Hi, I'm stationed in Germany in the Army and I just picked up my new 535i not too long ago. All of the German dealerships are sticking by the every 15,000mi service and oil change. I have a hard time believing that especially considering the break in period and the fact that it is turbo charged, you should wait until 15,000mi to change the oil. What do you all think? It's and awfully expensive car to risk. Also, which oil is the best for the BMW 535i. Moble 1 fully synthetic? Oh, by the way, driving on the German Autobahns with no speed limit is quite an experience with the BMW 535i!

 

Congrats and welcome to the forum. Must be nice driving the 535i in the Autobahn.
You will get different opinions regarding the oil change in this forum and you will probably not own that vehicle that long to notice any effect (If any at all) of not changing the oil more frequently (Hopefully) but it is always up to you. There was already a discussion about waiting about one or two minutes in idle (To let the turbos cool down) before shutting down the engine, again, supposedly it is not needed but it does not hurt to do it (Except when you are in a rush).

 

welcome. the manual should tell you about which oil to use, but here's a thread about oil: http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...hetic+motor+oil . hope this helps. congrats on your 535 and enjoy the forums.

 

BMW sticks by the 15k mile claim, but you will not hurt anything by changing your oil on a more frequent basis.

I have seen a few preferences for oil, but many prefer Mobile 1 or Castrol Syntec as replacements for BMW brand.

I just bought Mobile 1 (0W40) for Florida.

You should also expect that your car may ask for an extra quart of oil after only 1,000-2,000 miles. This is normal (it does not mean that you have a leak). Mine did not ask for an extra quart until 11k miles. My car is leased, so I am not worried about the issue as much. If I owned the car, I would be replacing the oil every 7.5k miles.

Good luck,

 

Hello eagle12,

Congrats on your new fine ride!

It doesn't cost that much the change the oil, but be sure the change the oil filter as well!

A change at some 3 - 5 Kmiles may well be worth it.

I suggest that you take your car to a BMW dealer and ask them to do the job with Mobil1.

 

I was very doubtful of the 15K mile interval. I have a family member who has their BMW serviced by a former BMW specialist who now owns his own shop. He advised that the effect of this extended change interval is the build-up of engine sludge over the long term. He did not recommend it.

With that said, Consumer Reports did a study several years ago on oil life and different intervals of changing it on New York cabs. They reported that changing your conventional oil any sooner than 6k miles is a waste. Noticable sludge build-up and subsequent engine damage was observed in cars where the oil was changed over this period.

Of course cabs would be classified as harsh driving and the study did not envolve synthetic oils. Based on my normal driving, I split the difference with BMW. With the ease of access to the filter and drain plug, I do the in-between ones myself with Castrol Syntec 5w-30.

 

Endless debate on this topic - a search should give you enough reading to last the weekend....

 

I would change it on a more frequent basis if I owned the car, mine is a lease so I stick to BMW's schedule.

 

The interval not 15,000 miles, at least not in he UK. It's whatever IDrive says or 18 months here.

I had mine changed at 18,500, 13 months. No "quarts" asked for during that interval either.

Maybe that's "abnormal"...

Much advice given on this subject is derived from people's own "oil-change experience" pre-synthetic oils and pre-finer-engineering tolerances during their own (or even their parent's) early car ownership.

ABC

 

In the August 2007 ROUNDEL, Mike Miller on page 130 suggests using BMW Motorsport 10W-60 oil in the N54 engine, primarily because of its greater ability to keep the engine cool. He wrote that engine over-heating in the N54 (perhaps only as installed in the 3-series) is a concern.