[musoo]

the sales told me once a year is enough for my e90. Is it true?

[ward]

go when the car tells you or once a year, whichever happens first

should never be more than about 365 days between svcs

[PMP]

There are probably a bunch of threads on this already. However, I have a friend who is a service tech, does something with Dinan as well, and he told me to change the oil twice a year. The rest of the annual service can wait but he said don't wait on the oil. They have seen some sludge issues on some of the 3-series. It's only about $100 extra per year -- worth it if you plan on keeping the car. Even if you lease, you might decide to buy it out at the end. Worth the money in my opinion.

[Steage]

Originally Posted by PMP

There are probably a bunch of threads on this already. However, I have a friend who is a service tech, does something with Dinan as well, and he told me to change the oil twice a year. The rest of the annual service can wait but he said don't wait on the oil. They have seen some sludge issues on some of the 3-series. It's only about $100 extra per year -- worth it if you plan on keeping the car. Even if you lease, you might decide to buy it out at the end. Worth the money in my opinion.

Agreed, I don't really understand this free maintenance thing with BMW... it seems to encourage poorly maintained cars. You don't really need to do anything else, but change that oil more than once a year, especially with a turbo'd car, or one that is driven hard/tracked.

[PMP]

I agree, Jeremy. I was talking to my neighbor (he sold his older 330i and now is trying to find a 330i sedan with a stick like mine -- can't find one everyone is trying to get one ha) and he said that he'd heard that the extended time between service was causing a lot of problems downstream. We speculated that this was some kind of underhanded plot to make our cars wear out faster. I'm of the opinion that it is just a cost saving thing. Thing is that they are not saying they won't change the oil more often - you can pay for it yourself. But I have a hard time understanding why they recommend something that seems completely wrong. At the end of the day, if you drive your car at all hard then getting the oil changed at least every six months seems like a good idea. Supposedly, the summer Potenza tires are good for 25k miles or better, but if you drive the heck out of your car are you going to stick to that and not check your treadwear? Probably not! Same goes for the car's internal lubricating and cleaning system. If you use it hard, better to maintain it hard.

[BavarianMW]

Thats why I change my 335's oil every 3k, so far im at about 6k miles and have done it twice now. I ran castrol syntec 5w-30 last time and royal purple 5w-20 this time.

[dmboone25]

Lease = scheduled (aka, free) service.

[Tam@SupremePower]

Originally Posted by dmboone25

Lease = scheduled (aka, free) service.

HAHA

[achien]

Originally Posted by musoo

the sales told me once a year is enough for my e90. Is it true?

It all depends how you "drive" the car.

If you take it out to the track every weekend, then you will need to do the basic "oil change" plus routine checking & maintenance on other parts (i.e. brakes, clutches, tires, ...) every time.

If you are just "driving" the car like an everyday commuter, then a year (or 24,000km/15,000 miles) is good enough on today's cars.

[E90330iS]

Originally Posted by BavarianMW

Thats why I change my 335's oil every 3k, so far im at about 6k miles and have done it twice now. I ran castrol syntec 5w-30 last time and royal purple 5w-20 this time.

Do you notice any difference?

[ward]

Originally Posted by E90330iS

Do you notice any difference?

wallet was lighter, more waste oil had to be recycled needlessly

3k oil changes are incredibly wasteful, it's not 1973

[dmboone25]

Originally Posted by ward

3k oil changes are incredibly wasteful, it's not 1973

Amen--this idea is so out of date, its not even funny. As good as synthetic is today, the oil companies are just raking in our money and ignorance....

[musoo]

the other day the oil light was on when I turned off my engine. I asked the sales what it was going on? He told me it wa not a big deal, the oil was probably not enough. And there was a spare bottle oil in the trunk, I could do it myself.
IS there anyone here having the same problem? I thought "oil change" does need to let out the used oil and residue and pour the new oil in. Am I talking about the different thing?

[Bimmer Al]

I am ll for ensuring that I change the oil prior to the CBS.....but 3k? That sounds extreme.

[mccoys]

I get my E90 car service every 6000 miles. When my car mot is due I then get a full service while the mot is being done. I know it is an old thread flamers!

[gtaccord]

Most modern cars from any manufacturer recommends 5-10k mile oil changes these days. The real way to know is to get an oil analysis. I have been changing my oil (GC 0W-30) every 10k miles and according to the analysis I could go longer. Changing oil every 3 k miles is wasteful and worthless.

[kaede]

depends on what you mean by "service".

I change the oil on my car at least twice every year (around 5k intervals), transmission and diff oil every year (10k), brakes and coolant every two years (20k). As with parts - spark plugs, brake pads, etc etc, i follow the bmw recommendation. Always early and never late too for me. Overkill, yes. But its not a lot of money for a little bit of peace of mind (even though performing all the services doesn't equate to better reliability.) Good Luck!!