When should you change the OIL on E70

[rufusdedog]

I had mine changed at 3,000. Intend to do it again around 7500.

Anyone do a DIY oil change yet? Would be interested in knowing how it went.

[X5FX]

Originally Posted by dbinc

I will be changing mine....

First Oil Change: 1000 miles

Every Other Oil Change At: 3000 miles

Reason why dealer have higher interval oil change...so they can keep the cost down, don't matter what kind of vehicle you have, you should change your oil every 3000 miles and if using synthetic oil you can go up to 6000 miles, but that also depends on where you live, if it's always hot and no winters, I would still recommend changing it every 3000 miles even if a person uses synthetic or not.

Just my personal opinion....

This is very true, except the reason you can extend that to 7500 miles on the BMW is:
a. synthetic oil
b. BMW uses a oil reserve twice the capacity of most cars.

regarding Christians comment "Up to you my friend, again there is no need to by the service manual of BMW..."

BMW provides free oil changes, so of course they are going to reccomend 15,000 mile intervals...personally I have never followed these recomnendations. But you go for it!

[nynd]

Power X5 - Canadian Tire had Castrol Syntech on sale for $23 Canadian (5 Quarts) which is like 40% savings... I haven't done it yet...but seems straight forward enough.

[powr_x5]

Are those oil from Canadian are the same spec as BMW dealer? i thought that Castrol make a specific oil for BMW,

[dbinc]

Specs are the same and Castrol does not make special oil for BMW, they just badge it BMW if anything.

[awesomejun]

Hey guys. Is it possible that too frequent oil changes could lower peformance of vehicle??? I'm just curious....

[dbinc]

That is not true....just for the people that may not know, reason to change the oil is due to breakdown (heat) and when companies say please change your oil either 3000 miles or 3 months is becuase, even if you don't reach 3000 miles and 3 months come up first you may get condensation in your oil especially in cold climates. If you already have condensation built up and you only drive short distances, your actually not buring the condensation, your actually building it even more.

[mcgrady]

So how does this 5 year 50,000 maintenance thing work?

Is it by mileage or time interval...15,000 miles is way too MUCH. Is it hard getting this scheduled maintenance done (some more false promises)

[y5choi]

Originally Posted by dbinc

That is not true....just for the people that may not know, reason to change the oil is due to breakdown (heat) and when companies say please change your oil either 3000 miles or 3 months is becuase, even if you don't reach 3000 miles and 3 months come up first you may get condensation in your oil especially in cold climates. If you already have condensation built up and you only drive short distances, your actually not buring the condensation, your actually building it even more.

condensation? how short is "short distance" driving? One can't even tell when the engine gets 'hot enough' on the E70s (don't have a temp gauge) anyway. I actaully have never heard of engine damage caused by "oil condensation". would you please explain?

[dbinc]

mcgrady: 15,000 miles is way too long, reason why intervals are so long is to keep cost down. I do not care who the auto maker is, oil is oil, it will break down regardless.

y5choi: I was referring to why you should change your oil and what causes oil breakdown.

Regards to short distances....like you said one can't even tell when the engine is hot enough, best way to find out is from a BMW Tech, but from my opinion, driving from 5 to 10 miles or less, all depends on how you drive to and what weight of oil you use on your vehicle.

Regards to condensation....vehicles routinely driven short distances, especially in cold weather will build up moisture in the oil from condensation and combustion gases by-passing the rings. This build up of water will cause acids to be created within the oil resulting in the formulation of sludge and accelerated wear. So due to condensation results to acid damaging the internals of your engine.