BMW Changed their Low mileage oil annual oil change policy

monty_yao · #1 09-08-2010, 09:59 AM

I'm very pissed today after learned that if you drive more than 6000 miles in 12 months, you are NOT allowed to have a free oil change under the free maintenance program. You either drive less than 6000 in 12 months or wait for the indicator to turn yellow. In my case, my wife is not going to drive more than 15K in 2 years times.

Worst of all this is BMW failed to send advanced notification to any of the owners. They just sent an note to their dealers and didn't instructed their dealers to inform their customers. Had I know this, I would changed my X5's oil last month when the old policy was still in effect. This new one took effect on Sept 1st, 2010.

Someone should update the Oil change article on this forum.

JCL · #2 09-08-2010, 03:02 PM

Well, this was clearly coming at some point in time. Sorry that you got surprised by it.

The SIB on this site is SIB 00 04 01 issued on October 25, 2001 to clarify the oil change situation for low annual mileage owners. It has been superceded several times, but I don't think the more recent versions are posted. It is often referred to, but realistically, it was issued when we were still using API SJ oils, and older engine designs that didn't burn as cleanly as current models.

There is another document, SIB 11 08 98, dated June 2006, which is noted to supersede SIB 11 08 98 dated October 2005, which also references an annual low mileage change. I only have text copies of that one, not the original.

Both of these documents are from BMWNA, and so don't apply outside the US. In Canada, there haven't been low mileage annual oil changes for years now. My vehicle delivery included a form which explained that oil changes are only provided free of charge when indicated by the service indicator lights. The owner's manuals here have been updated over the past few years to remove any references to suggested annual oil changes. Not sure if the US versions of the manuals are the same or not, so BMWNA may be offside if your sales documents promised you this annual oil change.

Many dealers have not been willing to do annual low mileage changes, as reported on this and other boards, so it appears that BMWNA is just cleaning up the practices of those dealers who still were doing them. I wonder if they will get much push back from owners.

The good news is that even though you won't get the annual oil change, there is little to no evidence that skipping it will have any impact on your engine life.

If there is an actual SIB issued this month, it would be worth getting a copy of it to post on the site.

JCL · #3 09-08-2010, 03:22 PM

Here is another document, courtesy of member X5 Meister, dated July 2008. It notes that the condition based service lights are now triggered differently, but that the logic includes an override for 24 months elapsed time since last reset.

Quote:

The oil service will also be forecast as due 24 months after the last CBS reset, and will prompt for the service if the forecast based upon fuel consumption has not been reached. However, it is recommended in the US market to change the engine oil at least once a year. More details
concerning the low mileage annual oil service may be found in SI B00 04 01.

Full document here:

Edit: fixed attachment, which must have been corrupted.

X5Sport · #4 09-08-2010, 03:47 PM

Summat wrong with the pdf? 192 bytes? I cant read or download anything useable.

monty_yao · #5 09-08-2010, 05:42 PM

Thanks JCL for sharing some background on this topic. Here is the link that I found online about this new policy.

BMW Amending its once-a-year oil change - M3 Forum 2011 2010 BMW M3 2009 BMW M3 BMW E90 M3 E92

I bought a new BMW this year and the warranty document is still says in bold: "Note: Change oil at least once a year." I bought back in January 2010 so I don't know if they updated the manual now.

I'm just a bit upset because of this magical number of less than 6000. Somehow, swapping out engine oil for driving more than 6000 a year is a waste of dealer and my time and doesn't do the engine any good.

JCL · #6 09-08-2010, 07:57 PM

Thanks for the link. I have copied the SIB to here so that it is on this site, and searchable. It is reference SIB 01 04 10, dated August 2010, and replacing SIB 00 01 04 dated 2001.

If you do just over 6000 miles annually, it appears you will get the condition based service indicator at the 24 month marker. If you drive between 6000 and 7500 miles annually, you will either hit the 24 month marker, or the scheduled change at around 15,000 miles. If you drive more than 7500 miles per year, you will likely hit the CBS indication before the 24 months, based on fuel consumption and other factors.

Interesting that the scenarios (examples) given in the link are down to the day, and mile, in terms of qualifying or not. Scenarios are attached below as a pdf.

Thunder22 · #7 09-08-2010, 08:00 PM

BMW uses synthetic oil, 6k mile oil changes are overkill.

What worries me is the filter, not the oil.

ard · #8 09-09-2010, 11:50 PM

from a strictly legal perspective, I think the owners manual (if it states one year intervals are required) takes precedence over any SIB (which is not legally binding on the owner)

They may recall the owners manual and change it, but they cannot change it once they've given it to you. It IS the definitive agreement between buyer and mfg.

My 2 cents.

Find someplace else to do your oil changes anyway.

A

PS I suspect that the right letter, citing the issues correctly, ignoring any "policies" and simply refernceing the contractual commitment by BMW to provide "free maintenance" and the instruction to the owner the the manual that annual service must include an oil change, would result in a 'special consideration'.

JCL · #9 09-10-2010, 01:25 AM

I think that the owner's manual and warranty guide already had a conflict in that they described condition based service, and then added the line about an annual oil change.

I suspect that if BMW says that the annual oil change is not required in order to maintain your warranty coverage, then it would be hard to pressure them to do it. On the other hand, if they required an annual oil change to maintain warranty coverage, then it would be reasonable to demand that they fulfill the contract for maintenance service.

But for those that feel strongly, please go at it and post back and let us know how it works out. Whatever the technical or legal issues, there is certain to be a customer expectations issue for those BMW owners who have been diligent in getting low mileage annual oil changes paid for by BMWNA.