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Hi guys, my car has just reached 6700 miles. Is it too early for me to go for oil change? At what mileage you guys usually go for oil service ? Just a simple question, i'm curious.

streak

Here BMW use hi tech long life oils eg. Castrol TXT which are supposed to be better and last longer between changes than the regular mineral oils.
Despite that, oil changes as indicated by I-Drive are every 10 to 12000km (6000 to 7200 miles) which I understand is much more frequent than US spec E60's.
It makes one ask the question why the difference, and are we changing oil too frequently or are you guys doing it too infrequently???

Streak

andy545

My E36 318i had 20000km service intervals. Usually the service indicator requested it at 18000km. ( driving style )

Then my E46 328i had 25000km intervals. Did them usually after 23000km.

On my current E60 545i service intervals are 30000km. I have done almost 2000km and I-drive calls for service in 28000km...therefore on schedule.


Based on my previous experience, and just following the service indicator, all my previous BMW engines performed smoothly and ran the same from the first day to the day I sold them. Don't see any reason to change this pattern. Technology gets
better and so does synthetic oil.

Would it harm to change oil sooner? No. But why?
If it is good enough for the engineers at BMW, it's fine with me!!

IMHO,

Andy

JDN

I agree with everything you said, Andy, except there may be the possibility that you actually reduce the effectiveness of synthetic oil by changing too frequently. This is the study that a group did using synthetic Mobil Oil in a Camaro, IIRC.
Mobil Oil Change Study

At one time in BMW history, oil filters came apart and clogged oil lines, so I've been told. I believe that if that was a problem with BMW oil filters that it was dealt with long ago and is more like an old wives tale today.

ch7656

On my previous 525 I did an oil change at 5k but did not reset the service computer (or have it reset)...I was curious when the car would say to change the oil. iDrive indicated the need for service at 6700 miles and the dealer said it was time for an oil change.

Now with the 545 I plan on doing it every 5k

browellm

The OBC in my car is predicting 19,000 miles for the first service/oil change. Happy days.

Guest

mine flagged it at 9800 miles, saying service due, with about 700 miles left to go, mostly highway miles, i guess the sensor determines it when.

paasan

We've changed oil and oil filter every 10 000 km (twice so far). Once before 8 600 of Autobahn kms, and once recently in time for winter.

andy545

I am intrigued that some members change oil on their E60 around 10000km,
or some instances, less...!!

Do I understand this is a personal choice, or are we talking about the Idrive service indicator requiring an oil change at such reduced mileage???
If that's the case, under what driving conditions does this occur?

I mean, personal choice I can understand - I don't see a technical merit for it on these type of modern engines, but I understand it....but I am curious how can a 545i for example, which has a default service interval of 30000km, end up needing a service in under 10k..... Is this different per country or something.

Appreciate some insight!

Jimbo

I was told the interval can very depending on the type of driving. Don't know the tech details. Is there a document on this?