mikereyno

For the 1995 3-series I had prior to trading in on my 5, I followed the reccomended intervals based on what the car told me. I had over 165,000 miles on the car in just under ten years and never changed oil more than twice in any given year and it was still running fine when I turned it in.

Presley348

================================================== ===

Hi ferrarislave:

Good question! First: we must remember this are $50,000 to $63,000 + toys that we own, and coming from owning and operating day-to-day operations of a large private ALS ambulance service in Atlanta, GA and surrounding areas, I know preventive maintenance must be done in order to keep any vehicle running smoothly and effectually.

Now Fully synthetic oil is excellent oil, and should be fine for 15k...but I am from the old school who is used to changing regular engine oils in my personal vehicles every 3000 miles.

Now I have researched this 15,000 mile oil change diligently on the www, also by asking my BMW mechanic's, and with my own research I have came up with my own RX plan for the e60 BMW synthetic oil changes. (I just had mine changed on my 2004 530i last week at 5600 miles because it had a 1 year birthday).

My e60 Synthetic Oil Change Plan is this:

I chose to change my BMW e60 530i synthetic oil every 7,500 miles, or once a year. In doing this I strongly believe I should be safe from premature engine breakdowns, especially when my car gets 50,000 miles and forward. Also remember we BMW owners already have paid BMW for one synthetic oil change every 15,000 miles or annually, up to 50,000 miles

For now in while under BMW warranty and BMW maintenance plan, to me means we pay for the ones in between, (7,500), my first oil change was already paid for last week because I came in under the BMW maintenance once a year deal, which was already paid for!

I wish you the best with you new Bimmer, and remember these BMW's are some the best Hi tech cars made in the world!

Sincerely,

R. Eddie Presley

PS,
When the time arrives for me to pay, I got my Synthetic Oil quote of 69.99 matched at my BMW, and another BMW dealer for $70.00 + TAX, which includes new oil filter and old oil deposer fee. (I have research from Atlanta, to AZ, to CA, and they are some BMW dealers that are charging anywhere from 100.00 to 180.00 for the same Synthetic Oil change I get done for 70.00 + TAX).

punto

I change it every 3k by myself, using CCA discount purchase filter and oil from dealer, less tthan $42.
Labor, priceless

sixgun95

Good question! First: we must remember this are $50,000 to $63,000 + toys that we own, and coming from owning and operating day-to-day operations of a large private ALS ambulance service in Atlanta, GA and surrounding areas, I know preventive maintenance must be done in order to keep any vehicle running smoothly and effectually.

Now Fully synthetic oil is excellent oil, and should be fine for 15k...but I am from the old school who is used to changing regular engine oils in my personal vehicles every 3000 miles.

Now I have researched this 15,000 mile oil change diligently on the www, also by asking my BMW mechanic's, and with my own research I have came up with my own RX plan for the e60 BMW synthetic oil changes. (I just had mine changed on my 2004 530i last week at 5600 miles because it had a 1 year birthday).

My e60 Synthetic Oil Change Plan is this:

I chose to change my BMW e60 530i synthetic oil every 7,500 miles, or once a year. In doing this I strongly believe I should be safe from premature engine breakdowns, especially when my car gets 50,000 miles and forward. Also remember we BMW owners already have paid BMW for one synthetic oil change every 15,000 miles or annually, up to 50,000 miles

For now in while under BMW warranty and BMW maintenance plan, to me means we pay for the ones in between, (7,500), my first oil change was already paid for last week because I came in under the BMW maintenance once a year deal, which was already paid for!

I wish you the best with you new Bimmer, and remember these BMW's are some the best Hi tech cars made in the world!

Sincerely,

R. Eddie Presley

Eddie,

I fully agreee with you. Every 7500 makes sense to me.

lcc014

I just did my 5k miles oil change. It took me about 45 minutes due to the first time to change oil in E60. Next oil change will be much less than 45 minutes.

I drove the car to rino ramp and unscrewed the cover (1 screw) to open the cover. The oil drain nut was facint the the passenger side wheel instead of the rear of the car. The drain nut was 17mm (same as my Volvo), and was amazingly "not" tight and "without" a copper washer ????

With the oil filler cap opened, I undid the drain nut and let the "dark" oil came out for about 10 minutes. Total oil that came out was about 6.5 quarts. Put back the drain nut with the copper washer and tightened the drain nut by hand first then wrench. I did not have the torque spec. for the drain nut so I just did it by feel.

Poured in 7 quarts of engine oil from the filler cap and put back the filler cap. I used a 36mm socket to unscrew the plastic oil filter cap. Once the filter cap was out, removed the oil filter element and installed the new filter element. Replaced the rubber o-rings on the filter cap and tightened the filter cap to 25 Nm as stated on the cap itself.

That was it.... Turned on the car and let it run for a couple minutes and checked for any oil leak from the drain nut and oil filter cap.

No oil service light came on and car ran great...... Next oil change will be at 10k miles.

Ching-Ho Cheng

derrickj

[quote name='Guest' date='Apr 22 2005, 04:07 PM']



Just cause it's a BMW doesn't mean ya can or should wait for 15k miles.


It doesn't matter what car you may have,change the oil at least every 3000 miles!


Actually, the recommended oil change frequency has been 3000 miles forever. This is because oil breaks down under heat and in order to function correctly, you had to change it. The new synthetics actually never break down, so theoretically, you could go forever. However, engine components can generate wear materials and consequently, you should change the oil/filter to remove these and the by products of combustion. Naturally, the first change should come sooner as you would expect to have some created from the manufacturing process.

punto

agree

jetmech

Regardless of the synthetic oil's life limit, contamination from outside sources such as blow-by and moisture cannot be removed by filtering, and regardless of the lubricating properties of the oil, when contamination reaches unacceptable conditions, the oil and filter should be changed.

Another factor to consider is overall maintenance. If you have a repair facility doing your conventional oil changes for you every 3,000 miles, a trained technician is inspecting your car for potential problems. Your mechanic will be checking things like fluid levels, belts, hoses, tire wear patterns, under-car oil or transmission fluid leaks and other items that can help prevent breakdowns or expensive repairs. For example, replacing a weak coolant hose can prevent having that hose burst in traffic, with resultant overheating and engine damage. This type of preventive maintenance can greatly extend the life of your car. If you use a synthetic oil and only change it every 15,000 mile, then you are not getting your car inspected by that mechanic anywhere near as frequently, and problems may be more likely to develop between inspections.

If you are doing your own oil changes, then you need to be aware of these types of inspections and perform them yourself. If you do these inspections regularly every 3,000 miles, then you can possibly extend your oil change intervals by using a synthetic oil; however, keep in mind the problem of moisture and blow-by contamination.

vern

15k miles to change oil is way too long. Engine oil is engine oil, doesn't matter is BMW or Mobile 1. 5k miles is the right time to change for synthetic oil.

Ching-Ho Cheng
[/quote]
Talk to a Mobil 1 distributor and see if he recommends changing the oil this frequently. He will probably say that this is a waste of money and petroleum. Good synthetics will last 12,000 miles easily in most engines and driving patterns.
[/quote]

I use Mobil 1 for many years in my other cars. I always change at 3k miles even though it is synthetic. I need to keep the car for a long time, just like my Escort - 16 years and 200k miles. My Volvo is about 10 years and 140k miles. BMW should at least match up with my Volvo.

A little cost to pay to keep the engine running smooth and quiet.

Ching-Ho Cheng

[/quote]
You wasted a lot of money on oil that you didn't have to replace. You could have bought a new ESCORT
cheers
vrn

noonehome

To add a little fuel to the fire...

Saturday I recieved my 1st oil change based upon Time (1 year @ 8700 miles).
I found it interesting that they did not reset the service indicator which currently shows service due in 2900 miles. I asked about this since 2900 miles is only 4 or so months off based upon my normal driving and a trip I have planned. They said that indeed I should bring it back in when indicated to.

So BMW recomended oil service is ranging from 2900 to 15000 miles???

But they did follow BMW's instuctions:
si000401_lowmilegaeservice.pdf