BMW now does 20k OCI !

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Good point, Pete. The effect is probally from resident Tribo-engineers making themselves cost/effective to the company. I find it odd in particular because running an engine low on oil is one of th eworst possible practices. I assume some sort of a low oil idiot light? A light initself would be fine, but more like if it came on at 1/2q low.
 
In addition, sensor and electronic reliability is not exactly BMW's strong point. So now if that oil level sensor malfunctions and forgets to warn you about low oil level, what is going to happen?

And if it does tell you that the oil is low, how will you know how much to add? What if you overfill? Maybe my questions have reasonable answers. Maybe some recent BMW owner can chime in and fill us in...
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
And if it does tell you that the oil is low, how will you know how much to add? What if you overfill? Maybe my questions have reasonable answers. Maybe some recent BMW owner can chime in and fill us in...


I've owned BMWs since 1983 and I am extremely unhappy with Munich's decision to eliminate the engine oil dipstick. I take my Bimmers to the track and I don't like being forced to rely on an electronic sensor to advise me of my oil level.
 
A good read: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94785

here is what bmw oil filter looks like after 20K OCI

filter4qm.jpg
 
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Holy crud in that picture! Once there is that much sludge, the engine will never be clean again. My BMW 135i (turbo w/ high oil temps) will be getting 3k mile or less OCIs on Mobil 1 5W-40 TDT (CJ-4) until something indicates that's too short.
 
Originally Posted By: JAG
Holy crud in that picture! Once there is that much sludge, the engine will never be clean again. My BMW 135i (turbo w/ high oil temps) will be getting 3k mile or less OCIs on Mobil 1 5W-40 TDT (CJ-4) until something indicates that's too short.


JAG what kind of oil temps do you see in your bmw during the normal driving and how much do they go up when you put your foot down(track?)
 
zoomzoom, I should mention that my 135i has a factory oil cooler. The oil temps have been stabilizing around 240 to 245 F during normal driving in summer/fall ambient temps.
I have not taken it on the track (hope to some day).
I would not be surpised if the oil temps on a hot track day could get to over 300F on a 135i because the new BMW M5 I drove on a track in hot weather last summer had oil temps that hit 300F. The engine went into limp mode when that happened. Obviously it's a very different car/engine but...
 
wow even with oil cooler you run that hot under normal driving conditions...do you know where is the oil temp sender located?

I drive S4(twin turbo also) and my normal driving oil temps in the summer are 220-230..no oil cooler...on the track I see up to 275-280F

Redline to the rescue?
 
220-230F regularly and 275-280F on the track makes sense for an S4 twin turbo.

I do not know where the oil temp sender is on the 135i. I bet someone has posted that on one of the BMW forums though.

It seems like BMW purposely made the oil temps high in the 135i's engine because I think it would have been possible that make them lower.

No Redline is planned for me. I have over 65 quarts of M1 5W-40 TDT CJ-4 that I bought on sale recently. :)
 
Originally Posted By: JAG
Holy crud in that picture! Once there is that much sludge, the engine will never be clean again. My BMW 135i (turbo w/ high oil temps) will be getting 3k mile or less OCIs on Mobil 1 5W-40 TDT (CJ-4) until something indicates that's too short.


The cartridge filter is on top of the engine ? If it is the case, you can take a look at the filter at 3k miles to determine if you can extend the OCI to more reasonable interval of 5-6k.

I examined the cartridge filter of my '00 E430 every 1k miles after 6k to determine if I need to change oil or not. The filters were clean all the way to 12k miles in that car.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
The cartridge filter is on top of the engine ? If it is the case, you can take a look at the filter at 3k miles to determine if you can extend the OCI to more reasonable interval of 5-6k.

So you're going to wait until you see crud on the oil filter? I think it'll be too late at that point. :)
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Newer BMW's and MB's are designed to suck out the oil from dipstick, and the cartridge oil filter is on top of the engine so that it is easy to change without going under the car.


Not sure about MB, but I have an '08 BMW 535i and there is NO dipstick.

I did my first oil/filter change at 1700 (got rid of break-in oil), and am doing another at 7500 - both on my nickel. I'll let the dealer do the next one on BMW's nickel. I am sending my 7500 mile drain oil to Blackstone to determine its true condition and will adjust change intervals based on what I find. The 300 HP Twin-Turbo engine runs hot and supposedly destroys oil due to some fuel dilution (a problem in most Direct Injection Gas engines). There are threads on this forum about this engine and how hard it is on oil.

BMW does the paid-for oil service once a year or about 15K miles (whenever the service indicator says its time). I purchased my 535i so it will never go more than 7500 miles without an oil change.
 
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If I see no crud on the filter then the oil condition is okay, if I see any speckle of crud or metal then I would change the oil at that time.

For my car, I didn't see any crud on filter at 12k OCI's. The filter was so clean such that I thought it may be usable for another 12k, but I went ahead change the filter for peace of mind.
 
that's ridiculous. No way in H3LL I would run oil that long unless it was amsoil's sso, with an eao and regular uoa's, and only *after* my warranty was up.

BMW has lost their minds.
 
I am very disappointed. I had a fair amount of respect for BMW until now. Obviously they have a hidden addition to their slogan "BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine...just until the warranty expires" 4yr/50Kmiles, whoopeedoo, that is barely over 2 oil changes at this ridiculous rate and they actually brag about it. There is only so much abuse an engine can take, and good luck to the next owner. Not me, no thanks.
 
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