Oil changes and Oil sensors

Hello.

I bought my very first car, a BMW 6 Convertible. I love it.

Now, I've gotten about 3000 miles on it, and from what I've been reading, I should change the oil in my car every 3000 miles. The car manual says nothing about it.

And there's also an Oil sensor with iDrive that tells me if the car needs new Oil. The oil sensor hasn't gone on.

So... do I change the oil in my car? Or do I wait til the sensor goes on? It's not like I'm trying to save a few bucks on oil, I just want to do what's right for my car. Thanks!

Reply to
DaLoverhino
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Did they make 6 Series 50 years ago? 'Cause that when I last remember 3000 mile oil changes.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

First of all, changing oil at 3000 mile intervals is rather outdated. Oil has been changed dramatically since that old rule of thumb, and it lasts much longer these days. This is due to in part to the fact that your car carries 7 quarts of oil, whereas most cars carry only 5 quarts. You get an extra 40%, and this translates into longer change intervals.

Second, doesn't BMW take care of that for you under the warranty program? I thought that BMW did all of the routine maintenance under the warranty. The idea being that BMW wouldn't take on costly maintenance if it didn't have to, therefore they must know that there isn't any maintenance required. Basically, they know that the oil lasts a long time and they don't need to change it, so they offer to change it free every time it is needed.

Third, the car keeps track of your driving habits and what the car is asked to do, and it uses this information to determine when to change the oil. The system works pretty well, and it is safe to trust it. Don't worry, be happy.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

You will find a wide range of opinions. I believe you'll see in your maintenance manual that oil services are every 15,000 miles or one year, whichever comes first. Since BMW pays, I personally feel the 15,000 mile may be a stretch for financial reasons on BMW's part even using a good synthetic oil but that's my personal choice. And I love sensors except when they don't work. I do a change every 7,500 miles with BMW doing every other one free. On a new car, I'd pay the $100 now and have your oil and filter (especially) changed now but then that's a personal idiosyncrasy of mine regarding engine break-in.

Reply to
John

Uh-uh. He's probably in America and there they like to change oil every 3000 miles, irrespective of what any silly old manufacturer or trip computer might say.. :-)

DAS

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

"Dori A Schmetterling" wrote

Yeah, although just about the only places still touting the 3K mile oil changes are the likes of Jiffy Lube. One would have to be out of their mind to buy a $70-80K BMW and then take it to these good-for-nothing grease monkeys at JL for oil changes. :)

I'm thinking the once-a-year or every 15K mile OCI might be OK if good quality synthetic oil is used, although a lot depends on one's driving patterns. I'd probably go ahead and do it every 7.5K like John, but that's just because I'm an oil freak. I change the oil on my A4 1.8TQ every 5K miles, but that thing only has a 3.7qt oil sump and I tend to drive it pretty hard.

Cheers,

Pete

Reply to
Pete

Yeah, what Jeff said.

Except, if I just dropped the cash for a brand new 6 series, I'd change the oil once (at my own expense) in between each of the on-board computer's "recommended" intervals, (and don't reset the counter) which usually work out to be somewhere around 15k miles.

Since you anticipate the service reminder coming on at 15k (and BMWNA picking up the tab for that one), you do yours at 7.5k, 22.5k, 37.5k, etc.

Y Oil Changes MV,

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

You know that is not true. I guess American bashing is just too much fun to resist...

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

Though it's a bit of a tease (certainly not "bashing)" I am afraid that a lot of the posts in this NG and the Chrysler one I follow do suggest there's a lot of it (3000-mile changes) about.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

For an interesting read, see the "Synthetic Oil Life Study":

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Granted, it's only one data point, but the highlights from this site are:

  • A simple filter change and associated top-off oil goes a long way towards extending oil life (it's the top-off oil that helps the most).
  • Engine wear appears to decrease with oil age. There's some evidence that frequent oil changes increases engine wear, although it's unclear (to me) if the increased wear is actually significant.
Reply to
Darryl Okahata

Why? Do a search on synthetic oil.

Or - have a sample of your oil analysed at 7500 miles. And again at

15,000, or whatever. If it's showing problems, then you're right. Otherwise you're simply throwing away money.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

"Darryl Okahata" wrote

Yup, I'm very familiar with this study and I know the guy who performed it from another message board (BITOG).

Yeah, if you have to add a quart of oil every 1K miles, you could practically go on without ever having to change your oil. :) Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), my 1.8T doesn't consume any noticeable amount of oil between oil change intervals.

Possibly because at every oil change you make the engine run pretty much dry with no oil pressure for the first couple of seconds until all the new oil is properly distributed around the engine. It helps to prefill the new oil filter with oil. But yeah, whatever the wear that it causes, it's most likely insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Regards,

Pete

Reply to
Pete

Nope. It's cheaper than the psychiatrist's bills that might arise as a result of anxiety.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

To have an analysis done would probably cost as much as just doing the oil change (yourself).

There is some evidence around that suggests shorter intervals for the first few cycles, I guess until the engine breaks in and then I suppose the internal parts wear slower and contaminate the oil less.

Perhaps a happy medium might be to just change the filter and top up the oil at that previously mentioned time frame.

As I said, YMMV,

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

I'm with you Fred, there is no need to change the oil more often that the maintenance schedule calls for, with the POSSIBLE exception of the very first change where the goal is to remove any tailings that might be missed from the flushing during manufacturing. I wouldn't even worry about that because part of the expense I paid for the car in the first place is the process that is expected to remove these tailings. I have faith that the people building this stuff 1.) know what they are doing, 2.) take pride in doing what they do, 3.) have very rigid standards to build to, and 4.) the people selling the stuff that I pay extra for will fix it if the people in

1, 2, or 3 fail in their job for whatever reason.

So, the bottom line is, if anybody is more anal than I am, they might want to change the oil at the half-interval mark on the first oil change, but the oil and the metals are designed to specifications that allow the oil to be used at least as long as the oil change interval. Even if one thinks that

15,000 miles is too long, the engineers that come up with these numbers do it for a reason, and they have to bite the bullet if the numbers are wrong. In any case, changing oil ar 3,000 miles is way too often, especially in these days when the mantra of the environmentalists is that we are running out of oil.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

And I always thought that the decision whether to top up was made on the basis of the oil level seen after checking the dipstick.

DAS

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

You only need the analysis done once - to satisfy you the oil is still ok at the change point.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

"Malt_Hound"

You only need to do the UOA once, maybe twice (once at 7.5K and then at

15K) to see if changing oil at such an interval is not doing harm to your engine. Once you establish that, you don't need to do more analyses.

Regards,

Pete

Reply to
Pete

Hey Fred - you might want to check your computer's clock, as your last 4 posts are dated 4/13 & today is still 4/9 (last time I looked.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Korth

Forget the stupid sensor, just reset it when needed. Do like me, use Mobil 1 synthetic, and change the oil and filter about every

8,500 miles, and forget about it.

-- Cliff

Reply to
clifffreeling

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