Break in oil change

[330i2X5]

Having read many many posts over the past few years about changing the oil after break in to ensure better peformance, I decided to email my dealership to request the same....Im at 1500km now and almost at break in....
So when I received the following email I was a little surprised and now not sure of my next step:

The "M" vehicles are the ones that we usually do a break in service for due to the type of oil and because it is a high performance engine. I just spoke to ***** about your X5 and he has told me that the engines are pre broken in and because we use a full synthetic the chances of debris are slim to none. But after saying that if you would like to have one performed for piece of mind I would suggest waiting until you have gone over the 2000km mark as that is when we perform the 2k service on the "M" cars.

Engines are pre broken in????
Is there something we dont know ??? I know this master technician at BMW is highly knowledgeable...

[rooster328]

i want to know about this too. How much does it cost to do a oil change at the dealer?

[photomat]

I was just quoted something like $139 in Ontario.

[bsklar]

I have 3000 miles and asked the same question today in US. Cost was $149 for 8 q of synthetic oil change. No wonder they now only do it every 11K miles.

[xx3]

I've heard that many are randomly pulled off the line for random quality assurance checks.

Therefore, there is a big chance that your engine could be broken in. I'm pretty sure they don't break all of them in - that would be too costly and too expensive...

[JCL]

Originally Posted by xx3

I've heard that many are randomly pulled off the line for random quality assurance checks.

Therefore, there is a big chance that your engine could be broken in. I'm pretty sure they don't break all of them in - that would be too costly and too expensive...

Does anyone know for sure? I have never toured a BMW engine plant, but would like to.

The products that my employer sells include premium diesel and natural gas engines, manufactured in the US and around the world in a variety of plants. The last time I toured a plant (In Peoria, within the past month) I watched every single engine get tested. The engines were mounted on test beds, and rolled into dyno cells. All got a full load test, with a thermal cycle, leak test, and specific fuel consumption test. That is before they were cleaned, received final paint, were flushed for oil and coolant, and were shipped to the machine assembly plants. This is prior to any testing of the completed vehicle/machine.

The above also excludes random tests for extended periods, and other random tests for full load runs, with subsequent disassembly and analysis. Both are regularly scheduled per the ISO quality routines.

Why do people think that BMW engines are assembled, put into vehicles, and shipped to customers without similar, or some type of testing? Just wondering. Maybe they aren't tested at all. Just seems strange to me...

[vinuneuro]

Originally Posted by JCL

Does anyone know for sure? I have never toured a BMW engine plant, but would like to.

The products that my employer sells include premium diesel and natural gas engines, manufactured in the US and around the world in a variety of plants. The last time I toured a plant (In Peoria, within the past month) I watched every single engine get tested. The engines were mounted on test beds, and rolled into dyno cells. All got a full load test, with a thermal cycle, leak test, and specific fuel consumption test. That is before they were cleaned, received final paint, were flushed for oil and coolant, and were shipped to the machine assembly plants. This is prior to any testing of the completed vehicle/machine.

The above also excludes random tests for extended periods, and other random tests for full load runs, with subsequent disassembly and analysis. Both are regularly scheduled per the ISO quality routines.

Why do people think that BMW engines are assembled, put into vehicles, and shipped to customers without similar, or some type of testing? Just wondering. Maybe they aren't tested at all. Just seems strange to me...

My former employer also produces premium diesel engines and supplies diesel engines to one of the Big Three for their heavy-duty pickups among an array of other applications. Among my experience I worked as an engineer in one of the plants and can share my experience:

Many engine manufacturers are doing away with these full-load hot tests as standard operation. Years ago, we used to full-load test every single engine too, but they simply take much longer and are much more resource intensive than the alternative cold test. A cold test is essentially the same as a hot test, minus the combustion. After the cold test, slightly further down the line, at the final there is a hot test if you can call it that, but the engine is only run for a few seconds. That's a pretty trivial test, no full-load, max rpm, def no break-in etc. The end result is supposed to be the same with a quantum leap in efficiency of assembly testing.

Btw, the entire line in the plant I worked in is German. We produced more than 1,000 engines a day.

From my experience, a very small fraction of the engines are indeed full-load hot tested as JCL described, among other procedures to meet ISO standards. These engines are randomly pulled off, so how does the customer know if theirs was one of the very few that went through this or not?

We are in a new era of efficiency today. With companies coordinating global supply chains while fending against global competition, opertaional efficiency is valued higher than ever. Remember that a dollar that is cut by operating more efficiently etc, will be twice as hard to earn by increasing price/volume. Companies like Walmart and Toyota aren't reverred for no reason.

All that I've posted is current as of last summer.

[xx3]

Originally Posted by JCL

Does anyone know for sure? I have never toured a BMW engine plant, but would like to.

The products that my employer sells include premium diesel and natural gas engines, manufactured in the US and around the world in a variety of plants. The last time I toured a plant (In Peoria, within the past month) I watched every single engine get tested. The engines were mounted on test beds, and rolled into dyno cells. All got a full load test, with a thermal cycle, leak test, and specific fuel consumption test. That is before they were cleaned, received final paint, were flushed for oil and coolant, and were shipped to the machine assembly plants. This is prior to any testing of the completed vehicle/machine.

The above also excludes random tests for extended periods, and other random tests for full load runs, with subsequent disassembly and analysis. Both are regularly scheduled per the ISO quality routines.

Why do people think that BMW engines are assembled, put into vehicles, and shipped to customers without similar, or some type of testing? Just wondering. Maybe they aren't tested at all. Just seems strange to me...

At least in Germany all the cars that exit the plant are put on rollers and drive up to 120-130mph...

What I meant, is that a few random engines, get pulled off the line and put into a dyno-like machine. Where they must run for a while under varying load to test quality... If these engines pass they are returned to the line. These engines have basically been broken in...

I have no idea about the U.S. plant... But at least thats the way it works in the German plants...

[BG624]

Originally Posted by 330i2X5

Having read many many posts over the past few years about changing the oil after break in to ensure better peformance, I decided to email my dealership to request the same....Im at 1500km now and almost at break in....
So when I received the following email I was a little surprised and now not sure of my next step:

The "M" vehicles are the ones that we usually do a break in service for due to the type of oil and because it is a high performance engine. I just spoke to ***** about your X5 and he has told me that the engines are pre broken in and because we use a full synthetic the chances of debris are slim to none. But after saying that if you would like to have one performed for piece of mind I would suggest waiting until you have gone over the 2000km mark as that is when we perform the 2k service on the "M" cars.

Engines are pre broken in????
Is there something we dont know ??? I know this master technician at BMW is highly knowledgeable...

For these engines to be pre broken in thay would have to run them for at least 500 miles which is highly unlikely. Using synthetic oil has nothing to do with the fact that all engines while being broken in produce small metal fragments because all the moving parts are wearing in together. These fragments should be removed because the oil filter may not capture all of them.
It's cheap insurance to change the oil and filter after the break in mileage.
If your leasing the car then just follow the free schedule but if your interested in the long term care of your motor then pay for the 1st. oil change after break in somewhere between 1000 and 2000 miles.

[vinuneuro]

These days very few engine manuf. do a hot test at the factory to check for problems. A few might be pulled off the line and run, but it'd be a miniscule number. Change the oil+filter between 1k at 2k miles like mentioned above to get rid of the intital metal debris. If you plan on keeping the vehicle for a while, do an oil change at 7.5k between the 'free' ones.