New BMW - Oil change every 15,000 miles!

[Spilchy]

I went with my father tonight to pickup my parent's new 2004 BMW 325xi. It's a new color scheme; metallic grey.

The car is AWESOME, fully loaded too with the premium and cold weather package. He wouldn't go for the 17" wheels and sports suspension.

Despite my pleads of no dealer prep, my father got it done anyway. I went over the whole car and found a small portion of the roof that had hologram rotary effects. (I'll give a major detail over the weekend)

Anyway, my question (and point of the post) is that while chatting with the sales rep, he told me that the first oil change is at 15,000 miles I was like that is just plain wrong! I'm a guy that changes his oil every 3 months or 3000 miles. The guy said ONLY change every 15,000 miles and tune up at 100,000 miles.

Is this true? What do you guys think?

[LouisanaJeeper]

consult owners manual

[SuperBuick]

Bah - mercedes says the same thing. To hell with that. I'd stick with 3k, but thats just me.

There's nothing different about bmw engines than any other engines. they wear in and dirty the oil just like a small block chevy would. Of course, BMW engineers know more than I do....but it's my (your) money....not theirs.

-Tom

[LowTech]

Although I don't know all the reasons, I was assured by more than one service tech at different dealers that the engine performs better and is more efficient if you change the oil when indicated by the idiot lights and/or the mfgr guideline.

They each went into great detail (little of which I recall) that sounded very persuasive. I remember seeing some additional info on the web as to why this is so.

[tom p.]

15k mile intervals are correct assuming you are using the right oil specified by the mfr. I have been changing our oil at half that distance or 1 year...whichever comes first.

[geekysteve]

Simple solution:

Get an oil analysis performed on your oil. Take a sample at 5,000 miles and send it in. See what they say...

The labs won't care if you're driving a BMW or a VW...they'll just give you the straight scoop on your oil's condition.

...I think you'll be surprised to find that conventional oil is good for (at best) about 6000 miles before the viscosity and additives are shot. A *good* synthetic will last for maybe 8000 - 9000 miles...

Factories specify a long (15k) drain interval for a few reasons:

1) They pay for the oil changes. By only having to perform three "free" oil changes (15k x 3 = 45k; most cover oil changes to 50k miles), they can save a boat load of money by halving the number of oil changes over a 4 year/50k period. At a cost of say $50 per oil change, the savings are quite significant (especially when multiplied by 100,000).

2) The vehicle is not their problem after the warranty has expired. Plain and simple. Sad but true.

3) Cars are driven differently in Europe. Most are driven longer distances, which is easier on the oil. We tend to do a lot of short, stop-and-go driving, which is much harder on oil than highway driving.

4) Check some of the european car boards, and you'll find that instances of premature engine failure are on the rise...


For the $30 - $50 (depending on oil, filter, etc) that it costs to do an oil change, it hardly seems worth it to try and skimp on your vehicle's well being. Especially for guys (and gals) like us, who willingly pay $100's for waxes and spend hours on detailing...


EDIT
Regarding the 100k tune-up interval - Ford introduced that a number of years ago, and it was nothing but trouble for us as techs.

a) Steel spark plugs sitting in aluminum heads = chemical reaction that welds the plug to the heads. Many, many, many stripped spark plug holes and heads replaced (at the owner's expense).

b) Many check engine light problems and drivability concerns at between 50k - 70k caused by bad spark plugs (again, owners expense, only now it's greater, because there's diagnostic time involved in the repair).

c) Decreased fuel economy after about 40k miles.

Just my experience (from 7+ years as a tech at a dealership)...

[FalconGuy]

The BMW engine holds twice as much oil as most cars and it leaves the factory with high quality synthetic. Tests of my oil indicate that at 10,000 miles its additives have not dissapeared and the oil is no where near overdue for a change, in fact its less than half "used up"

Hard to believe I know, as an aircraft technician I can relate but it is true.

Blackstone labs reports backed up by real world exp. You dont see many BMW's throwing rods... they have been doing this a while now.

[Bill D]

Audi claims 10K, No way will I let the oil go till then especially on a turbo. Yep, Im going to get oil analyses, was thinking to wait till 20K but I might as well go ahead and do it at 5K. Heck, I already have 5 Audi oil fliters sitting in my garage I really like the oil extractor, makes oil changes a breeze

[geekysteve]

The 2.5L in the BMW 325 holds a total of 6.9 quarts (with filter change); realistically, that's about 6.5 quarts of oil per change.

I had a e39 BMW 528i for a number of years, did mostly highway driving, and according to Blackstone, my synthetic oil was due for changes at about the 7k mile mark...had 55k miles on it when I sold it.

My GTI 337 killed its dino oil after 2000 miles...turbo = hard on oil. Our Tahoe is good for about 7k on synthetic as well.

Everyone will have different results, which is all the more reason to question the 15k interval.

[BradE]

Steve is 100% correct on the "100K mile tune up".

Example, my own Ford Explorer. This vehicle contained the magic double plaintum plugs that last 100K miles. Wrong. I pulled them at 80K due to a loss in MPG and overall performance. Spec on the plug gap .054 and each of the plugs were worn past .070 So much for that tune up interval.

Moral of the story, sometimes the service intervals are not always correct. Peronally, I'd change that BMW oil every 5-7K using Mobil 1.

My 2 cents.

[BW]

This may be a bit off topic, but the last thing I'd be worried about is the engine. BMW puts much effort to make their engines reliable and capable of 20K between oil changes, in attempt to reduce the maintenance burden, but then take shortcuts in other areas that can lead to expensive repairs.

Oil changes every 100 miles will not reduce the failure rates of suspension bushings, emissions equipment, etc. The reliability of such components is tied to the manufacturing and design... proper maintenance might lower the chance of friction-induced engine failures, but it won't resolve the issues of poor non-engine-related design.

[Spilchy]

Thanks for all the replies fellas. I have printed them out and will give to my father for review.