How much for an oil and filter change?

My family have owned bmws for over 20 years and I've seen first hand how BMW like to wash their hands of issues when they can no longer find what's causing it. My Dads first E34 had 9 gearboxes fitted, 3 in one day that all failed and eventually BMW couldn't do anymore and he was forced to buy a new car from them if he wanted any compensation.

My E88 had the hydro unit fail on it 20 days out of warranty and with 14k miles on the clock.....car had been serviced by BMW but they didn't want to know so I had to shell out for this to be fixed. I also had a hole in my roof caused by the design of the roof which BMW knew about and recalled in the US and South Africa but no recall for Europe. When I first noticed and took it to BMW they wanted to charge me £3k for a new roof, however when I pointed out the recall in other places they changed this to paying for all but £300 of the new roof and fitting. All companies out there try not to pay out where they can.

Even Honda have a system which can tell if the engine has been over revved at any point so that when the engine goes bang! They can say well in 2012 you mis shifted from 5th to 1st and that's what caused this. They aren't daft!
 
None of the above mentioned problems are engine related so changing the oil won't help. It is unfair that recalls done in the US don't affect the UK, our law makes it possible for them to do this. With regard to the remark about Honda, a few manufacturers can do this and rightly so, it protects them and it could work in your favour by proving that it's not been mistreated. However if you slipped it into 1st instead of 5th :cry: then I think you deserve to pay the bill...
 
Miles said:
None of the above mentioned problems are engine related so changing the oil won't help. It is unfair that recalls done in the US don't affect the UK, our law makes it possible for them to do this. With regard to the remark about Honda, a few manufacturers can do this and rightly so, it protects them and it could work in your favour by proving that it's not been mistreated. However if you slipped it into 1st instead of 5th :cry: then I think you deserve to pay the bill...
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However all examples of a well maitained car(s) who had issues which BMW either washed their hands off or tried to get out of it. And just for clarification the Hydrop Unit is part of the braking system and this is effected by the brake Fluid which BMW state should be changed every 2 years and although this was done and the car had very little millage 14k for a 3 year old car and was only 20 days out of warranty they still refused to do anything.

The Hydro unit failure causes the ABS and tranction controll to become incative which I would class as a major issue and clearly its paramount to the safety of the vehical and its passangers and is effected by a part that requires the correct service intervals to be maintained. So if this is what they are like over a braking system in their cars do you honestly think they would be any different over the engine?

As for the mis shift, hopefully you never purchase a use car where this may have happend before you bought the car, otherwise you would be left to foot the bill. This unfortuately happened to a Type R owner and although they could prove by the time stamp that they did not own the car Honda washed their hands of it. I agree if you are stupid enough to do that and the engine goes bang at that moment then yes but some poor sod might be the one thats left with a write off further down the line.
 
Nezzy33 said:
I think you'd be surprised.
My view (and call me a cynic) is that BMW choose the 2 year service intervals to keep them cheap enough to be considered for company cars etc and to keep car fleet managers happy.
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Before CBS came in, the servicing on BMWs used to be millage related only with the expection being the brake fluid and in addition to this BMW used to advise that if the car was off the road for longer periods of time then the battery should be disconnected to stop the brakefulid countdown from working!

Now CBS is supposed to ensure that only the components that need to be changed are, however most garages still treat all services like and inspection 1 and inspection 2. I was advised on a second oil service that I needed my spark plugs changed at 16k miles...the same spark plugs the garage had changed 96 miles previously when they changed the coil packs! They don't actually look at items to see how worn they are and if they need replacing. They just say they do!

**However if the guys want to change their oil on a more frequent basis then I'd find an Indy that could do you a better deal than your local stealers unless you fancy doing it yourself** it can also be cheaper if you supply your own oil and then any left over can be used for top ups.
 
I do accept that things go wrong and sometimes it's unfortunate with the timing of these things. However we buy expensive cars and you can expect things to be expensive to fix if they go wrong. It would also appear that BMW have done enough in servicing you and your family over the years to persuade you to stay, so the positives must far outweigh the negatives.
The subject of this thread is about the engine, and bits of it that are directly affected by the quality of the oil it is using. I think it's fair to say you rarely see a BMW engine with a blown big end bearing or knackered piston rings inside 100,000 miles if it's used and maintained as designed. It is accepted that the longevity of these new smaller engines is yet to be seen fully, but I would imagine as they've been rolled out in such a massive way, they have proved enough during testing. You may or may not add a few thousand miles to the life of the engine by changing the oil more often than guided, and it is of course your choice as the owner of the car.
 
If you're worried about your BMW durability once the warranty has expired then there alternatives such as Hyundai and Kia with their 5 and 7 year warranty respectively. I think Hyundai came near the top for least warranty claims last year where I think BMW came 35th or well down the table. No one forces you to go with BMW :)

Tim.
 
Well TBH I only had the oil changed as I considered the car to be run in and thought it prudent to give it some clean oil I'm sure someone will come and say modern cars dont need running in like cars of yesterday and I imagine there wasn't huge clumps of swarf in my sump but I felt I had done my car a service by having the oil changed early.

Sent via Tapatalk from my Galaxy S3
 
ric19 said:
Well TBH I only had the oil changed as I considered the car to be run in and thought it prudent to give it some clean oil I'm sure someone will come and say modern cars dont need running in like cars of yesterday and I imagine there wasn't huge clumps of swarf in my sump but I felt I had done my car a service by having the oil changed early.

Sent via Tapatalk from my Galaxy S3
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Supposedly the engines are already run in but they still give advice on how to drive it for the first 1k. I'm still a ill run my car in person. Gives me confidence that it's been treated well and not ragged from day one
 
stlymch said:
BMW's are s**t, buy a Fiat :wink:
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I wouldn't buy a FIAT but Hyundai is definitely on the radar for my next car, catching the Germans up by leaps and bounds, cheaper to buy and run and I find it hard to ignore like I said the warranty which includes 5 years free breakdown and 5 years free annual checks. I understand at the factory they quality check all parts twice before being fitted along with the paintwork. I bet BMW don't.

With regards to servicing, once every 2 years for oil/brake/coolant will suffice. No real point doing a yearly service unless your doing a high mileage, otherwise I think its a waste of money.

Tim.
 
TitanTim said:
----- but Hyundai is definitely on the radar for my next car-----
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Surely not! I thought that you were pampering the current Z4 with a view to 'buying to keep' at the end of the pcp? :o
 
ronk said:
TitanTim said:
----- but Hyundai is definitely on the radar for my next car-----
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Surely not! I thought that you were pampering the current Z4 with a view to 'buying to keep' at the end of the pcp? :o
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Sorry yes I'm planning on buying the Z4 once pcp is up but will be replacing the Z3 with a daily driver as I need a more practical motor, I called in at my local Hyundai dealer the other day and was impressed with the quality of the motors, they're nothing like Korean cars of a few years back. The new i10 was designed in Germany so is much more European etc :)

Tim.
 
First service on my 28 today, invoice showed £330. This included oil, filter, pollen filter, and spark plugs.

No cost to me, the car came with the service pack.
 
Here's the invoice:-

bmwservice001.jpg

Looks like it's split into labour and parts for each item. At that rate, looks like the labour for changing 4 plugs is more that the cost of the plugs.

I notice that the second service is now displayed on the car as 12 months from now (or 17k miles - unlikely!). Since the first service was 2 years from new this seems a little odd unless BMW have changed their thinking on service intervals.
 
Have you had a brake fluid change? It's also supposed to be every 2 years. The date could be for the MOT unless it's a brake fluid. Otherwise I would possibly enquire re this. It won't have changed to yearly service intervals that's for sure
 
Mines due its first service next month at 1921 miles :lol: I haven't checked the service book but I will be wanting the brake fluid and antifreeze to be changed anyways as per my Z3 every 2 years regardless of mileage covered.

Tim.
 
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