mikegreen

So I've been a skeptic on the idrive's oil remaining calculator... This oil change it said there was 7,000 miles remaining (after going 9700).
I meant to change the oil this last time at 6k, but somehow got my math wrong and let it go to 9,700 miles again... not good. Anyone else have feedback on their oil readings in the 3.0L engine?

I'm using Mobil 1 5w30. 95% of my driving is highway - get out of the 'hood, put it in 6th and drive 180 miles every trip...So its not like I'm tooling around in city stop and go. I always let the car warm up too. I'm in the Southern Ohio climate.

See attached Blackstone oil analysis.

Regards,
Mike

vkhong

E60 530i M54, BMW 5W-30 oil

Howitzer

Stop paying attention to the stupid iDrive? If you change your oil at 56,630 miles, make sure you write it down and change the oil again at 63,630 miles. Its pretty simple.

NYC530XI

While I do think that oil should be changed closer to a 7,500 mile mark (5,000 if you're driving hard), these oil analyses do not show anything really to be concerned about.

These people at this shop make money from more frequent oil changes, of course they will exaggerate the results of the tests and the impact of their results.

Just my 2 cents though, and I do agree again about more frequent intervals if you plan to own the car long term.

ENstig8or

If I leased my car, I would probably let my car go to the BMW interval because honestly, what would I care what happens to it after I turned it in. But since I bought it, there is no chance I would ever drive 15,000 miles before changing the oil. There is nothing that I have seen or read that would change my mind on that issue. I change the oil at 5000 because that is what I'm personally comfortable with. People spend thousands on mods to only go cheap on oil changes.

Krozi

5k oil changes FTW! Next time I get an oil change I'm going to ask the SA to keep a little bit of the oil.

mikegreen

That isn't the issue - it is that BMW won't change it, and even out of warranty/service they really discourage changing it before 15k.. The local dealer service manager said he's seen cars goto 19k based on the iDrive - and thought that was great....

Howitzer

When I had the maintenance plan, (which I'll never buy again from BMW), I realized the hard way that everything was "scheduled maintenance". I got declined on rotors in the front even though they were squealing and the lip was very worn, it wasn't "replacement spec" yet. I got turned down for oil changes because it wasn't 14,000 miles yet, etc, etc. I had to change the oil myself every other 7,000 miles because I refused to believe the bullcrap from BMW.

response_surface

very interesting data! thanks for posting. i wonder what mobil would say about their 15k miles claim on the bottle with respect to this analysis? although the last time i bought oil it did not say 15k on it. in fact i didn't see the gold top 15-50 syn, just the plain 15-50 syn with a grey lid. either they stopped selling it or the store just didn't have the gold top at the time.

i think i will do 7500 intervals from now on in the 545 and the A8. i've been doing 10K in wifey's A8 (it has 120k miles), but no more, 7500 for her too!

thanks for sharing the analysis.

hmc

I don't think Mobil1 5W30 meets BMW spec. You need Mobil1 0W40.