Break-In Service. Opinions wanted
02-27-2006, 07:56 PM
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My Ride: 2006 Silver Grey 530xiT (2009 Deep Sea Blue 535xiT ordered for 12/8 ED)
Hi All,
I'm currently in a philisophical debate with myself over whether it is worth having BMW perform an engine oil change, tranny fluid change, and differential fluid change now that my E61 has passed through 1200 miles to get any "bits" out of the fluids. This not being on the scheduled maintanance list, I'm going to have to pay for it myself and I'm guessing based on time/labor it's going to be relatively expensive. I'm not sure if I'm throwing money at a solution looking for a problem, or this is a good investment towards the future and is going to save me problems down the road. It's my first BMW, and I want to keep it for many, many trouble free years/miles to come. My last two cars were closing in on 200K miles when I decided to put them out to pasture. One had a tranny failure at 70k and the other had no problems at all.
What are your thoughts and ideas on performing a break-in service at 1200-1500 miles? Is this good preventive maintanance, or just throwing money away? Those of you who did have this done, what is the ballpark cost for such service?
I'm interested in any thoughts, comments, and ideas from the collective knowledge of the Forum.
Thanks,
RCNet
I'm currently in a philisophical debate with myself over whether it is worth having BMW perform an engine oil change, tranny fluid change, and differential fluid change now that my E61 has passed through 1200 miles to get any "bits" out of the fluids. This not being on the scheduled maintanance list, I'm going to have to pay for it myself and I'm guessing based on time/labor it's going to be relatively expensive. I'm not sure if I'm throwing money at a solution looking for a problem, or this is a good investment towards the future and is going to save me problems down the road. It's my first BMW, and I want to keep it for many, many trouble free years/miles to come. My last two cars were closing in on 200K miles when I decided to put them out to pasture. One had a tranny failure at 70k and the other had no problems at all.
What are your thoughts and ideas on performing a break-in service at 1200-1500 miles? Is this good preventive maintanance, or just throwing money away? Those of you who did have this done, what is the ballpark cost for such service?
I'm interested in any thoughts, comments, and ideas from the collective knowledge of the Forum.
Thanks,
RCNet
02-27-2006, 09:56 PM
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I didn't have any changed before the first service and that was made at 29000km. Accodring to my friend that are BMW serviceman it shuld not be nessesary to replace any of the fluids other than scedeuled and this was his advice as a friend not serviceman.
02-28-2006, 12:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Robert J' post='247109' date='Feb 28 2006, 07:56 AM
I didn't have any changed before the first service and that was made at 29000km. Accodring to my friend that are BMW serviceman it shuld not be nessesary to replace any of the fluids other than scedeuled and this was his advice as a friend not serviceman.
and my cupholder is perfect, bulit 07/2005.
02-28-2006, 03:57 AM
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I talked to my service manager in depth about fluid changes following break-in. He said that even though he'd be more than happy to do the work and charge me for it, it's just not necessary.
You might think that the extended intervals are just a way for BMW to keep their costs down while continuing to offer free maintenance, however you have to realize that many of these cars are leased and then sold as CPO's with the CPO extended warranty, so a lack of required maintenance would likely come back to haunt them in the form of warranty claims down the road.
Many people will likely disagree, but I say save your money and enjoy your car. I absolutely love mine.
You might think that the extended intervals are just a way for BMW to keep their costs down while continuing to offer free maintenance, however you have to realize that many of these cars are leased and then sold as CPO's with the CPO extended warranty, so a lack of required maintenance would likely come back to haunt them in the form of warranty claims down the road.
Many people will likely disagree, but I say save your money and enjoy your car. I absolutely love mine.
02-28-2006, 04:29 AM
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IMO - the extended service intervals in BMW's and other similar vehicles are basically a response to customer dissatisfaction with having to part with their vehicles for 2000mile services within a couple of months of delivery and every 10,000 miles thereafter.
It doesn't benefit BMW dealers (unless you have the service inclusive package) to extend the intervals as I am sure they would love to have lots of extra service income from their customers.
Instead it is for your benefit as a customer.
In terms of your question, unless you are an EXTREMELY low milage driver (like the car has been sitting unused for months on end!) then I can't see what benefit an extra service would bring.
The service interval is adjusted for mileage anyway.
Enjoy your car and spend the money on a nice meal out instead
It doesn't benefit BMW dealers (unless you have the service inclusive package) to extend the intervals as I am sure they would love to have lots of extra service income from their customers.
Instead it is for your benefit as a customer.
In terms of your question, unless you are an EXTREMELY low milage driver (like the car has been sitting unused for months on end!) then I can't see what benefit an extra service would bring.
The service interval is adjusted for mileage anyway.
Enjoy your car and spend the money on a nice meal out instead
02-28-2006, 11:39 AM
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My thought is that the car will not take any harm in changing the oil too often. I guess the car will not make a complaint about driving 25000km without an oil change. For me, that's a different story, I changed the oil at 11000km just to don't think about it. I'm going to have the car for a many more km and I thoght it would be a cheap insurance to get rid of some initial rub-off.
Previuos break-in rules cannot have been that bad practice. However, from now on I'll keep strictly to the service schedule as stated by the car. Next scheduled service is in another 15000km.
Previuos break-in rules cannot have been that bad practice. However, from now on I'll keep strictly to the service schedule as stated by the car. Next scheduled service is in another 15000km.
03-06-2006, 07:15 AM
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My Ride: E61 535d sport, Silver Grey/grey/maple.
20" Hartge Nova 7. Previously 19" staggered 172s
Standards of machining these days mean that 'running in' in the old sense is not necessary.
Combined with new oils, you will find that the parts that do need to bed in (rings etc) will not do so if you change the oils too often and it will end up burning oil. A car salesman I know reckons that cars that are carefully run in are slower than ones 'used enthusiastically' and also use more gas as they havn't loosened up properly. His moto is to put your foot to the floor once every day.
I would stick to the factory intervals for the first one or two changes, and then think about changing more often to preserve it once loosened. I did this with my E39 and will do it with this one also.
I understand that the most important thing for running in is to vary the engine speed and load rather than just doing 1000 miles with the cruise control set.
Combined with new oils, you will find that the parts that do need to bed in (rings etc) will not do so if you change the oils too often and it will end up burning oil. A car salesman I know reckons that cars that are carefully run in are slower than ones 'used enthusiastically' and also use more gas as they havn't loosened up properly. His moto is to put your foot to the floor once every day.
I would stick to the factory intervals for the first one or two changes, and then think about changing more often to preserve it once loosened. I did this with my E39 and will do it with this one also.
I understand that the most important thing for running in is to vary the engine speed and load rather than just doing 1000 miles with the cruise control set.
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