05E60Black545i

My gut tells me to change it, because like said, I don't want the warrantee to run out and be wondering if it was because I neglected to change something so simple

JDN

My 545 is over one year old with the original oil, clean as if it were just changed, and none needed to top up yet.

EBMCS03

I plan on changing mine at around 4 to 5K miles. I was going to change it at break in but got lazy and at $100 I decided to wait till half way though its life then change it. then get the free one at 10K and then pay for another change at 17K miles. or yearly whavet comes first.

ULtraPLanet

I went the full run too. Well actually down to 1000km left on the service indicator. The only thing fishy is I showed up at the dealer with 5W-30 like the manual says and they refused to put it in They said the valvetronic engine requires 0W-30. Just FYI for those DIYers out there

vern

I'm on the same program as you.$80.00 is a cheap price to pay to have piece of mind.
cheers
vern

jsal

I am a clean oil fanatic. True, the engines run much cleaner (less blow-by) and with fuel injection they have cleaner mixtures, hence cleaner oil. Also, the engines are cleaner coming from the factory.

However, I have always changed oil faster than the recommended. On a previous GMC truck, at 200k miles the engine was as tight as when it was new and did not use anymore oil.

So, I figure with the cost of these cars, the investment in clean oil is a plus. You don't have to change it faster, but I don't see where it can hurt.

I changed my oil right after break-in (1250 miles). I am also changing it at 1/2 of the recommended (7500 instead of 15000). I will let BMW do thier 15k services.

I used the BMW jack to lift the car - probably not recommended. In fact I just ordered the plastic attachment for the jack that I can retrofit to my floor jack so I can lift the car at the proper place.

BMW has designed this car right and it is extremely easy, you just need some metric allen wrenches. There is a little cover to remove to expose the oil drain plug and filter. The filter actually has a drain plug on it so you can drain the filter before removing the filter housing. The position of both is such that you can drain the pan and filter at the same time.

The full job takes all of about 20 minutes - the most expensive part is 8.5 quarts of Synthetic oil - ouch!

ULtraPLanet

Here is my favorite oil change quote:

"Engine wear actually decreases as oil ages. This has also been substantiated in testing conducted by Ford Motor Co. and ConocoPhillips, and reported in SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-3119. What this means is that compulsive oil changers are actually causing more engine wear than the people who let their engine's oil get some age on it."

It is from http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

andy545

I'm following normal BMW schedule. First oil change will be at 18000 miles.
These are not V8's from 15 years ago. Neither is the oil technology.


Changing the oil won't do any harm. This is not the question.
The question is why go against the people who make the engines.

Transmission and diff are lifetime. No one here changes it, because obviously they trust BMW on that. So why not the engine reccomendation?

I too had an old Ford Falcon V8 302 Windsor in Australia. Changed the oil as often as I could. It's a different story nowadays though.

But if it makes you feel better : it's a free world....mostly !

jsal

That is an interesting report. It seems like they base this off of the concentration of wear metals over the oil life period. It also seems that the oil life is increased by having to top off the levels.

If BMW's oil life monitoring system is anything like GM's, it is a fairly complex algorithm that takes into account all factors that contribute to oil life. So, you are probably fine going the full life on your oil. And, I am sure, BMW is not pushing the oil life just so it seems like there is no maintenance required. After all, I assume they want the long term reports of engines running well over 200k.

There are also oils like AMSOIL that has a version they say is good for 25k miles.

Just the same, I think I am going to stick with my 1/2 intervals (not every 3k miles). It makes me feel good.

ULtraPLanet

I have always enjoyed changing the oil in my cars. It is very therapeutic to me to spend a Saturday afternoon in the garage with a 6-pack getting my hands dirty It makes me feel good too!