Oil Changes

[JCL]

Not sure who the question is to, but I'll take a shot.

I am changing the oil evey 15 -18 months or so. At that point I have up to 16,000 km (10,000 miles) on the X5, and far less on the other two vehicles (My almost three year old Z4 has less than 15,000 km).

I am not worried about the BMW oil change interval being too long in miles or kilometers. I think it is fine, but that is just my opinion. Yes, it seems long compared to the good old days. I also think that 7500 miles is too frequent as an automatic rule. You have an 8 quart sump (which doubles the life of a 4 quart sump), you have modern synthetic lubes, and you have extremely low exhaust emissions (which means less byproducts of combustion to contaminate the oil).

I avoid the question by ensuring that I change the oil regularly based on the amount of time the cars sit, which is harder on them than driving them IMO. If I did 15,000 miles of highway driving, without any ambient temperature extremes, I would run the oil that long. For towing, dusty conditions, or lots of city use I would shorten it up.

I also think that the filter can last that long, but I would ensure that I only used an OEM filter as I would worry about an aftermarket filter disintegrating if left too long.

Get ready for lots of opinions, it is an oft-debated subject here and on other BMW boards.

Jeff

[rayxi]

My dealer will do 12 month oil changes if it comes up before the indicator triggers as long as there are 2 or more bars left. If there's only 1 bar left they'll make you wait. Quite reasonable policy IMO.