russo

As far as I could remember, standard scope includes checking things such as coolent, tire pressure, oil leaks, belts, brakes and lighting. If I remember correctly it costs about $40. You could skip this process if your car is fairly new or less than 30,000km as nothing much would fail but we never know.

Formula SLX is Castrol, which PML uses for oil change throughout the range of models except for M cars. You can pop your bonnet and take a look at your engine oil cap. Says 'BMW recommends/uses Castrol'. Castrol is also a sponsor for F1 Williams team.

Your one litre oil that they put in your boot is for topping up your engine oil only when the level is low. Comes in a neat package gloves, funnel, plastic and a handy velcro bag. Once your engine oil level light comes on, you can top it up with this oil. Think it is 10w-40. It won't affect the engine much as the oil ratio diff is 1:6.5 Anyway when you are prompted to top up the oil in anycase, it will be very close to your next oil change. Don't worry bout it.

zag

Ah ya, forgot to tell you to decline the 1 littre spare oil purchase. When was driving 320i got prompted oil level low a few time so i have to top up myself or get PML to. But since the e60, i changed oil every 15K km so no chance to get oil level low.

How much your bill come up to be?

tategoi

I returned the 1L oil to PML, I still have some balance left from the last top-up. I have done twice, first at the 8k mark, followed by 16k. Total bill around $240, consists of $50 labour, $160 il, $15 filter and GST. Still affordable and the drive today is so smooth. Maybe I should change it at every 10k interval.

Indeed I had a report on checks mentioned by Russo, plus battery and tyre threads. At 20k mileage nothing should go wrong. Apparently the service fee for the standard scope is lower, perhaps PML now does not have to pay Russo's high salary

zag

did you top up because you checked the oil stick or the indicator told you so?
my current ride doesn't seem to evaporate the oil that much compare to my e46 320i. Hm!

Olivin530i

I did my 1st service at 13,500km and have the same item Service - Standard Scope charged at $42.00. CSA also added the 1L of L/Life at $20.83 and the whole service came up to $280.78. I guess the billing is quite standard for everybody?

And NO, the 1L of BMW Motor Oil did not come in a neat package wif gloves, funnel, plastic and a handy velcro bag like russo said - it only came with a 25mm velcro on the surface of the plastic container so that it would stay adhered to the carpeted trim in the trunk. Anyone got the gloves,........

Edlee

I always made it a point to buy my own Castrol SLX oil in all my previous rides. Saves you a bundle.

russo

During the running in phase the engine does consume a certain amount of the engine oil as the piston rings need to 'run in'. Current M54 engines have that behaviour.

It is very much recommended to replace engine oil at 10k to 15k max interval. In our kind of harsh humidity and dusty environment, there is no way the engine oil can last up to 25k as recommended by the German engineers.

I remember 2 years ago when I was in PML, there was this 318i which came in at 25,000km sharp for her first oil change as recommended by the sales representative. I happened to be in the workshop when the technician removed the drain plug. And what suprised me was that sludge flowed out in lumps rather than the normal black engine oil! The technician gotta put in new oil, run for 5 mins and drain it out. He did it twice before putting in fresh oil. Imagine lumps of sludge lubricating your pistons rather than engine oil. Damn!

Stranger

When I first picked up my car, PML gave me a 1L oil in the package as described by russo. It has 2 paper funnel and 1 pair of plastic gloves I think, with the little black carrier.

Stranger

did you top up because you checked the oil stick or the indicator told you so?
my current ride doesn't seem to evaporate the oil that much compare to my e46 320i. Hm!
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I had to top up at around 8000km; prompted by the system. Checked it, it was below the min mark. The strange thing was it came after my trip to KL, and prior to the trip I checked the oil and the dip stick showed between min and max (about 1.5L left).

Stranger

Just before I topped up, I glanced at the bottle provided by PML, I think I saw 0w-40.