[roundle]

Some background before I raise my question:

I bought my US-SPEC 328iT 6MT new back in June. I’ve been driving it in Western Europe (90% in Holland) and now have about 10K miles. The car drinks the only thing available, 95RON (usually Shell or Total).

I usually commute about 25 miles each way to work (70% highway, 30% stop-and-go) so the engine always reaches operating temperature. I use the entire rev range, bringing the engine up to 6500RPM or so several times per week, but am very “nice” to the car.

Now for the question: When I first got the car, the dash told me to change the oil in 16K miles. At 6K miles, the figure had dropped down to 12K. I had the oil changed at 7500 miles (this was planned). After the 7.5K oil change, the dash indicated that I would not need an oil change until 16K. However, now that I am at 10K, the dash now indicates that I will need an oil change at 12K miles.

What is influencing the interval to change so much?

[ceb]

IIRC then the car has been in Europe most of its life so use the European OCI (~30k km or 18k miles)

Unless you reset the indicator when you did the 7500 oil change, all you did was confuse the computer. I assume you're going to be using LL-04 so you should do the Euro intervals.

[roundle]

Car started its life here and will remain here for several years.

A BMW dealer did the oil change at 7500. They reset the computer and used LL04.

[VTECaddict]

Everything you do can affect oil life. Not sure what the computer takes into account, but probably ambient temp, engine temp, numer of start/stops, trip length, speed, RPM, throttle position, and probably some other things. After a reset, it will go to a default pre-programmed value, and it could possibly go up or down depending on driving style or habits.

It does NOT measure the actual life remaining in the oil, it simply estimates the life left based on a combination of all those conditions above.

[ceb]

Does anyone know how the programming between US and Euro cars is different?

You might want to contact BMW Munich and ask them what OCI you should use. Your computer isn't calculating correctly as cars in Germany, driven like yours is, go 30k km between changes.

Perhaps your car is just missing Jiffy Lube.

[roundle]

Originally Posted by ceb

Does anyone know how the programming between US and Euro cars is different?

You might want to contact BMW Munich and ask them what OCI you should use. Your computer isn't calculating correctly as cars in Germany, driven like yours is, go 30k km between changes.

Perhaps your car is just missing Jiffy Lube.

I spoke the dealer at 7500 miles, asked if I should confirm the car's software version. He mentioned that if the US-Market cars are running well, they NEVER attempt to modify the software. Interesting...

[Tom K.]

My US BMWs generally call for changes about every 18~19,000 miles with mostly highway running (I change once a year which is usually about 8,000 miles.)

Regarding the apparent change at 22,000 that you now have showing - after not resetting the countdown for early changes, my 128i (80% highway use) also called for it's first CBS change at 22,000 (13k on the odo + 9k to the change). My SA correctly predicted that the countdown would speed up as the change approached and the actual oil service was finally called for and performed at about 19,500. In other words, the combination of a high percentage of highway running + a non-linear countdown seems to be the reason for these rather high miles to change figures.

Hope this eases your mind a bit.

Tom

[Tom K.]

Originally Posted by roundle

I spoke the dealer at 7500 miles, asked if I should confirm the car's software version. He mentioned that if the US-Market cars are running well, they NEVER attempt to modify the software. Interesting...

Reminds me of years ago when I was told that "carburetor" was Latin for "If it's running well, don't fool with it." I found out the hard way they were right!

Tom

[roundle]

Conclusion: I am now a member of the "BMW should provide a dip-stick so that I can see/feel/smell/taste the oil" camp. </thread>

[ceb]

Originally Posted by roundle

Conclusion: I am now a member of the "BMW should provide a dip-stick so that I can see/feel/smell/taste the oil" camp. </thread>

It only tastes good if you use cb1111's maple syrup and Paulaner blend.

Looking at oil won't help you determine if it is "good."

Stick to ~17k mile oil changes using LL-04 and your car will be fine.