Condition Based Service. CBS.

I've been reading and reading the manual and the service booklet and would really like to know some simple things.

1. How many miles should I have between oil changes. Where is the information on this posted? I want to make sure the service people reset my car correctly the last time they changed my oil. What should it read after a fresh oil change?

2. On the display for oil change, under service on I-drive, it says 4100 miles. I thought the counter was going DOWN, not up. One day it shows 4000 miles, 2 days later, it shows 4100. What gives? Does this mean I have to drive 4100 miles more until my next oil change and that I may have to drive even longer on the oil change perhaps 2 days later? What gives?

3. Brakes show something like 25,000 miles. Does this mean I have to drive the car 25,000 miles more until front brakes are to be changed or does it mean to change them at 25,000 miles?

Same with rear brakes.

I'm just so frustrated that BMW can't simply print out a good old 'Maintenance Schedule' that I can reference too. I understand that driving conditions, etc., all fall into play, but some posted rough guidelines would be helpful and informative to me at least.

Thanks for any help.

 

In iDrive maintenance screen You can see status (green ok, yellow coming, red over) and how long distance until or when You should do it. When You start Your car it shows distance/time to what You should do. Car calculates it self time to nex service. I think calculations include distance and used fuel, at least.

Mine showed 12T km to next oil change before I drove 2500km through Europe. Now it shows 13T!

Skaffa

 

Acribb, you are right. All those numbers show countdowns. However driving style and habits will effect the countdown. I can drive for a whole week barely getting out of 3rd gear as I only commute 2 miles to my work. Then one weekend I about 500 miles on the car in 6th gear. The computer bases the countdown to the next oil change on an algorithm of starts, stops, RPM, cold engine starts etc. This can change as your driving style changes.

Its in the manual
Maintenance_page_from_2004Manual_5Series.pdf
Now, I had my oil changed at 6200 miles and requested that the indicators not be reset. This is so that I can claim my next oil change and service from BMW under their maintenance plan.

 

I always get my oil changed at around half the recommended mileage (which I pay for), and tell them not to reset the indicator, so that the next one is covered by the maintenance plan.