[JimD]

I did another oil change on my 128i after about 6,000 miles. I added 5 qts as noted above and it was a little above the minimum for the entire 6,000 miles. So I did the same thing again. This time I raised the car the minimum I could and get to the drain plug. So it was not as tilted. I did not remove the residual oil from the filter housing and there was at least a cup in it. I added 5 qts and drove it to check the level. It was pretty much exactly at the minimum and asked for another quart. So I added a quart as best I could judge it on a 5 qt container and it is a little below the maximum.

So my revised judgement is that 5 qts will get you to the minimum sometimes, depending on what you do with the oil in the filter housing and how much of an angle the car is in while draining. But 6 qts is safer. It should get you to the mid-point of the scale regardless. It might be at the maximum if your car is real slanted and you just let the oil in the filter housing go back in. But I don't think at least my car would ever be over full from 6 qts. And you should never be low.

I'm still using Castrol 0-40 European from Walmart. 5 qt containers are not convenient for the additional quart but aren't that bad either. My local Walmart doesn't have it in one quart containers. So I will consume a 5 qt over several oil changes.

One reason I do not worry about oil filter drain back is I change at 5K intervals just for convenience. So the oil I'm leaving in is not like it would be at 10K.