Oil Change
 

I have a 2008 X5 3.0 and know that BMW only recomends changing the oil every 12 months.
Should I pay to have it changed every 3 or 6 months? I tend to keep my cars for a long time, 10+ years and want to do everything I can to preserve it.

Definitely.. even though I don't plan to keep the car for long since it's a lease I am still changing it every 6k miles. BMW is crazy to recommend that kind of oil intervals..

Once a year is fine for the time-based change, but I would recommend cutting the mileage-based change to about half- of the BMW interval, or around 7,500 miles, e.g., if you do not drive 7,500 miles in a year, change it. But if you drive 7,500 miles before the 12 months is up, change it and start the 12-month clock again.

I'm on year 9 on my '01 X5 3.0--have almost 100K miles on it. I've only changed the oil at the 12 month mark with no problems whatsoever.

:confused:

What do you base that comment on?

BMW maintenance says to change it once every 12-15k miles or once every 12 months, whichever comes first. That's normal for synthetic oils.

IMO, it's a waste of money to change it any earlier than the recommended intervals.

One of a kind lessee, imo. The next owner, getting your car, CPO'd probably, will be appreciative of your diligence,
and that oil "over changing". ;)

:iagree:

BMW has been using extended service intervals for oil changes since 1991. They have used the 15,000 mile interval since 1999. We haven't seen any reports on this forum of engine wear, ring jobs, etc. We have seen photos of 100,000 mile engines that have been inspected after following the 15,000 mile interval, and they looked very good.

Haha I guess I am a little old school and it sounds horrible to not change it. I've seen people changing oil every 12k miles but changing filters every 6k and when they send their oil analysis, the oil was still good. Maybe I'll start doing it every 12k, especially since its a lease

If nothing else, a shorter oil change interval will catch situations like this sooner:

BMW OEM Filter Failure - BMW CCA

But hey, I knew a lady that left the original oil in her Toyota for 26,000 miles until the oil pressure light came on. She stopped at a gas station in Arizona and the attendant checked her oil, said it was very low, and asked here when she last had the oil changed. Her response? "You have to change the oil in cars?"

Anyway, last I heard she had over 100,000 miles on the car and the engine was still running.

My point?

Her experience says no need to change the original oil until 26,000 miles and the red oil light comes on. But I wouldn't recommend that to others, just because it worked for her. I suspect that there's a good chance a person could make it to 100,000 miles on a BMW engine, never changing it and just adding make-up oil.

Oil change intervals simply change the odds of having problems, and most engines can take a lot of abuse.

People should do whatever makes them comfortable, but in my case, based on oil analysis I have done in the past, 15,000 is too long for my taste. And if you are going to change it sooner, changing it half-way in between probably makes the most sense.

We had a guy that worked for our company that didn't change the oil in his Chevy Trailblazer for over 40K miles (company car). No apparent damage as the vehicle now has over 80K miles and seems to run ok with no smoke or loss of power. I can't understand his thought process as the company pays for all maintenance. The TrailBlazers also have a large sump like the X5, about 7 qts, so I think that helped.

Although oil test companies have shown the oil viscosity to be fine at the recommended intervals I change mine at half the recommended intervals or at least yearly. My only reason is peace of mind. Oil is probably the most important component of the engine and the realitive low cost is good insurance. Actually the filter is probably more inportant as it is the particles in the oil that I would want to ensure are removed or kept to a minimum.

Based on the above I have had vehicles go to 350k km without buring a drop of oil between changes.

Also funny how BMW recommended intervals increased when maintenance became included.

Very useful maintenance thread from m3forum. Note the link for not sticking to BMW intervals.
e46 M3 Maintenance Thread - BMW M3 Forum.com (E30 M3 | E36 M3 | E46 M3 | E92 M3)

That's just another owners opinion. No new news or facts in that post to back up why he changes it at 7500 instead of 15k miles.

In the past I had a simple answer for this, but after requesting and reading the "Old school maintenance schedule" from the BMWCCA, I have sort of changed my mind. Unfortunately, I can't just post the plan here for a few reasons; 1) it is copyrighted and they ask you not to, 2) it is updated periodicially with changing info and 3) they have been very helpful in answering my tech related questions and I don't want to anger them. However, it doesn't say you can't discuss it. Short version from what I understand is if you are not planning on keeping your BMW long term (100k miles+) there is no reason to deviate from what BMW recommends. If you are planning on keeping it over 100k or out of warranty and use BMW's oil and filters, it seems like it wouldn't hurt to cut the 15,000 mile interval in half. All of this also depends on how and where you drive as well as other factors. There were a few pages on the topic of oil change intervals, the differences between oils, oil testing and so on. If any of you are BMWCCA members, I highly recommend contacting techtalk and asking for a copy of the "old school" plan.

I didn't see anything in that link that supports having to change the oil more frequently than recommended. Just because the oil is clean on two engines (one at recommended intervals, and one at double the recommended frequency) doesn't mean that you need to do it twice as often as recommended.

On the other hand, here is a thread with pictures of an engine that followed the recommendations to 100,000 miles. And it isn't an M model running 10-60, so it is far more relevant.

http://www.xoutpost.com/other-bmws/4...intervals.html

Urban myth. BMW began including prepaid maintenance in the US because potential purchasers were afraid of the dealer prices for maintenance. It was a US program designed to level the playing field. If a high percentage of dealers hadn't been ripping off BMW owners they wouldn't have needed to do it.

It is more telling to note that BMW holds the residuals on all of their leased vehicles, and is happy to do so for extended lease periods, despite the apparent risk of their oil change intervals.

Also interesting that you don't even need to follow the BMW oil change recommendations for BMW to take your used vehicle into the CPO program and put an extended warranty on it, at their risk. BMW don't worry if you go over 20,000 miles on oil changes before giving you a CPO warranty, without even looking at the engine.

FSETH: I guess if you really wanted to be old school you would find a supplier for the API SH oil that was current when many of these vehicles were produced. Bias ply tires are old school too.

Just poking at you, I think owners should do what feels right for them. It is just that there is all this talk of a conspiracy to make our engines fail sooner. I would like to see evidence of engine damage by following the manufacturer's recommendations, thats all.

I think there is some truth to what Noodle said. The BMWCCA plan also touches on this. I find it hard to believe it is just a coincidence that when BMW started paying for "scheduled" maintenance these intervals started increaseing exponentially. Granted some technology advances like longer life oils came about, but some items like brake fluid and coolant change intervals were doubled although the fluids themselves remained unchanged. Seems very questionable, IMO.

:thud:...Maybe we need a Stickie that links to the literally
pages and pages of Full Threads, on this site, that cover this oil
change interval debate. :rolleyes:

To the OP: if you want to change oil/filter more frequently than rec'd,
have at it, and feel good. :thumbup:

To the lessee that wants to double up those oil changes, the next owner
will be appreciative, maybe. ;)
GL, mD

I agree that everyone should do what makes them happy and what is right for their specific situation. I happen to like the old school plan, because it is very modern technically and changes with the times and advancements. The biggest difference between what they say and what BMW says, imo, is that they are leaning towards wanting to do what is right to properly maintain their car for long term use as opposed to BMW, which is trying to do what is best for their cars and maintain the lowest cost possible to do so. I do keep my cars for extended periods of time (310k miles +/- on my e36 and 111k miles on the X5), so I can't see it hurting to lean towards the aggressive maintenance side over the cost saving side.

If the oil change recommendation is based on mileage or 1-year which ever is closer by BMW, why won't they change the oil on my 08 3.0 which has never had an oil change. The mileage hasn't even reached half of the recommended distance, but it's almost been 2 years since I bought the vehicle. So when I told the dealer I needed one since it's been almost 2 years, they said the maintenance system has both the mileage AND the time tracked so they won't be able to change oil free of charge even though it's way over a year since purchase. The next oil change, according to the computer is sometime in 2010, which is coming closer, but I would've liked an oil change at least once in between.:(

Because service at that dealer sucks.

Maybe that's the way it is with the 08 models but I won that argument
with the dealer by drawing their attention to the written one year
condition which is clearly stated in my 05 manual.
If yours says the same thing then I agree with Thunder 22.

You dealer is full of it. They can do it earlier based on time. They code it "early maintenance" I had it done.

It makes no sense to me for a dealer to avoid doing this maintenance. don't the dealers get paid by BMW for this work? And, if the maint plan says mileage or yearly (whichever first), what possible motivation is there for a dealer to say "no"?

My sister used to work for BMW corporate. She told me, going into this (my 1st bmw) that the sales experience would be like any other but after it would all be about "The BMW Experience" and customer retention for repeat business and gaining referrals. Frankly, after going thru MY "sales experience" (which was not really "like any other" - much more trying), my experiences with the dealer since then (few) have done nothing to make me want to refer anyone (so far) and I have been following 3 bmw forums for over 2 months and have yet to read much of anything that confirms my sister's claims. All of this completely perplexes me. It takes so little to make owners happy (a few "yes" maint/warr answers, buying advice that covers the options more thoroughly addressing the buyers needs, and some simple accommodations like appointment scheduling to accommodate the customer's needs rather than "be here first thing and leave it all day"). But, instead, I read posts like this where an oil change is denied two years into a new vehicle when maintenance is "included", warranty issues being declined when there are SIDs on the issues, etc. What is wrong with this picture (especially when BMW is taking major ratings hits for "reliability")? I would think bmw would be going the extra mile to make owners happy, improving the "reliability" factor, and using the "driver profile" excuse almost never!

The simple answer is that BMW Corporate is detached form reality. This often happens to large organizations, particularly when their representatives are franchisees, rather than employees of the corporation.

Many years ago I worked for a major auto manufacturer that provided lease cars to Management as a perk. In addition, the larger locations actually had garages that did all the service work required for these lease cars on-site... people just dropped the car off in the morning to get service or problems solved, and picked it up after work. As a result, they had no idea whatsoever of the experience customers went through with dealers.

One idea at the time was to make the employees with lease cars have it serviced at dealers instead of on-site, so they would get the "real experience." Well, that idea went over like a lead balloon!

I don't know how corporate BMW works, but I would not be surprised if they had some similar "hassle-free" set-up as a perk.

Here's an example of how disconnected BMW is from the real world:

The IRS published advance fuel tax credit for the 2010 X5 Diesel is $1,800. The BMW web site under "build your own" is showing $900. I have written three e-mails to BMW pointing out this error, and others have said the have also informed BMW NA. Yet, they are still understating the tax benefit to potential customers by half.

Now how dysfunctional is that?

Someday BMW NA will be an MBA case study of how corporate isolates themselves from the real world.

While I can CERTAINLY accept all you say Penguin (having worked in large corporate environments), in this particular case my sister worked as Assistant Manager of the Service department at a BMW dealership for 2 years prior to working for corporate. Granted, that dealership could have been an exception but if BMW corporate isn't aware of these dealership practices, and taking steps to rectify... I would be very surprised in corporate does not have people monitoring these forums to monitor customers' points of view. if they aren't, it would be another HUGE mistake. I know if I were an exec at corporate, I would be monitoring these forums!

PS. It has been about 8 years (+) since my sister stopped working at BMW. Things change.

Some non de plume named "Vastek" occasionally puts up a canned response to a serious complaint,
over on the B'Fest board; it is the usual "we want to help, call us" bs, imo.

I don't recall ever seeing a help offering post, by the BMW Suits, here on this board.
Yes, I hope they monitor it, but I suspect it is very occasional and, from experience,
ineffectual, in terms of the excellent give and take info here.
GL, mD

I know they use to monitor the forums, but I thinkBMW is now is a big cost-reduction mode, e.g., taking speakers out of the audio system, removing the life cylinder for the rear access cover, etc. And they continue to understate the tax credit for the X35d by half, despite lots of conversation on the forums about it, and links posted to the IRS information.

So I can only conclude that BMW NA has cut back drastically on their monitoring of the forums, and probably other activities they routinely did in the past.

Well, cost cutting is an issue in itself. But, when cost cutting results in losing customers, repeat business and/or referrals...

David, forum "give and take" interaction is not what I was getting at. Just monitoring to see a more spherical perspective of product, marketplace reaction and buyers perceptions - even if lurking w/o registering.

I certainly DO like my X5, even if it is the most finicky vehicle I have ever had (at only one month in). I will continue to monitor the "issues" (of which there seems to be new/more almost every week). And, I will continue to monitor my overall "BMW experience(s)": product, overall satisfaction and dealership/svc. As a lessee, and as of now, I am content with my decision but I doubt I would buy. Whether or not I will lease again - only time will tell. No doubt, it IS a unique product/vehicle but as we all know, and clearly evidenced in these forums, the product is only one component of the "BMW experience".

Actually, I wasn't referring to that either. What I noticed in the past is that if someone was having a particularly problematical issue, someone representing BMW would occasionally chime in and offer some assistance, telling the person to call and refer to a case number provided by the BMW NA poster.

From those posts I assumed they were monitoring the forums and the offer of help was just an offshoot of their monitoring. Lately I haven't seen many of these offers of help.

I like my X5 as well, but am still surprised at how BMW NA often misses some of the smaller points which would give them a Home Run, from my perspective, settling instead for a double or triple.

RR, I must have not been clear; I said:
"Yes, I hope they monitor it, but I suspect it is very occasional and, from experience, ineffectual, in terms of the excellent give and take info here."

Meaning, the occasional "Vastek" person on B'fest offers up the annoying canned response of, "call us and we'll help", which many have discovered is of
little solace or help. And, the "give and take", great info posts on this board are the real source of ideas, info, tech help, the BMW labyrinth and their odd
decisions on many issues.

I'm on your/our side; TheSuits are clueless, imo, and so caught up in the "driving experience", image and luckily, producing some great cars to drive.
The "dlr experience" and, for the most part, the usual response out of Woodcliff Lake,NJ/Germany, leaves something to be desired, especially if one is
a new adopter or shit outta luck or, out of warranty.

I have utmost sympathy for you as a new owner of that car and, left to "wonder" and hope. :thumbup:
BR, mD

It's America---do what you want. If you want to change every 6 months do it. If you want to wait for the 12 months do it. Like I mentioned I'm on year 9 on my '01 X5 and have done it every 12 months.

BMW NA customer relations is signed on as a vendor. Last activity was about two weeks ago.

Hello guys, I need your advice regarding my x5's service schedule. Its last service was 23 months ago at 68k, and now has 2 green service lights on at 83k. It had an oil service at 23k, inspection I at 46k and then the oil service at 68k. BTW, it is a diesal, 5 years old and used very lightly.

The stealer said I should bring the car in for an Inspection II when reaching 24 months regardless what the service indicator says, any advice from you guys will be appreciated.

You are going to get an array of different opinions here, so here’s mine.

Just get the oil service and wait for your vehicle to tell you when the inspection II is required. Not sure what inspection intervals or on the X5 but I know that they are approximately every 40k on the M3. If that is the case then you may as well get inspection II done at the same time.

Don't get caught up with the BS BMW labels on their service... "Inspection I", "II", etc. The important thing is the underlying fluid changes.

Have you ever had the coolant flushed? It is good for 4 years.

Brake fluid? Every two years.

Oil? Every year or 7500-10k miles. I do not believe in the stupidly long BMW intervals of 15k+ miles. You are at 15k on that oil, and it is two years old. I am sure it is barely adequate.

How about tranny fluid? Your mains dealer prolly says 'never'. I say every 30-40k miles. Unless you are cool with replacing the tranny every 125k miles.

GL

A