Oil Change - Recommended or Interim?

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 20:43
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Dingle232

My 3 series (320d, '64) has now covered just over 9k miles with no issues at all. The on board computer is telling me that there's another 9k or 1 year to go before I have it serviced.

I must admit to being slightly nervous about that as previous diesels I have owned I have made sure that the oil has been changed every 8-10k miles. I spoke to BMW today who were quite confident that the 'modern oil' they use can withstand the rigours of such long service intervals. I'm no expert but, to me, engines are engines no matter what badges they have on and 18k seems a long interval.

I plan to keep this car until it becomes uneconomical to run so want to make sure I take care of it. Am I wasting my money giving it an interim oil and filter change?

I'd probably use a local, reputable Indy and ask them to use genuine BMW kit - the main dealers charge £200 to do the work!!

Thank you.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 20:49
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - mss1tw

You're completely right - especially as you plan to keep it long term. Get it changed.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 21:09
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - gordonbennet

Agreed, 9k is plenty especially as you envisage long term ownership.

Good idea to use BMW filters, but there are many oils out there of the correct spec that are far cheaper.

In fact, and this is the sort of thing i do (take that as you will), you could buy a 20 or 25 litre drum or a pack of 4x5 litre cans of the right oil and have enough in stock for the next 4 interim changes...eg i picked up 4x5 litre pack of Morris's fully synthetic with BMW LL specs for a handy £65 delivered recently...your indy should have no problem slipping your own oil in for you, but it's an easy DIY job if you fancy doing it.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 21:14
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - RobJP

I've also got one of the new 3 series (325d), and I get an oil and filter change half-way between the recommended interval. I get it done by the dealer (cost about £150), with an instruction to them NOT to reset the service indicator.

They will put the service onto the on-board log, but you can also get a proper service logbook off them too, and have them fill that in. (I think I paid about £5 for the logbook).

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 22:05
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Dingle232

Cheers fellas I thought it sounded like common sense to change it. I'll call a couple of other dealers tomorrow and see what I can get it done for. Rob - thanks for the heads up about not resetting the indicator - that's something I would have forgotten but, as my faith in dealerships is not great, I'm not confident they won't do it anyway!

Afraid I am just not savvy enough to do a DIY job :-)

Even if they don't update the onboard log I assume they give you an itemised receipt? I find they are better value than service logs and lways ask for those when buying.

Edited by Dingle232 on 23/07/2015 at 22:07

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 22:32
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - RobJP

If they didn't give an itemised receipt I wouldn't be happy, lets put it that way !

Totally agree about phoning around for prices. Where I am, I've found that the dealer in Llandudno is cheaper then the one in Chester, in spite of them being part of the same group. In addition, I think the customer service in Llandudno is better.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 22:38
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Dingle232

You are not too far away from me Rob. My nearest is in Warrington but I don't always find them the best or cheapest - Blackburn is the one I tend to go to - excellent.

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 00:09
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Andrew-T

Common sense says that an engine will always benefit from an oil change. Other common sense says that it costs too much to do it too often. Some posters on here claim never to change their oil in a petrol engine, but I would say that given the rate at which oil blackens in a diesel engine, the intervals recommended by today's car makers are too long. Halve their recommendations and sleep easier.

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 10:22
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - KenC

Quote " I spoke to BMW today who were quite confident that the 'modern oil' they use can withstand the rigours of such long service intervals."

You probably spoke to a customer facing 25 year old who was formally working for a well known supermarket. I doubt they have even turned a open ended spanner - let alone would they recognize one.

Although they (the BMW call taker) was " Confident" its your engine and your expense if it all goes wrong.

I had a similar dilema with my ( then new ) VW Mk4 Golf PD which was originally set on the long life service pattern.

Following advice from a qualified expert I purchased for around £40 an oil extractor.This device removes 85 to 90% of the engine oil using suction through the dip stick tube.( on my car usually about 400cc remained in the block in various chambers)

Note this was in addition to my annual filter/oil change (via the sump plug) which I always had done in the month before the mot was due.

So when ever my mileage crept up to 6/7000 between annual changes I would buy the correct grade myself ( from the cheapest source ) and carry out the change myself ( on a slight slope) with a very warm engine.

It took about 10 minutes each time & I used the oil oil to mix with creosote to paint the shed !

The extractor paid for itself within a couple of years and I still have it.

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 10:44
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - RobJP

Personally, I think oil extractors are terrible. Though I'll admit that in your case, with it being done for the additional servicing, it's a pretty reasonable way of using it.

However, far too many people (and even garages !) use extactors all the time, meaning that the sedimented crud in the bottom of the sump never gets changed. Pure laziness, especially for garages.

If you order the 'proper' service kits, they come with sump plug washers for a reason !

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 13:53
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - slkfanboy

Quote " I spoke to BMW today who were quite confident that the 'modern oil' they use can withstand the rigours of such long service intervals."

While this statement in a technically sense is true, it totally misses the point i.e. the oil get contaminated with metal,water, diesel and so on. the filter can not remove these elements and therefore rather than just oil be pumped around the system it these other elements that ware the engine.

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 14:16
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Manatee

Well it's not going to do any harm to change the oil is it?

Why does it need changing at all? Because over 18,000 miles it becomes degraded and doesn't work as well. That doesn't happen in the last 1,000 miles, it is a gradual process and changing halfway through replaces partly degraded oil.

I would do the intermediate oil changes if I was planning to keep the car long-term.

I's a diesel too. With a DPF, quite possible dependent on how it works that it is gradually diluting the oil with diesel. The oil in my Outlander stinks of diesel after 9,000 miles which is the service interval.

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 15:16
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Bladerrw

Do you think BMW don't know this?

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 15:47
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Manatee

Gosh that had never occurred to me.

Has it occurred to you that they have a vested interest in presenting low cost of ownership to the corporate buyers who account for most of their cars, and who are rarely interested in running them for more than 3 or 4 years?

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Sat 25 Jul 2015 14:49
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Dingle232

Had it done today. Amusing comment from the dealers on the invoice stating:

'Oil and filter service carried out at customers request though advised not necessary'

They are the limit sometimes aren't they?

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Sat 25 Jul 2015 14:59
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Manatee

I wouldn't have paid £150 for it mind; especially to those sarky so and so's.

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Sat 25 Jul 2015 15:00
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - RobJP

I'm thinking of a word to describe the person in the service department who thought it necessary (or even helpful) to put that on your invoice. Can you guess what it is ?

Here's a clue : 6 letters.

Another clue : Sounds like 'banker'

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Sat 25 Jul 2015 19:06
Oil Change - Recommended or Interim? - Dingle232

I'm thinking of a word to describe the person in the service department who thought it necessary (or even helpful) to put that on your invoice. Can you guess what it is ?

Here's a clue : 6 letters.

Another clue : Sounds like 'banker'

Your language is far more polite than mine!

To be honest I don't care about it as all it will do is convince (rightly) future buyers that I have taken steps to look after my car rather than thrash it. I will only go to the dealer whilst it's in warranty and have a service plan so they are unlikely to be getting too much more cash out of me before then.

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