil about 2800 miles. Thats when I see the oil start to darken.

Good thing you don't own a diesel engine then, I guess. You'd be changing your oil every 100 miles according to the above methodology.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Paws


I own two bmws,I run em wide open,all the time,and change the oil about 2800 miles. Thats when I see the oil start to darken. I steal my oil from my own company,so I guess I have no cost worries,but Im telling you,15K is nuts.


You could easily double that OCI and still be safe. Or live on the edge and possibly triple it or more with a used oil analysis to back you up.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Yah, taxes+different way of building roads. For example in Germany (and everyone in Europe copies that) foundations on autobhans are 27feet deep, in the States it is 13 feet. We use concret a lot, in Europe it is asphalt. Concrete lasts longer, but is not very friendly to the cars, and not really high speed friendly.


27 feet deep foundations beneath the autobahn ?

I would like a link to that.


Maybe he meant inches?

 

[Garak]

27 inches is way too little. A source would be great, of course. 27 feet might not pass the smell test, but they don't even go as little as 27 inches here on road foundations and we're notoriously "frugal" in that regard.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: Garak
27 inches is way too little. A source would be great, of course. 27 feet might not pass the smell test, but they don't even go as little as 27 inches here on road foundations and we're notoriously "frugal" in that regard.

I just looked it up. It is 27 inches on avg. US is 11 inches.


German-autobahn.eu.



The big difference is composition and maintenance.