Oil service before required?

[steve330xi]

I'd like some comments - pros or cons - on getting an oil service for my '03 330xi in between the regularly scheduled maintenance. I've got almost 3k miles on it now and the first regular service would be around 15k. I asked the service manager at my dealership and he said "it won't do much for your car, but it certainly won't hurt anything". I'm thinking that an oil change every 7500 miles vs 15k over the (hopefully long) life of my car has got to help.

Is this purely an emotional response and a waste of money... or would it be a good routine to get in? While you're at it, any other small maintenance tips to extend the life of the car would be appreciated.

 

[mallards]

no you are right ... that 15K oil change is only there so they can say " you get free oil changes with this car " when they sell it to you. that way they arent lying and it isnt going to cost them a fortune in synthetic oil. dont get me wrong ... your engine isnt going to break down if you only change it every 15K miles .... for most peoples thats ok ... not me.

i get an oil change every 7500 miles (because it is synthetic however i do drive my car hard)
im only at 5000 right .... i will pay for the first one at 7500 and the next one will be free... then i will have it changed again at 22500 (i will pay for this one) and the change at 30000 will be free.

ben

 

[stinkfinger]

From my understanding, its not the oil that's the issue for 15k, but the oil filter itself. If you're keeping your car for awhile and aren't just leaseing it for 4 years, get it changed every 7k. In the long run, you'll catch other issues sooner and you'll be ahead.

-Stink

 

[abellia]

This is one topic that keeps coming up and for good reason. I would suggest that if you are going to keep the car, change the oil every 4-6k. The 15k interval recommended by BMW does not make sense to me.

 

[mallards]

i agree ... i would rather see BMW either make the service window every 6000 miles or just get rid of it all together and drop the price a little.

Ben

 

[chsu74]

Oil Service

I agree with everyone so far that BMW is doing the minimal as far as their paid service is concerned. I change oil in my car every 7,500 miles since I have winters here.

I also change the oil filter every 4,000 miles. BMW's oil filter design is unique in that it allows one to swap out the oil filter without changing the oil. I would buy a new filter every 4,000 miles and just change that. You just feel the engine work so much more efficiently after the filter change and responsive to your throttle.

If you decide to change the oil filter like I do, make sure you do it after the car has sat in the driveway for a few hours and the oil has settled down. Otherwise, you will have a messy job on your hands. Keep in mind that an oil filter is only $5.00 which makes this practice a sensible one.

 

[codex57]

I plan on changing my own oil too. My friend has an oil pump and he changes his own oil on his M coupe too. I like how BMW put the oil filter away from the drain and up in the engine compartment so it's easy to reach. I plan on keeping my car for a long time so it's worth it for me to do frequent oil changes just in case.