When should you change the OIL on E70
 

My E70 is almost 4000K and i heard that after the break in period, i should change the oil. Anyone have any ideal about this? i know that i should be changing it until the mantainance indicator go on.

You don´t have to change it, some people say it´s better for the engine when you do a oil change after the break in period. I would recommend 5000km as a good mileage...

So long

Christian

So after 5000K then i should change it???

I changed mine after I broke her in at 2500 miles, then every 7500 miles after that.

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

So long

Christian

As bell407 said, it is entirely up to you. If you are looking for a guideline, what these guys have told you is logical - change the oil after the break in period, and then at some regular interval, 5000-7500 miles.

I will always change oil and filter after the 2500 mile break in period.

Put it this way, you won't be hurting anything by changing it more frequently.

Regards,
KEF

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:iagree: :iagree: :iagree: :iagree:
:thumbup:
I'm getting my oil changed tomorrow (at 2011km). I feel good about it (costs me 60 bucks but hey I know i'm investing it in my car, not just throwing it away)

If you plan to keep your car - change it anywhere from 1000 - 5000 miles. I like the 2500, 7500 and then normal routine every 7500 if need be. For $50 its a good investment in prolonging the life of the vehicle. If it's a lease...then let her ride!

How much does it cost for the oil??? it is easy to change it? hehe I used to change oil on my civic, but feel nervous on a bwm special it's cost more than 100K in Canada

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....

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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

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.

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)

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?

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.

This is just a little extreme. Yes, I agree that condensation builds up in the oil as a result of short trips in cold weather, when the engine never gets hot enough to burn off the condensation. The solution isn't to change the oil every 3 months, rather it is to drive the vehicle correctly.

'Wayne's Garage' is an oil change outlet that includes your quotes on their website. They also suggest that if you want to go to 6000 miles it is a good idea to change to synthetic oil. Slightly outdated given BMW requirements for synthetic oil.

3000 mile oil change interval recommendations are based on traditional (non-synthetic) oils used in vehicles with 4 quart sumps. This interval is also promoted by the oil change industry (no surprise).

While BMW and many others recommend a severe service schedule (reduced oil change intervals) that includes extended idling or many short trips in very cold weather, at no point is there a reason to go down to 3000 miles/3 months, except for the feel-good factor.

At the end of the day, every owner has to decide what is right for them. However, scare tactics promoted by Valvoline and oil change shops don't help. If you want to be really good to your car, follow the severe service schedule which cuts the oil change interval in half (7500 miles), and remember the time limit if you don't reach the mileage limit.

Oil is still a finite resource, and there is also the disposal impact. Both good reasons not to waste it.

:iagree: As with any other product, consumers are brainwashed to get more, to pay more, to change more.:nanana:

Just a short question, which oil grades do you use on your E70 in the US??
Are these minerals or fully synthetic grades.
In Europe it is standard to have fully synthetic long life oils with 10W30 or 10W40 grades or even up to 0W30. Service intervalls are 30.000km or all 24 months whatever comes first. They do this quite a couple of years now and it´s working excellent. BTW, there is no service included when you buy the car in Germany.
Only the BMW M-Models require a 2500km breaking in Service and have reduced service intervalls (25.000km instead of 30.000).

So long

Christian

I believe it is same fully synthetic oil here in the US and the same rules, 15k miles or something.

In the US and Canada the BMW recommendation is for 5-30, full synthetic. If the vehicle has low annual mileage, BMW recommend to change the oil and filter every 24 months regardless.

The service lights work out to about 24,000 km in my experience (approx 15,000 miles).

Because BMW includes free oil changes in North America, many owners automatically equate longer oil change intervals with cost-cutting recommendations by BMW marketing departments. IMO, that doesn't fit for two reasons: many countries do not have BMW maintenance included, and have even longer intervals (as you post), and secondly, BMW Financial Services holds the residuals on most leased BMW vehicles, so they have an incentive to care about the vehicle condition at the end of the lease.

There is not a history of engine failures due to extended oil change intervals. However, this is an enthusiast board, and many want to change the oil more often to be nice to their vehicle. Personally, I understand that thinking, even though I follow the BMW recommendations, but I can't see any logic whatsoever in changing the oil at five times the manufacturer's recommended interval, especially without any data to support the requirement for early oil change intervals.

At the end of the day, as I said above, it is up to each owner. I just get a little bothered by promoting the blatant wasting of natural resources, using marketing information from companies selling traditional non-synthetic motor oils.

bmw says 15,000 miles.
i'd prefer to do it every 7500.
will bmw honor their warranty at that interval as opposed to their 15K interval?

Do you mean maintenance plan instead of warranty? No warranty on oil changes.

If so, the maintenance plan only provides free oil changes when the service indicator lights say so (about 15,000 miles). Some dealers will change oil early if you have low annual mileage; my dealer will do oil changes at 14 months (in my case, that is BMW Canada, not BMWNA). YMMV.

Dbinc what are you basing your recommendation of every 3k on? I agree that changing your oil more frequently certainly can't hurt but BMW recommends much longer intervals (15k on my 335i and 10k-15k on my X5). Considering BMW is on the hook for 4 years or 50k(and most of the cars end up CPO'd to 6 yrs/100k), I would assume that following the manu. recom. must not be detrimental to the engine and that changing the oil more frequently is just a waste of money (for a BMW running synthetic anyway, I would take a different position for cars running standard oil;) ).

yeah i meant maintenance plan.

BMW says 1 year which is fine but I only drive 5K a year with X5:confused: and Z4.

Now there is a step up in the world, civic to BMW...well done.

Definitely change the oil after break-in. Do an oil analysis in the first few thousand and you'll see high wear metals. Better to get these out sooner than later.

As far as the oil goes, it's the same stuff as Europeans get at their BMW dealers. It's a lower spec GroupIII. The filter certainly won't last 15k miles, and neither will the oil. There are oils available in stores that will make 15k miles without an issue, just not the oil BMW uses in North America. Oils that will get the job you're looking to get done are: Castrol Syntec 0W-30 (only the one that says Made in Germany) and Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30. These two are the only ones available here that will go the distance with certainty. This Castrol oil is European spec. One could easily argue that the Amsoil oil is better, but it's harder to come by.

The Mobil1 Supersyn 5w-30 and 10w-30 sold in the US are also now GroupIII. Ironic, considering they bitched about it when BP did that with US Castrol Syntec oils many years ago. The Mobil1 0W-40 is BMW approved, but many oil analyses show that it shears down to a very thin weight with use.

As far as BMW looking out for you. lol. The consequence of you doing three oil changes instead six, in the first 50k miles isn't going to show up until later in the engine's life. And this obviously means differently to each owner.

Cliffnotes: do an oil change within the first few thousand miles. If you're bent on using the BMW oil, change it every 7,500 miles. Change filter, regardless of oil, every 7,500 miles.

If you want to learn about oils spend some time in the forums on Bobistheoilguy.com.