Change Oil Every 3,000 or 5,000miles?

[128ibro]

Every how long should make an oil change?

[captain slowly]

I do every 5k or a year, whichever comes first, but I have a N55. Seeing you have a 128i, I'd say every 7k should be more than good enough, assuming you are using good quality oil.

[128ibro]

Originally Posted by captain slowly

I do every 5k or a year, whichever comes first, but I have a N55. Seeing you have a 128i, I'd say every 7k should be more than good enough, assuming you are using good quality oil.

I do every 5k with BMW oil or castrol. Why you think N51 or N52 ok with 7k, but N55 should be done 5k?

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by 128ibro

I do every 5k with BMW oil or castrol. Why you think N51 or N52 ok with 7k, but N55 should be done 5k?

Greatly depends on your driving habits. Do you track your car? Do you make really short trips?

The N55 with its turbo is much harder on oil, than the N51/N52, so I would say no matter how you drive, it is a severe condition and the oil should be changed every 5,000-6,000 (with the only exception being 90-100% highway mile driving).

For the N51/N52, you can easily do 7,000-7,500 miles and probably shorten to 5-6,000 miles for severe conditions (100% short trip, city driving). For 90-100% highway driving, I would even go up to 10,000 miles.

In all cases, I would always use a LL-01 approved oil.

[NVHoo]

Consumer Reports and other organizations have shown that changing oil more frequently than recommended in the owner's manual is unnecessary as long as you use the manufacturer's oil spec. The concept of changing oil more frequently is a holdover from the ancient days of old oil technology. I've been following this rule for the past 30 years, and various turbos for the past 20, in a variety of cars in my family and have never had an internal failure. You can also ignore the "severe" recommendations for cars that have that caveat. When BMW and Audi began to offer free maintenance here in Vegas they initially changed oil more frequently but the factory quickly told them it was unnecessary, even in this desert heat.


The arguments I hear for changing more often is "it can't hurt" and/or "it does not cost much so do it more frequently" but all your doing is wasting money and a natural resource.

Tracking the car might change that recommendation, depending on how often and what the track experience is. For example, if you are a once a year wonder at a weekend high performance driving school, I would not sweat it.

[five_timer]

Originally Posted by NVHoo

Consumer Reports and other organizations have shown that changing oil more frequently than recommended in the owner's manual is unnecessary as long as you use the manufacturer's oil spec. The concept of changing oil more frequently is a holdover from the ancient days of old oil technology. I've been following this rule for the past 30 years, and various turbos for the past 20, in a variety of cars in my family and have never had an internal failure. You can also ignore the "severe" recommendations for cars that have that caveat. When BMW and Audi began to offer free maintenance here in Vegas they initially changed oil more frequently but the factory quickly told them it was unnecessary, even in this desert heat.


The arguments I hear for changing more often is "it can't hurt" and/or "it does not cost much so do it more frequently" but all your doing is wasting money and a natural resource.

Tracking the car might change that recommendation, depending on how often and what the track experience is. For example, if you are a once a year wonder at a weekend high performance driving school, I would not sweat it.

This.

And a few other points:
1) This topic has been discussed about a thousand times on these forums. There is a dedicated "maintenance" sub-forum.
2) The car has a service interval computer, so the only reason a person would ask about this, is because they're being influenced by what other people are saying, or their own outdated, unfounded habits. Modern full-synthetic oil is engineered for the longer intervals.
3) Changing the oil much more than necessary makes it likely that you'll screw it up. The drop-in filter and lack of dipstick are intended to keep the system as well-sealed as possible. Why would you opt to keep unsealing it?

[olds350]

All very good points above. Unless you're beating the crap out of the car via autox or track, the 7500 interval is fine assuming you use a good quality synthetic oil and quality filter.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by 128ibro

I do every 5k with BMW oil or castrol. Why you think N51 or N52 ok with 7k, but N55 should be done 5k?

Because turbos run very hot, and are very hard on oil.

[desertman123]

I beat my motor up pretty good (I let it warm up first though!) And Blackstone told me I could go slightly longer than 8000mi. Castrol edge 0w-40 euro LL-01 with a Mann filter

That analysis was at 85k. I'm planning on doing one for 120k. I'll let yall know how it goes

[Zombie_Head]

I plan to do mine very soon, currently on 58,xxx kms

Last oil change (actually a major service, including all filters, oils, fluids, pluss etc) was done at 50,000 kms.

Since i did a lot of track days, i like to change the oil at 10,000 kms, despite the OBC indicating 26,000 kms for the next change.

[The Wind Breezes]

You can do 10K miles or more with approved oil. The car is engineered for it (crankcase vacuum) and there's absolutely no point to changing before that unless you are bored or subject the engine to unusual wear, like driving events.

[varoadking]

I'm gonna change it again when the idiot light tells me to...

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by 128ibro

I do every 5k with BMW oil or castrol. Why you think N51 or N52 ok with 7k, but N55 should be done 5k?

More heat, faster oil deterioration. I change my N54's oil every 5k

[tock172]

It's been said and reinforced by Blackstone and others that modern synthetic oils don't reach their full protective varnish until after 7,000 miles. In my old naturally aspirated BMWs, I would extended my oil change intervals beyond 10,000 miles with no ill effects.

On my 135i, I've stuck to a simple 5k / once a year interval. Those noting faster oil degradation due to the increased heat of a turbocharged engine make a point, and that's why I use a lower interval with the N55.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by tock172

It's been said and reinforced by Blackstone and others that modern synthetic oils don't reach their full protective varnish until after 7,000 miles. In my old naturally aspirated BMWs, I would extended my oil change intervals beyond 10,000 miles with no ill effects.

On my 135i, I've stuck to a simple 5k / once a year interval. Those noting faster oil degradation due to the increased heat of a turbocharged engine make a point, and that's why I use a lower interval with the N55.

Could you explain this? I have never heard of this before.

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by tock172

It's been said and reinforced by Blackstone and others that modern synthetic oils don't reach their full protective varnish until after 7,000 miles.

This is not something you can just drop in without explaining, whether you explain it yourself or just reference a citation.

Personally, I think it sounds like absolute bullshit, or at the very least a misunderstanding of some valid point.

[rowsdower]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

This is not something you can just drop in without explaining, whether you explain it yourself or just reference a citation.

Personally, I think it sounds like absolute bullshit, or at the very least a misunderstanding of some valid point.

Based on your posts across various threads in the past couple of days, kinda sounds like you need a hug.

Tock172, I am also curious what you meant. It sounds like you're suggesting that oil ages like wine (i.e. it's better at 7k than at 0 miles). Or was it a typo, and you're saying that the oil's protection vanishes by 7k?

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by rowsdower

Based on your posts across various threads in the past couple of days, kinda sounds like you need a hug.

Ya it sucks I stopped banging crack rocks for the time being. I'll be back to my calmer, more friendly self in a few days surely.

That doesn't change the fact that what he said sounds like absolute bullshit, and clearly needs an explanation as it's useless and unsupported info on its own.

[StuP]

I was surprised that after my last oil change the display showed 10k miles on startup. After 1k miles or so of stop start commuting it was reading 12k. It just dropped back to 11k.

I'll probably change it when it reads around 5k.

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by StuP

I'll probably change it when it reads around 5k.

For what reason?

[Suhb]

Let’s not forget that’s BMW recommends 15k oil changes for our cars then changed it to 10k for the new generation.

5k is too short. 15k is too long. 8k is safe. No harm in oil changes every 10k. Definitely wouldn’t wait 15k.

[JimD]

I change the oil on my n52 every 5K miles for the simple reason that it is easy to remember. I accept I do not need to change this often but I like it so I do it. My drain plug is not fully restored to smooth operation after yearly oil changes when BMW was doing it but it is getting better. I admit I messed up on the oil filter cap and had to add oil until I got it bottomed out (I assumed I could torque it to spec) once. But I feel pretty confident I am not hurting my car at all and it may even last a little longer.

The purpose of the blackstone oil analysis is to look for evidence of bearing material (bad thing) and for oil additives remaining. Typically their change interval is due to the latter. The additives do not go away instantly right before the recommended interval, they go away gradually. Fresher oil has more complete additives which is not a bad thing. Oil also gradually accumulates carbon and other combustion by products.

With respect to the "sealed" comment, that is not totally true. The crankcase is vented, has to be. That is the purpose of the PCV valve. So I see no issue with "opening" it every few months since it is to some degree open anyway.

I've seen absolutely no credible evidence more frequent oil changes hurt anything. We can argue about whether they help anything but an argument they are harmful is just not credible enough to discuss.

I completely do not believe the maintenance intervals on the BMW help me a bit. If you do not want to pay attention to your cars and either don't have the experience or knowledge to know how long to go on various components then they may help you. But they just annoy me. If I can figure out how to code them all out of operation on my bimmer I will. No way I would trust the long term reliability of my bimmer to these alerts. If they fail and your engine is ruined, what will you do then?