FYI: Dinan doesn't agree with BMW's 15k oil change intervals

[IDBMW]

I do an oil change at 1,500 miles then every 7,500 miles. My dealer charges $83.00 for the oil change. I don’t keep my car out of warranty so the person that buys my car gets a better than recommended service done on the car. I also keep a binder with all the work done on the vehicle. Every BMW I put up for sale was bought by the first person to see the car. Unfortunately when I tried to sell my Z4 no one call me about it. I hope the 135i gets better buyer response when I sell it.

[mywifestolemy1]

....or am I better off just paying my dealer to do it right?

Originally Posted by crzy4135i

The more I read about Dinan, the more I like them.


Still receiving BMW's Free Maintenance?

"Still receiving BMW's Free Maintenance? BMW's free maintenance program is a wonderful benefit of owning a newer BMW. However, do you really want to drive 15,000 miles between oil changes? Dinan highly recommends an intermediate oil and filter service. Even with modern filter technology and synthetic oil, 15,000 miles really pushes the limit in our experience. "

http://www.dinanservice.com/

[Zoominrex]

I just got my oil change at dinan after the break in period. I think I will continue to do it every 5000 miles and also do the dealer recommended 1 per 15K. Dinan doesn't reset your maintenance meter so the dealership won't know the oil's been changed. Oh and oil change was 95 bucks.

[FourT6and2]

I go to Firestone for my oil changes every 5,000 miles. Costs me $14.99

[imported_mega]

Originally Posted by FourT6and2

I go to Firestone for my oil changes every 5,000 miles. Costs me $14.99

I hope your not serious? that cant be the right type of oil to maintain your warranty

[FourT6and2]

Originally Posted by mega

I hope your not serious? that cant be the right type of oil to maintain your warranty

It is pefectly fine. My car has 50,000 miles and runs like new. And, I drive hard. I don't know about BMW, but Lexus won't void your warranty for going to Firestone...

I use the correct weight of oil that the car needs and the filter gets changed as well. So, what's the big deal? Why would anybody pay $100 for an oil change? That's just crazy.

[imported_mega]

firestone oil at that price wont be synthetic, but if your out of warranty and that's a risk your willing to take, I guess it does not matter

I wont pay 100 $ for an oil change either, but I do use synthetic oil

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by FourT6and2

It is pefectly fine. My car has 50,000 miles and runs like new. And, I drive hard. I don't know about BMW, but Lexus won't void your warranty for going to Firestone...

I use the correct weight of oil that the car needs and the filter gets changed as well. So, what's the big deal? Why would anybody pay $100 for an oil change? That's just crazy.

I would rather let bmw change the synthetic oil every 15k than use non-synthetic every 5k..

[FourT6and2]

Originally Posted by mega

firestone oil at that price wont be synthetic, but if your out of warranty and that's a risk your willing to take, I guess it does not matter

I wont pay 100 $ for an oil change either, but I do use synthetic oil

Right...I don't use synthetic; never have. Lexus doesn't care if you use synthetic or not. Warranty has nothing to do with it. As long as you change the oil when you're supposed to, I don't see how either way would be an issue...regardless if it's Firestone, BMW, Lexus, Mobil, or the Quick-E-Lube down the street.

[Robert Venable]

I decided I'd test the oil when doing my oil services on my personal 335i. Here are some quotes from the Black Stone reports.

ROBERT: Once you get past the wear-in period, we do think you'll be able to go a long time on the
oil. 15,000 miles? Well, that really depends on how you drive and what conditions you're driving in.
The universal averages column shows typical wear from this type of engine after 6300 miles on the oil.
We like to take it slow when figuring out your optimal oil change interval, so we'd say once your metals
settle down, start adding more miles a little at a time to see what's the best oil change for you. No

contaminants found. The TBN read 2.2, getting low but still okay.

As you can tell, I asked them if they thought 15K miles would be possible on oil sample provided to them. This was the very first sample done at 5,766 miles.

ROBERT: There was some question as to whether or not this oil was switched with your motorcycle, and
judging by the additives present, here we doubt it was. We don't know exactly what type of oil this was, but
we are fairly certain it wasn't Mobil 1 MX4T 10W/40. It does looks like a BMW that is going through wear-in,
so none of these readings are a big concern. Wear-in is past now, but it wasn't when the oil was put into
use. The TBN was low at 0.1, so the oil was virtually out of active additive and because of this we suggest

trying 7,000 miles next time.

As you can tell from this response, I was not sure if I had kept my 335 and my Marauder's oil sample correctly labeled. This sample of oil had 8,502 miles on it and the sample was at 14,268 miles. As you can tell, both of these oil changes were done at intervals well bellow (My original mileage displayed was either 17k or 19k, I can't recall) what my car recommended threw it's CBS computer display (although- the second oil change was done under the BMW recommended Annual oil service).

Now, here is the catch. I've worked on hundreds, if not thousands of BMWs and have only had to replace 2 motors (that I can recall) due to due to sludging, one I suspect was due to a previous problem caused by a customer driving the car for a extended amount of time with a faulty thermostat (M54 engine). The other was an N52 in a 330i that came in making loud tapping noises and setting Vanos faults due to only having an oil change at about 20K, and this was at 56k miles when it came in for these other problems. When I drained the oil from this 330i, after sitting up over night in a 1 gallon jug (that's all I could get out), it turned into an THICK sludge that failed to flow, it actually did not move untill I threw the jug on thre ground to break it up.

On the other hand, I have seen an E53 X5 with an M54 that had it's first oil change at 50-55k and the oil would not drain from this motor-- we had to shove screw driver's in the drain plug to get some oil out. After a few oil flushes the customer took the car and drove away with no farther repairs .

[lannypoffo]

I do amsoil on all my cars every 10k miles. my oil reports have always been perfect.

[crzy4135i]

[quote=

On the other hand, I have seen an E53 X5 with an M54 that had it's first oil change at 50-55k and the oil would not drain from this motor-- we had to shove screw driver's in the drain plug to get some oil out. After a few oil flushes the customer took the car and drove away with no farther repairs .[/quote]

I hope that service included a beating in the back room for the customer!

[MVF4Rrider]

Originally Posted by jbenington86

im following motive mag they drove over 8000 miles in a 135 (no light foot driving either) and the oil analysis showed there oil was still good... thats enough to support me going 7500 miles to get every other oil change free

Free oil changes? Not in Germany...

[jbenington86]

Originally Posted by Balls

Free oil changes? Not in Germany...

Sorry a guy in my shop just got his oil changed in his car and it didnt cost him a dime.

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by Balls

Free oil changes? Not in Germany...

I'm pretty sure free oil changes are part of the new "spread the weath" policy.

[Robert Venable]

Originally Posted by crzy4135i

I hope that service included a beating in the back room for the customer!

Read my signature-- I say it quite a bit at work.

Amazingly, this was not the worst case I can think of. That goes to someone who managed to DRIVE an E90 in with both front tires having holes in them so large I could literally stick my entire hand inside of them and touch the wheel. I can't recall the exact reason she brought the car in, it might have been the tires. She was confused when we told her that she was over 28,000 miles over due for her first service. She said, "No, it's maintenance free for 50,000 miles." To which the advisor explained, "No mam, the maintenance IS FREE for 50,000 miles."

Other than the obvious tire and oil sludging issues, the sub-frame was bent along with other impact related damage. I suspect she either hit something extremely hard with the completely flat front tires or she possibly blew them out during the impact, but either way this did not stop her from driving all the way THREW her tires.

[m7ammed]

in Saudi you can either buy the car with or without the free service package which is 5 years or 100k KMs which ever comes first.

[imported_mega]

how much cheaper without the free service? I've heard it's 7 % markup on the price of the car

I wish we could buy them in the US without the free oil change markup, that makes the price quite a bit more competitive with other brands

[audi2bmw1]

i too dont agree with 15k oil changes...i almost crapped my pants when the CA told me that...i said well hell im still gonna change it every 4-5k....and im pretty sure Castrol makes BMWs syn oil....i know Audi and BMW both recommend Castrol...i always used SynTech and never had any issues...great stuff(most syn oil is tho) and that blackstone LABS is local to me so i will be taking samples to them when i hit 1500 miles when i do the first oil change and then every 15k to see how things are going.