Oilchange X5 4.4i
 

Hey I have a question about the oilchange stuff...

My X5 has just one green light remaining. I've had a green light since 2000km ago. How far can I still go?

I'm looking to get my local mechanic friend to start maintaining the X5 since I'm out of free maintenance. :( He says he can even reset the light thing.

How far can you go on each light interval? And should I get him the BMW oil, or is there something that you guys use instead?

I was going to do it myself inbetween the 15,000 normal maintance but my dealer charges $69 for the service with synthetic and a BMW filter. So I will have them do it. Overall I will change the oil and filter every 7.500 miles. Not 15 as BMW recomends. :thumbup:

the green LED's are based on gas consumption. not mileage. how much farther you can go depends on how light your right foot can be =)

Good question by member.

I have 4 green dots. The next one i think its YELLOW.. and then i guess RED. How should i read this chart? .. Can anyone tell me if this means i am close to an oil change?

its in your manual.

the way the LED gauge works is it starts full. as you consume more and more fuel, the leds start to disappear. first all the greens. then the yellow tells you that you should be scheduling an appointment for the oil service. when the yellow is gone, the red tells you it thinks you need an oil service.

Thanks for the info.. :thumbup:

Ian,
Hayaku is right on...it's gas consumption, so hard to guess how long your last greenie
will last.

What Oil? Lmao! That arm wrestle has been beat to death here and on every car bored
on the net.
Get Any syn you like, imo, from the cheapest source in town, or let your privateer use what he wants. (The newer 0W-30s or 0W-40s may be of interest in YYZ winters if you park outside.)

The last stuff I'd buy, off maint/warr, is the Stlr's rebranded Castrol at the prices they charge. GL,md

Thanks for the advice! Hehehe it's funny how the dealer rebrands their oil. On the E46, the oil cap had a Castrol engraving. LOL. They slipped that hint in. :)

I guess I'll get ahold of a box of Castrol stuff. I don't know if I want to play around with different viscosities as the X5 is always stored underground at above-freezeing temperatures. :)

Well as the LEDs being gas-consumption-tied, I think I'll get a yellow one pretty darn soon.

And as a side note...since when do we have MSN Messenger smilies? ;)

Very well put.

I liked MD's oil comment as well.

But if you do want to buy the BMW-spec oil, at less-than-dealer prices, go to Lordco and get Castrol Syntec. They have several types; one is a blend (cheap), one is a full synthetic (better), and one is a full synthetic with the BMW endorsement (ie BMW additive spec). That is the one they sell to BMW. There is no requirement to use it, there are lots of good oils, but it is the same oil the dealer sells at a lower price, if that matters.

MD: LOL, another too-frequent traveller, since you are speaking in airport codes. In my non-airline business we also use them as shorthand, but I'd venture that not all do. I just go through YYZ from YVR on the way to SCL and EZE, myself, I manage to avoid it for all other routes.

JCL: an old habit...I used to know every freaking city I flew into, worldwide;
many have escaped me after 5 yrs of BumDom and almost no air travel of late.

The GreatWhiteNorth was right up there in my fave countries, next to the US of A.
BR,Ol'UncMotor

PS: my apology for the Way OT...I'll shuddup, now.

JCL: Thanks for the Castrol break-down. I haven't been shopping for oil before, so this helps. While under free maintenance, to me it was oil or no oil - not what kind of oil. ;) By Lordco you meant Costco I assume? Remember I'm in igloo Canada, so we don't have the exact same retail stores up here.

MD: How did you like the "TheGreatWhiteNorth" - I love the deadly winter, but frankly I wish I could spend the summer season in Europe. Eh so much for loyalty to the queen... :dunno:

I'm not in the GW part of the GWN, more the banana belt. Lordco is a large auto-parts chain in Western Canada, but until I just looked them up I didn't know that they weren't in Ontario.

My suggestion is to find an autoparts store that caters to the wholesale market, but also sells retail. The type of place that small garages buy from. You can try the big chain stores, but if you are looking for Castrol, make sure you differentiate between Syntec blend, Syntec, and the BMW special version of Syntec. Castrol CA has it on their site, it is available in a few stores here in BC, so I figure you ought to be able to find it. If you can't, just go with any reputable full synthetic that meets the spec in your manual.