BMW oil change intervals ?

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gmh101357

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My friend bought/leased a new 3 series BMW.....while on the subject he mentions new models are at 15k oil change intervals????
Because its lease i would go along with the 15k BUT if I had bought the car i would changing oil at half that rate even 7500 seems long to me in a turbo car....turbo's generate lots of heat. Does BMw use some special oil on factory fill's....My old 1990 325 I ran 10w30 in winter and 10w40 in the Phoenix summer Valvoline.
 
Yes. They do use special oil. They have their own spec and few oils meet that spec...

As long as the dealer changes the oil, which on a new car, they will do for free, your friend is good to go, because they will use the proper oil.

If he were to take the car to a "quickie lube" place, his engine would be in trouble...and lots of BMW owners simply don't know that their car requires a fairly expensive, and uncommon, oil.
 
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Its a BMW you don't change oil, you change cars lol
But if it was me i would stick to 5000 miles on a turbo vehicle no matter.
 
my experience with an older 3 Series (2006) was 10000 miles was good - any more and I started seeing issues in the UOA. Our new 2 Series also included dealer service every 10 000 miles (it even will schedule the service appointment for us).
 
the 15K interval was a problem (engine failures and sludge) the above TSB changed the OCI for all North American BMWs to 10K
 
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Originally Posted By: 2004tdigls
the 15K interval was a problem (engine failures and sludge) the above TSB changed the OCI for all North American BMWs to 10K



Was this due to higher sulfur fuel in North America?
Can't imagine Mexico is better than the US, not sure about Canada...
 
Yes it's now 12months or 10k interval.

My experience as a BMW/Mini dealer tech since 1998 is that they possibly made the switch due to the newer LL01-FE, LL-12, and LL14FE+ spec oils having weaker add packs compared to the good old LL01.

Also, the VANOS systems on the newer cars have also proven to be problematic when the oil level and quality is allowed to suffer. So another possible reason for reducing OCI.

Sludge is not something we see on the engines, even poorly maintained, so long as the proper spec oil is used.

Mini customers in particular don't grasp the concept of maintenance. Luckily the new B series engines don't drink oil line the previous N series. Multiple times weekly we see cars that have gone 20k between services. They only come in because the VANOS has caused the check engine light to come on. Change oil, clear codes, see you in 20k haha
 
Yea but the problem is if something goes wrong, engine sludge or failure, they will point to fine point that says "in extreme driving you may need..." like most other auto makers. Toyota was bad for this and denied claims for engine sludge in their V6 motors. Did not help 1 person came forward that had all their oil changes done at a Toyota dealer and did them earlier than was told in the manual. So Toyota had to settle and pay back for those repairs.

Also most luxury cars are not held that long by the original owners. Many leases and trade in for the "new" model. So this will affect 2nd/3rd hand owners well past the warranty period and also not much documentation to prove. As you can see from others postings they still had to come out with a TSB to change sooner. I think that came from many "certified" cars having issues and BMW having to eat the cost.

Mercedes did the same mess with "filled for life transmissions..." and then had to TSB it down to a certain period to change after a lot of failures in the 722.6 trans.

Car makers do this so when magazines and sites review a car they can show a lower cost of upkeep compared to the competition.
 
Originally Posted By: Seventh
Yes it's now 12months or 10k interval.

My experience as a BMW/Mini dealer tech since 1998 is that they possibly made the switch due to the newer LL01-FE, LL-12, and LL14FE+ spec oils having weaker add packs compared to the good old LL01.

Also, the VANOS systems on the newer cars have also proven to be problematic when the oil level and quality is allowed to suffer. So another possible reason for reducing OCI.

Sludge is not something we see on the engines, even poorly maintained, so long as the proper spec oil is used.

Mini customers in particular don't grasp the concept of maintenance. Luckily the new B series engines don't drink oil line the previous N series. Multiple times weekly we see cars that have gone 20k between services. They only come in because the VANOS has caused the check engine light to come on. Change oil, clear codes, see you in 20k haha


Come up to Canada and you will see lots of sludge due to the colder weather we get here. Every dealer tech (including mini) I have spoken with has warned me not to follow the recommended interval precisely for that reason.

Plan on keeping my BMW for as long as possible, it gets 8000 km OCI
 
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Originally Posted By: Seventh
Multiple times weekly we see cars that have gone 20k between services. They only come in because the VANOS has caused the check engine light to come on. Change oil, clear codes, see you in 20k haha


crazy2.gif
 
I work for an indy German auto repair at one point and we had lots of Mercedes and BMWs come in tapping sludged up at 60000 miles. This was back 10 years ago we would do a BG engine flush and then put Schaeffer's in it
 
Come up to Canada and you will see lots of sludge due to the colder weather we get here. Every dealer tech (including mini) I have spoken with has warned me not to follow the recommended interval precisely for that reason.

Plan on keeping my BMW for as long as possible, it gets 8000 km OCI [/quote]

Good to know. Don't see it at all down here in Cali on dealer maintained cars using spec oil. Even poorly maintained ones.

Only see it occasionally on vehicles that have been going to quickie lube joints. Likely using house brand Conventional oil and following the CBS extended drain schedule.
 
I have a 2000 528i. The OLM recommends a change at about 22,000 Km (14,000 miles). But the dealer suggested I change the oil at half that interval (without resetting the lights).

I didn't own the car for the first 2 changes and the Vanos caused problems just before the warranty ran out.

I now change the oil based on time as I put so few miles on it. I use BMW LL-01 oil (Syntec 0W-30) and replace the filter every other change.
 
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