who's going to be the first to get their second scheduled oil change?

[M3 Adjuster]

my car is not a daily driver... so I notice the oil service interval quite a bit when I get in the car and start it up.... So... if you have had your 1200 mile service.... how many miles are you at... and has anyone gotten to their second service yet?

Will BMW pay for as many oil services as the car dictates while in the warranty period? I have around 3600 miles currently... but I have noticed that each track day weekend seems to drop my anticipated oil change interval down about 3000-3500 miles... Because of this.... my current range to next oil service is around 4K miles... down from the original 15,000 that it indicated after my last service.

Another track day or two and my car will be calling for it's second oil change well before 5K miles...

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

my car is not a daily driver... so I notice the oil service interval quite a bit when I get in the car and start it up.... So... if you have had your 1200 mile service.... how many miles are you at... and has anyone gotten to their second service yet?

Will BMW pay for as many oil services as the car dictates while in the warranty period? I have around 3600 miles currently... but I have noticed that each track day weekend seems to drop my anticipated oil change interval down about 3000-3500 miles... Because of this.... my current range to next oil service is around 4K miles... down from the original 15,000 that it indicated after my last service.

Another track day or two and my car will be calling for it's second oil change well before 5K miles...

I now have 9,000 miles on my 1M and the service indicator is suggesting the next oil change in 2,800 miles.

In addition to the "break-in" oil service at 1,200 miles, I did an additional oil change around 4,500 given my use of the car.

In any event, I'm going to try to talk my dealer into doing the second scheduled oil change a bit early as I'm heading down to VIR for my first track event of the year on Feb. 24.

Neil

[Dackelone]

I don't get it. Don't both of you guys plan on keeping your 1M's for the long run? You should be changing your oil more often. Especially since your doing track events.

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

I don't get it. Don't both of you guys plan on keeping your 1M's for the long run? You should be changing your oil more often. Especially since your doing track events.

I did a Blackstone oil analysis after my second, unscheduled change and nothing in it suggested that more frequent changes were needed.

Neil

[ayao]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

I don't get it. Don't both of you guys plan on keeping your 1M's for the long run? You should be changing your oil more often. Especially since your doing track events.

I suppose it just depends on how much one trusts the oil life indicator.
If the owner changes the oil more frequently than indicated, do we potentially miss out on the free oil change perk since the service indicator will always be seeing relatively clean oil? Or will the light come on at a certain mileage as well?

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by ayao

I suppose it just depends on how much one trusts the oil life indicator.
If the owner changes the oil more frequently than indicated, do we potentially miss out on the free oil change perk since the service indicator will always be seeing relatively clean oil? Or will the light come on at a certain mileage as well?

The light has little to do with the actual condition of the oil, but is based on the ecu's best guess as to when it should be changed (so-called "condition-based service').

In any case, unless the service indicator is reset, the ecu has no idea that there was an intermediate oil change so it does not affect when the next scheduled change is indicated.

Neil

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by ayao

I suppose it just depends on how much one trusts the oil life indicator.
If the owner changes the oil more frequently than indicated, do we potentially miss out on the free oil change perk since the service indicator will always be seeing relatively clean oil? Or will the light come on at a certain mileage as well?

I'm not 100% sure but... I think as long as you do not reset the BC service due lights... the car will still count down to the next scheduled oil change. If a tech were to go into the CBS menu... the oil quality would be good though.

At least that is my impression when I look at the CBS data via the BT tool.


BMW NA still gives you one free oil change per year and when the car tells the dealer/driver when the service is due.

[DriveHard]

I put so many track miles on my car last year that it triggered the oil service due at 9.5k miles !!! I did change the oil at about 5 k ( IIRC) and not reset my lights, as mearly a percaution to the prior end of season track events. and my car is a lease.. It may not have needed it... but i simply felt better about it as it is also my DD.

At the track i like to reset my avg. MPG... i get a charge out of it saying 6.9 MPG when i get back into the pits ..

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

I don't get it. Don't both of you guys plan on keeping your 1M's for the long run? You should be changing your oil more often. Especially since your doing track events.

I also have already had an unscheduled change at 2100 miles... so the current oil only has about 1500 miles on it. I'm just wondering what the dealer will do when I show up again and it's only been about 3000 miles..

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

I did a Blackstone oil analysis after my second, unscheduled change and nothing in it suggested that more frequent changes were needed.


Neil

I am also a big believer in oil analysis... on my 2005 Subaru I have sent in the oil samples religiously and been advised that even after 8000 miles the Castrol Full synthetic oil that I use is in great condition and they have encouraged extending the interval to 9K. Their recommendations notwithstanding.. I typically change the oil on that vehicle twice a year.. which is about 7500 miles. it currently has 107K miles and no oil related issues.

I'll certainly begin using Blackstone as I begin to do my own oil changes.. but at the current rate... seems like I won't even get to 3500 miles anyway.. If BMW keeps replacing the oil based on the car prompting for a change.. I'm going to get 2-3 oil changes a year from them ..

[bayer]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

BMW NA still gives you one free oil change per year .

Reallly?? I did not know that.

[Redadair]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

seems like I won't even get to 3500 miles anyway.. If BMW keeps replacing the oil based on the car prompting for a change.. I'm going to get 2-3 oil changes a year from them ..

What are you referring to here???

BMW will only give you One Oil change per year on the anniversary of your purchase, or at the Scheduled oil service indicator whichever happens first.

[bdaddylo]

Originally Posted by Redadair

What are you referring to here???

BMW will only give you One Oil change per year on the anniversary of your purchase, or at the Scheduled oil service indicator whichever happens first.

The engine oil service indicator on your car is condition based service. Under BMWNA's Ultimate Service/free maintenance plan oil service frequency is dictated by the CBS system or 12 months, which ever occurs first. CBS is the only oil service schedule. Did you finds something else in your manual?

[Redadair]

Originally Posted by bdaddylo

The engine oil service indicator on your car is condition based service. Under BMWNA's Ultimate Service/free maintenance plan oil service frequency is dictated by the CBS system or 12 months, which ever occurs first. CBS is the only oil service schedule. Did you finds something else in your manual?

I understand this and that is what I wrote in my response as well.

But in no way do you get 2 - 3 Free oil changes a year unless you drive over 50K miles a year!

[Franklin Joseph]

Well...i'm scheduled for my 2nd oil service next week.
Currently have 4k miles on the car.

1200 miles service done in July 11. I did my own oil change at 3000 miles in Nov 11.
The service indicator says i'm -4000 miles from oil service. Guess them track days and dyno runs do affect this number? Maybe i have a bad sensor or something.

Dealer is gonna check a couple other items on the car, so figure i'd try to see if they do the service. They said yes. Now will see if they will do a 3rd one if it comes up again later this year.

[bdaddylo]

Originally Posted by Redadair

But in no way do you get 2 - 3 Free oil changes a year unless you drive over 50K miles a year!

Not according to the US new vehicle warranty. I'll ask my service manager.

[terrapen73]

It is all based on how the car is driven. Track days and hard loads on the engine are going to make the computer take off a lot more miles than normal highway driving. I drive about 9000 miles per year and did not track my present car so I got the yearly free oil change plus the one I did myself at 5k or 6 months whichever happened first. I never reset my sensor on those oil changes and it just kept counting slowly down from 15000. Usually had around 4-5000 remaining before it was due when the year came up.

On my previous 2002 M Coupe it was a whole different story. It would literally be at 15000 and drop to 12750 or 13000 over a hard weekend, even though I only went a couple hundred miles, albeit some were "track" miles. That is the computer deciding the car was driven hard and thus you won't get the same life from the oil. Earlier in this thread M3 Adjuster said he was losing 3k a shot at track events. He may wind up with 4 or 5 oil changes a year on BMW because the computer is calling for it. He may have only driven 10k in that whole time but due to the heavy loads on the engine, it is calling for more frequent service, which BMW always honored for me on my M car.

Multiple components on the car work the same way. Most current owner's manuals don't list this, but on older cars they had heavy load or what was called city driving intervals along with normal intervals. The transmission fluid and air filter replacement dropped from 30k to 15k if you used the car in those conditions. Same thing for oil changes.

Edit: As one more thing to keep in mind, it may call for your Service 1 and Service 2 sooner than 30k and 60k miles for the exact same reason. On my M Coupe it called for Service 1 at 22k. My present Z4 coupe it didn't call for Service 1 until 31k.

[Powerbeast]

I have heard the second servicing/oil change should be around the 12K mark.

[HP Autosport]

Back in the the BMW tech training days we were told the oil service interval is triggerd by the liters of fuel used and then the computer use a formula to turn the indicator into miles. You could have almost no miles on the car and still trigger a service.

So far I have done 2 oil services myself after the break-in period since the car have spent most of its time on the dyno at GIAC. A couple of days on the dyno is the same as a day at the track.

Oil analysis on previous N54 engine cars using Total synthetic oil yield one of the best change intervals of 4K miles, which included 4 track days and the rest is daily driving and getting to and from the track. With no track days I have seen intervals of about 7.5K miles.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by terrapen73

It is all based on how the car is driven. Track days and hard loads on the engine are going to make the computer take off a lot more miles than normal highway driving. I drive about 9000 miles per year and did not track my present car so I got the yearly free oil change plus the one I did myself at 5k or 6 months whichever happened first. I never reset my sensor on those oil changes and it just kept counting slowly down from 15000. Usually had around 4-5000 remaining before it was due when the year came up.

On my previous 2002 M Coupe it was a whole different story. It would literally be at 15000 and drop to 12750 or 13000 over a hard weekend, even though I only went a couple hundred miles, albeit some were "track" miles. That is the computer deciding the car was driven hard and thus you won't get the same life from the oil. Earlier in this thread M3 Adjuster said he was losing 3k a shot at track events. He may wind up with 4 or 5 oil changes a year on BMW because the computer is calling for it. He may have only driven 10k in that whole time but due to the heavy loads on the engine, it is calling for more frequent service, which BMW always honored for me on my M car.

Multiple components on the car work the same way. Most current owner's manuals don't list this, but on older cars they had heavy load or what was called city driving intervals along with normal intervals. The transmission fluid and air filter replacement dropped from 30k to 15k if you used the car in those conditions. Same thing for oil changes.

Edit: As one more thing to keep in mind, it may call for your Service 1 and Service 2 sooner than 30k and 60k miles for the exact same reason. On my M Coupe it called for Service 1 at 22k. My present Z4 coupe it didn't call for Service 1 until 31k.

Exactly what I was looking for.. Thanks for the very informative reply. .. .. If how the car is driven dictates the oil changes and BMW is picking up the tab, that is absolutely awesome. My car is a weekend car. I can't daily drive it... I'll lose my license!

My next oil change range is now down to 900 miles.. with around 3700 on the odo... Gonna beat you Franklin! LOL..

[Franklin Joseph]

haha...go for it. Just 1 more track day and it will be ready for the oil change.