Oil Change

[Spencer1230]

I have a new 330xi currently with 4k miles. The Oil Change Service Indicatior says 11k miles until first oil change.

This seems way too long. Can anyone explain why, or if I should change it before the indicator says?

[Bumwrok]

I thought the same thing originaly, but when i asked the dealership they said that the synthetic oil used in the cars has a life of 15000 miles per change. I do check the oil level every so often because even though the oil integrity may still be good the level can drop.

[MarvelPhx]

Change your oil every 7,500 miles...

Sure, BMW says 15,000, but I wouldn't ever go that long. It's like $50 to have them change your oil in between scheduled oil changes, just make sure they don't reset your oil indicator.

They also admitted to initally using an oil filter that wouldn't even last 15,000 miles.

[yenchew88]

Question:
My 2001 330i just had the "inspection" indicator on at 11295 miles.
I have an appointment with a dealer to have my oil change.
Does anyone knows what is covered or done in that inspection?
Will they replace the oil with synthetic oil?
Will they allign the wheels?

BMW will change your oil with Synthetics.

Alignment is not part of the Inspection schedule.

First Inspection includes oil and filter change including the micro air filter. Todd is correct. BMW has a technical service bulletin that says their older oil filters were falling apart well before the 15,000 mile oil service interval (big surprise).

[Cleindian44]

I'm in a similar situation. I don't know about going 15K on the same oil, synthetic or not. I plan on getting mine changed at my own expense every 7,500 miles until my free maintenance is up, but I was just quoted a price of $100 at the dealership for an oil change. I would find someplace cheaper to do the in-between change, but if you're not a BMW technican, or at least sprechen sie deutsch, you can't touch my car!

[traffic]

cleindian (baseball fan?), check out my post on the oil change. $100 seems excessive for what is essentially the easiest car to change oil on. just be careful with oil filter cap since it's made of plastic and your metal tools can nick it. i used a hydraulic jack, but i'm sure you can use the jack that came with the car if you had to.

but if you've never changed oil, and don't feel confident, just fork over the cheap insurance and get the oil changed by bmw.

[Cleindian44]

Traffic,

Yes, I'm a lifelong Tribe fan, but there's not much to cheer about in Cleveland these days!

I thought $100 was a bit excessive, but even independent shops that specialized in servicing European cars here were asking prices in the same neighborhood. Because this car is still under warranty, I want to take the greatest care with it. I even tried to rationalize it by saying that this 7,500 synthetic oil change equated to 2.5 regular oil changes in my Nissan Maxima (every 3K miles). At $30 per visit to the Nissan store, my BMW oil change would be about $25 more expensive. Still, I may have to take your advice and do it myself.

[rja1973]

When I bought the car from the dealership it had 17652 miles on it, and they changed the oil at that interval or maybe a few miles earlier. My indicator has about 7400 miles till the next inspection. Should I just wait till then to change the oil again. I currently have 19045 on the bad boy, When do you advise to change the oil?

Thaks for the help!

[traffic]

here's some more data for your decision making. my dealer charges $47 for an oil filter/washer/o-ring plus 7 qts of bmw synthetic oil. that's about $11 for the filter and $5/qt for oil. i assume that the bmw oil is really castrol syntec which is also $5/qt. so if your bmw dealer charges $100, you are paying $50 for labor and a car wash/vacuum.

if you don't regularly do oil changes at home, it'll take a little longer the first time, plus you need a couple things to help things go smoothly. it'll be a balance between time, money, and personal satisfaction.

i put 8k miles before this oil change. after looking at the filter, i'm glad i changed the oil. the color of the oil was not bad (dark-dark brown), but looking at the filter, i would just say DO IT! or have it done.

[traffic]

rja, this is the advice i give to car enthusiasts and motorcyclists alike. oil changes are the cheapest things you can do to keep your motor running well. you can't hurt the motor by doing too frequent oil change.

[traffic]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: traffic on 2003-01-09 14:12 ]</font>

[rja1973]

Thanks Traffic... I am that type too, owning a Mustang keeps you on the edge of the enthusiast seat. I am trying to maintain the bimmer and keep it top shape. Do you think from the information I listed an Oil change is a good idea at this point or wait it out a bit.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rja1973 on 2003-01-09 14:46 ]</font>

[joby]

You guys are complaining about $100 for an oil change? BMWSF is about to rape me of $150 for a change (b/c I wanted to get a nonscheduled change while they are doing warranty work.) I'm going to ask them why I am paying ~$100 labor for an oil change when I get there later. Gawd, these guys suck. I needed my FasTrak (for the Golden Gate bridge tolls) last night and I had to find my car for them after they spent 20 minutes looking for it. Then another 20 minutes for them to find the key......

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: joby on 2003-01-09 15:37 ]</font>

[antetr95]

Sucks man! I paid $80 for my unscheduled oil change. You would think that some service prices such as oil changes would be consistent across the board. I'm happy so far with my dealer down here at Savage Ontario, SoCal.

[traffic]

rja, assume you were to do an oil change every 7500 miles (that's what i'm shooting for after hearing some advice from a bmw master mechanic) under normal driving. then you would change it at 7500, 15k, 22500, 30000. unless you felt a compelling need to change it sooner or prolong it more, i'd change it at 22500 and then take it into the shop near 30,000 and reset the interval.

but that's just me.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: traffic on 2003-01-09 17:06 ]</font>

[Darius]

Damn, They charge $250 for oil change at my dealer.

[rja1973]

Thx Traffic.. I was thinking along the same lines as u were. Appreciate the advise and time. My dealer charges around 85.00, thats not bad!!!

[apar328i]

It seems the oil change prices are all over the map. I had one done at the dealer and they charged me around $60.

[Darius]

Oil change at my dealership includes some extra stuff like topping off all fluids checking brakes, plus some kind of inspection and the usual wash and vacume. I guess that's why they charge so much.

[apar328i]

My $60 oil change also included a car wash, vacuum, fluid top offs, tire pressure check, etc... For $250 that oil must be laced with gold.

[ieatvtec]

I agree with marvel on the 7500 miles. That what I did on my previous 323I. Sure you can go 15,000 miles, but you want a clean car specially from all the fine debree from your break in period.

[gf1021]

i spoke to a bmw mechanic about a month ago, who is also a friend of mine, and he recommended to change my oil atleast every 5K miles. he's heard that some of the ppl that are waiting till their service indicator tells them to have their first oil change are having lifter problems...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: gregf on 2003-01-15 16:32 ]</font>

[gf1021]

changed my oil yesterday. easiest oil change ever. marvel, your instructions were great!!

$9.04 filter kit and $28.00 for synthetic oil...

I change the oil and filter on my wife's Bimmer at 4K-5K, it takes me 20 min max.
No need to use jacks just drive one side of the car up the edge of curb infront of the house (level street not on a slope) use blocks around all tires (never work under any car just using a jack!). Mobil 1 syn. oil (best) ,case of six qts. is $24 at costco, a 5 qt. container same brand is $17 at wal-mart..if u can still find it now, fram extraguard filters r 2 for $6 when u use the coupon in sunday paper 4 kragen's (approx. $28 per oil change).
For what some people hr r paying for (2no.s) oil changes I can get a new set of 4 tires for the Bimmer.BTW always ask for the inspection 1 or 2 check list after servicing at the BMW dealer,some of this guys don't do everything they charge for...surprise.