My idrive is telling me to change the oil way before 15k. I drive my car pretty hard. It seems to taking that into account. I don't remember the exact miliage. I bought the car with 67k and it has just over 80k. I changed the oil around 70k. Its saying I am due to change already. So the idrive seems to take alot more into account then just intervals.

 

If you go by the owners manual, it doesn't - however, talking to the dealer and BMW it seems that Mobil 1 5w30 is acceptable.

I'm frankly in the opinion, after doing this oil mess with normal cars, racecars and airplanes - that oil is oil unless you really need certain additives or weight (such as older Porsches needing a bit more zinc and cushion, which most oils don't provide in street-legal form today... or certain airplane oils needing additives to not eat certain copper elements inside specific engines...for example)... I wouldnt run a 20w50 in the Ohio winter, nor a 0Wanything in Florida summer...

Regards,

Mike

 

I think I'll stick to the 7500 miles schedule, thank you very much......

 

Agree on the 5K oil change!

 

5,000 mile oil changes are easy to track:

20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
etc.

 

Big issue also is these oil companies don't keep the same formula for the same product year after year. Mobile 1 0w-40 is poster child for this. That was an oil that for years was considered one of the best on the market across the board period and would hold together over long periods before it started its break down. Now the tests have shown that the formula has changed so much through the years that it will start breaking down around 5K mark. Been using it in my BMW for the last few years and now I'm going to switch 5w-30 or 5w-40 Mobile 1 or Castrol sythn. 5w-30. Otherwise fork over the extra $$$$ for the German Castrol 5w-30. I just can't find a decent price on that stuff in my area.

Been researching Porsches lately and this has been a big issues on there boards as Porsche stands behind Mobile 1 0w-40. Also once in awhile I'll look around on some of the oil forums like bob the oil guy (think that is correct). Mobile 1 0w-40 is just taking a beating lately.


All of this is why I just change my oil at about 7.5K as it seems most sythn.'s will hold up quite well for that time period. Beyond that seems to be a real crap shoot.

 

^^^
Correction on German Castrol. It's 0W-30 not 5W-30

German Castrol always comes w/ 1 qt bottle and the price is usually same as other Group III synthetics.

The only way to get a good bargain on one is when Autozone has oil change specials on Castrol Synthetic.
(I bought 30 qts for the next 3 oil changes)

Have anyone tried Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40 (Diesel grade)?
I use this on my motorcycle and turbocharged Subaru STi before w/ great experience.

I tried this on my 545 for 2 oil changes. Engine sounds smoother/quiter.
My friend's ML430 uses this until now and he says the same thing w/ smoother engine.
But I ended up w/ GC because I found good deals @ Autozone. And also BMW recommends Castrol

I usually follow my own method of oil change:
1 qt = 1000 miles.
So my car engine requires 8.5 qt then I change mine approx 8000-8500 miles.