15,000 miles
is the recommended oil change interval for BMW. Keep
in mind these extended service intervals were put in
place when the manufacturers needed to reduce the
advertised cost of maintenance, or in BMW's case,
they pay for all maintenance for 3 years. They will
perform an oil change at 15,000 free of charge, but
not before. Amazingly, the oil change interval went
from 7,500 miles to 15,000 miles and the manual
gearbox and differential oil change went from (if I
recall correctly) 60,000 miles to lifetime, never
change once BMW started to to pay for maintenence.
Same lubricants magically last longer!
Carl
On Mon, Sep
20, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Jeff Greenfield wrote:
ÂBritt â
Â
I think itâs
a little of both. The modern synthetic oils have
improved, the mfrâs are pushing the service
intervals because people donât want to have to bring
their cars in for service often.
Â
Most BMWâs
and many other cars (VW/Audi comes to mind) have
gone to full synthetic oil for the last 10 years or
so. This helps to prolong the maintenance interval.
Â
That being
said, some mfrâs have had problems with oil sludging
in their engines. VW/Audi had a service campaign
where they were replacing long blocks well past the
warranty period if the owner could prove that
service (oil changes) were performed at the
recommended intervals.
Â
Several
other makes were affected by this problem as well. I
know Toyota was one, I donât recall the others.
Â
I think the
reality lies somewhere between the old school 3,000
miles, and the extended intervals that are being
recommended. If you buy a new car and only plan to
keep it 3-4 years or up to about 100,000 miles you
will probably have no problems following either the
mfrâs service schedule or the computer that tells
you when it is time to change the oil.
Â
But, if you
plan to keep the car longer and expect it to make it
to the 200,000 mile mark or beyond, I feel more
frequent oil changes will help achieve that goal.
Â
The BMW
service indicator primarily keeps track of fuel
consumed, and bases the interval on this. Figuring
more fuel will be consumed in traffic, short trips,
etc, and less on pure highway driving.
Â
Also, most
service schedules have a footnote regarding âsevereâ
use. Although the word âsevereâ may not be the
correct term, probably 80-90% of owners fall into
this category which calls for more frequent oil
changes.
Â
Theoretically,
they say you can go 15,000 miles between oil changes
with synthetic. Personally I feel more comfortable
with half that, but thatâs me.
Â
Â
Â
Sent: Monday,
September 20, 2010 11:25 AM
To: Jeff
Greenfield
Subject:
Re: [Ferrari] NY Times on frequency of oil
changes
Â
I find this
quite interesting. I was working in the fleet
business when I moved to the UK in 1995. Immediately
Inoticed that cars here would require an oil change
every 7500 miles while in the US at the time it was
normal every 3000 miles. That slowly grew to be
around 10k-12k miles or once a year by 2000. This
was for the majority of cars here.
Â
The blonde's
2002 BMW petrol engine had a computer that
determined servicing. It lit the service light at
around 12k miles. The car never used more than 1qt
oil every 12k miles and after 100k miles was still
perfect. She now has a 2003 3 series with the same
engine and it has similar requirements.
Â
My 530d BMW
clicked on the service light at around 20,000 miles.
My current new 320d just had its first service at
23,000 miles. I wonder what BMW requires in the USA
regarding oil changes on these same engines?
Â
Either the
oil companies/service garages are lying about the
need for frequent oil changes or the car
manufacturers are pushing up the miles between oil
changes to make their cars more appealing here in
what is a very competitive market.
Â
Britt
Interesting
read.
Vty,
--Dennis
gmail.com)