[turbodan]

Originally Posted by Herms

What's worse is that the car burns off oil so fast that as you top it off, the car keeps resetting when it thinks you need to oil, pushing your appt back further. Makes you wonder if the cars really need oil changes as often as we've all been led to believe. Interesting that when it's on their dime the cars don't need to much maintenance. Probably a bit of bs on both sides. No free maintenance = recommended maintenance intervals that too often and not necessary. Free maintennce = they'll let the car run into the ground and hope the shit don't hit the fan until after 50k miles.

Wrong. The service indicator does not know if you add oil. It determines the condition of the oil by the amount of fuel burned, engine temperature, etc. Its service reminder is based on the condition of the oil if it were the exact same seven quarts from the last service. Top up oil adds an margin of safety.

How many BMW's have you heard of that wipe cams or spin rod bearings? None? So what makes you so sure that the service intervals they run are somehow bad? Can you tell me that you have some good reason why the intervals are harmful other than because they just seem to be to you? I see e46's and e39's approaching 200k miles, some with even more. Still running great.

The N54 has water cooled turbos. Traditional oil cooled turbos can be hard on oil, but the bearing housings in the 335 run well below the point where synthetic oil will begin to coke.

So dont worry about it. And chill out.

[E82tt6]

IMO drive it hard enough that you blow it up before then.

[radgator1]

Originally Posted by turbodan

Wrong. The service indicator does not know if you add oil. It determines the condition of the oil by the amount of fuel burned, engine temperature, etc. Its service reminder is based on the condition of the oil if it were the exact same seven quarts from the last service. Top up oil adds an margin of safety.

How many BMW's have you heard of that wipe cams or spin rod bearings? None? So what makes you so sure that the service intervals they run are somehow bad? Can you tell me that you have some good reason why the intervals are harmful other than because they just seem to be to you? I see e46's and e39's approaching 200k miles, some with even more. Still running great.

The N54 has water cooled turbos. Traditional oil cooled turbos can be hard on oil, but the bearing housings in the 335 run well below the point where synthetic oil will begin to coke.

So dont worry about it. And chill out.

I agree to a point. The guys who are saying they changed their own oil 3 times in the first 8k miles and every 2-3K miles there-after are simply throwing their money away, but the 18K/2 years between changes is too extreme the other way. I figue once a year or every 8-10K miles is a reasonable balance.

[Potty_Pants]

the 2yr thing is normal... its a bug... supposidly they are fixing it with the next software release in may or june. I have a thread under maintenance documenting the incident.

ppp

[scottp999]

I change mine 2 times a year even though I only put about 6k per year on the 335. I avoid the dealer like the plague. They do nothing but make you mad. So many stories of people taking their cars in and getting them back with scuffed up interiors, or a SA giving them BS information. They will see my car, maybe after 3 years for brakes.

[Scarecrows25]

(putting on my flame suit)

For those doubters / naysayers in believing the car's service intervals... are you engineers? Specifically, BMW engineers?

It's simply not in BMW's best interest to recommend something if it was truly bad for the car. Let's say you leased -- in 3 years, you turn the car in, and BMW will clean it up, label it a CPO, and put a 100k mile warranty on it. Can they really afford to make that claim if the long oil-change interval is so detrimental??

If you want to change the oil yourself, I suppose it's up to you -- or if you really wanted a car that needed oil every 3,000 miles, you could've bought a Focus.

[Haretakis]

5500 miles on the clock and my system indicates that I have no oil left. Literally below the min line out of no where. I am going to take it and demand a change today. Wish me luck. I am starting to think I got jipped and wasn't topped off on oil.

[turbodan]

Originally Posted by Haretakis

5500 miles on the clock and my system indicates that I have no oil left. Literally below the min line out of no where. I am going to take it and demand a change today. Wish me luck. I am starting to think I got jipped and wasn't topped off on oil.

That doesnt mean you have no oil left. That means you have only 6/7 quarts in the sump. Thats normal for new motors, but can be a sign of an improper break in.

Two years is not the recommended service interval. Its a minimum one year change regardless of mileage, or sooner if called for by the service indicator. If a one year oil change is done, the service indicator is not reset, and the oil will be serviced again when the mileage threshold is reached.

I'm pretty sure if you guys would open up your owners manuals you would be totally clear on this. And seriously, the dealer is not out to get you. They dont deliberately scuff your interior or neglect your oil level just to spite you. Nine times out of ten, I bet you guys just didn't notice the scuffs until you picked the car up, and they were there all along. The dealer depends on you to survive, and they know it. I think some people have mental problems seeing how they interact with the dealer, who services and repairs thier car FOR FREE for five years or 50 thousand miles. Its crazy.

[grymattr]

Am I a BMW engineer? No. Am I an engineer? Yes. Am I convinced that a turbo car should wait 10-18k between oil changes...hahahaha not a f***ing chance. I had this same issue a week ago as I asked for an oil change. I'll just get it done myself.

I've owned a couple dozen cars in my life and I can tell you that you aren't going to hurt the car changing the oil every 3k miles and for my money - if I'm going to spend near 50k on a car - I'm going to make sure it lasts.

19k miles for an oil change...you're f'in insane.

[ChaneRZ]

+1

[turbodan]

Originally Posted by grymattr

Am I a BMW engineer? No. Am I an engineer? Yes. Am I convinced that a turbo car should wait 10-18k between oil changes...hahahaha not a f***ing chance. I had this same issue a week ago as I asked for an oil change. I'll just get it done myself.

I've owned a couple dozen cars in my life and I can tell you that you aren't going to hurt the car changing the oil every 3k miles and for my money - if I'm going to spend near 50k on a car - I'm going to make sure it lasts.

19k miles for an oil change...you're f'in insane.

Well, apparently your expertise doesn't cover the area very well. What do you really know about water cooled turbochargers and engine oil integrity?

19k would be a very long OCI. Usually 335's call for it between 13 and 15k.

[gbonc335i]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131400

Guys, there is a SIB out there that instructs SA’s to change oil once a year regardless of mileage, if the customer requests it. The information is in the thread above. I had this service performed two weeks ago. On the invoice it was listed as “low mileage oil change”. My car was 3 weeks short of one year old, and had 9500 miles on it. I was not charged for the service.

[MaxL]

You should be getting free change at least once a year, regardless of mileage. Also, this oil change does not reset the mileage till next scheduled change, so theoretically, the next oil change can be in 6 months or even less after the first and they still have to do it. That is what my dealer told me and what everyone I know is getting. Do not let your dealer screw you.

On a separate note, I would not say that BMW made oil change intervals that long to reduce the cost of free maintenance. Look at facts - interval is the same everywhere, even in countries that do not get free oil changes. also, in Europe BMW had 25,000km (about 15K miles) oil change intervals long time ago (10+ years) and it was not on BMW's dime, so no reasons for conspiracies there. In fact, most cars in europe had 10K mile oil change intervals (for mineral oil, mind you) since about 15 years ago, and many of those cars are still on the road.

Also, the argument that 335 needs more frequent oil changes than a typical 4-banger is not entirely valid. Driving a car of the same size, the engine has to put out the same amount of power over time, and smaller engine actually gets more mechanical and thermal load. An example would be my old mazda 323, that used to go for 2-3 hours with engine not going below 4500rpm for a second (long highway drives near the drag limited top speed), overheating several times, once with radiator explosion. There is just no way to push 335 to that degree and stay alive and out of jail, unless it is full-time race car.


That mazda survived for over 10 years with 15,000km oil changes on mineral oil, and was running solid when I sold it.

They do use different oil in Europe for basic cars, i believe, but this does not apply to 335, as the BMW long life oil standard is the same globally.

Of course, racing is a different thing - I would change oil after every major race (not including drag races, as they are not that stressful)

Well, for what it's worth...

[FirstClass]

Originally Posted by thekurgan

my dealer maintains a one free change per year, even if you have less than 15k miles.

The official policy is one year or every 15,000 miles, whichever comes first.

[f30er]

I changed mine @ 7,500 myself, dealer did it at ~16k, did it myself again at 24k, and just had the dealer do it for the 30k service......I'm not a mechanic but getting it done ever 7-8k miles is reasonable....especially if you bought the car.....

[val3ntin3s]

OP i changed my own oil at 7500 miles, and then i tried calling at 15k and they gave me the same excuse, however you can tell them you want them to change it because of their annual low milage oil change program (thats just oil change) and then u can change it again at 20k.

[Icyhot85]

my indicator went off at about 11k miles to do the oil change. The rep says it is triggered by the amount of times the injectors fire.. so he said the harder you drive it the faster it will tell you to change the oil

[dhan]

floor your car all the time from stop light to stop light. i'm sure you can bring that interval mileage down.

if you're leased, you can change it at least every 12k or 15k if you're on either one of those terms...provided that you don't drive grossly over your allotted mileage. if your car breaks down because of bad oil then warranty that and blame bmw and get something out of it. supposedly if you know enough about cars like all the other enthusiasts, you'd be changing it far before the suggested 15k interval anyway...it's not like anyone's expecting the dealers to change your oil for you every 3000-5000 miles. i see no point in crying over this.

this was all laid out in that fancy contract you signed when you bought your car. if you weren't satisfied with the maintenance conditions, you either shouldn't have signed it or knew that you're going to be pouring a lot of money into your engine.

and say that your car's computer is grossly malfunctioning (like mine that says my next interval is in 1.5 years)...well, it's still negated by the fact you get an oil change every year, and im sure if the dealer saw an abnormal oil change indicator, then they would hopefully understand and give you a freebie anyway.

[kptaylor]

Funny replies...

I can read and I did read the contract. I'm fully aware of BMW's logic on what they're doing and why. However, an initial (break in) oil change of 18K miles on a turbo car? No way... Why do they do what we all consider normal oil changes on M cars but not our cars? Makes no sense.

This is the reason I asked if anyone has done an oil analysis to see if BMW is correct in their assumptions. I'm not a BMW engineer, so I want to see some facts.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by kptaylor

Anyone ever done oil analysis on our oil when they've changed? Can't believe the high oil temps we see don't dramatically shorten the oil's effectiveness.

I did. I also lease, so it was cars first change. I drive a E90 330.

Analysis done by Blackstone:

"The chances are your engine is okay but you couldn't tell it from the amount of metal we found in the oil. The problem with the oil change lights is they don't take into account that your engine needs to pass through wear-in and a few brief oil changes get the engine there until the routine oil changes.
This oil is terribly abrasive with metals and silicon and it is abrading parts. The TBN was okay at 2.4 but the oil is thick into the 20W/50 range. Moisture was present but it probably isn't anti-freeze. Run two 2,000 mile
oil changes to clean up the engine."

[NM_BMW]

I believe someone did do an analysis at or near 10,000mi on the original oil and the oil was actually still very good and could of last a few more thousand miles. I'll have to find the thread.

I thought about my oil change intervals and I thought about changing oil around the 7,500 mark and then BMW would do it at the 15,000, but I thought better be safe then sorry so I do my oil changes at the 5,000mi mark. I think 3,000mi is way too soon. I would only change at 3k if I was road racing my car every weekend.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by MaxL

You should be getting free change at least once a year, regardless of mileage. Also, this oil change does not reset the mileage till next scheduled change, so theoretically, the next oil change can be in 6 months or even less after the first and they still have to do it. That is what my dealer told me and what everyone I know is getting. Do not let your dealer screw you.

On a separate note, I would not say that BMW made oil change intervals that long to reduce the cost of free maintenance. Look at facts - interval is the same everywhere, even in countries that do not get free oil changes. also, in Europe BMW had 25,000km (about 15K miles) oil change intervals long time ago (10+ years) and it was not on BMW's dime, so no reasons for conspiracies there. In fact, most cars in europe had 10K mile oil change intervals (for mineral oil, mind you) since about 15 years ago, and many of those cars are still on the road.

Also, the argument that 335 needs more frequent oil changes than a typical 4-banger is not entirely valid. Driving a car of the same size, the engine has to put out the same amount of power over time, and smaller engine actually gets more mechanical and thermal load. An example would be my old mazda 323, that used to go for 2-3 hours with engine not going below 4500rpm for a second (long highway drives near the drag limited top speed), overheating several times, once with radiator explosion. There is just no way to push 335 to that degree and stay alive and out of jail, unless it is full-time race car.


That mazda survived for over 10 years with 15,000km oil changes on mineral oil, and was running solid when I sold it.

They do use different oil in Europe for basic cars, i believe, but this does not apply to 335, as the BMW long life oil standard is the same globally.

Of course, racing is a different thing - I would change oil after every major race (not including drag races, as they are not that stressful)

Well, for what it's worth...

True. We're using synthetic which is 10x better than old dino oil which is why people had to change every 3k miles. Another thing people forget is that Gov'ts (Domestic/Foreign) are requiring auto manufacturers to keep oil use down, which means extending service intervals. IMO..I wouldn't be surprised if ALL cars made in 2010 had lifetime ATF, and 15k mile oil change intervals.