Oil change advice, please

[Talk2USoon]

Hard to believe it's been a year since I picked up my car ('04 330 cic). I recall reading here that some feel oil changes are best at 7,500 mile intervals? I don't mind the extra expense as I plan on keeping this car forever
Here's the deal. I only have 6,607 miles to date. Since it's been a year, shouldn't I go ahead and have the oil changed? And is it common to request they don't reset the service interval indicator to reflect this "midway" oil change?
Any advice offered is much appreciated.

 

[Big Daddy]

I would change it as a year is a long time. Do NOT have the indicators reset and than have BMW do it at their expense next time. You could change it yourself this time if you do not mind that type of work.

 

[northyork]

Does oil actually degrade over the course of a reatively short time like a year?

 

[BRC]

BMW will do it for free once a year or every 15k...

 

[dcaron9999]

I read excellent advice from another forum that the oil filter should at least be changed at least once a year, if you haven't driven your car much (less than indicated by the maintenance mileage counter reminder thingie).

To conclude: as a minimum step, change your oil filter before the maintenance expiry counter, if you're not going to be changing your synthetic oil immediately.

 

[Big Daddy]

Does oil actually degrade over the course of a reatively short time like a year?

It really does not degrade but becomes polluted by the gases etc. that wash down the cylinder walls and other contaminates that are sucked in via the valves during starts and stops. It also depends on how much your driving the car, short trips vs long drives where the car has the ability to reach peak operating temps. Short drives cause condensation and are more polluting.