Oil change intervals too long..?

[Defonsecca]

Does anyone else reckon the oil change intervals on the Z4 3.0i are too long? I bought mine in July from a dealer & the book says it last had an oil / filter change 14,000 miles ago in Jan '09. Yet the service indicator thing on the dashboard says I've still got another 4k miles to go before Insp 1. So that's 18,000 miles without fresh oil - oooerrrr!

I've always changed my oil & filter in my cars every 10k miles irrespective of when the next service is due just for good practice & to preserve the engine. Yet I rang a BMW dealer to ask & they said because of the high quality oil used in the Z4 & tolerances of newer engines 18k / 2 years between changes is fine. I'm not convinced. Also because of the lack of a dipstick on the 3.0 engine you can't check the condition of the oil, even though the electronics can sense if it's OK or not.

Does anyone else change every 10k miles or so or am I just being over-cautious and just stick to whatever the electronics tell me to do?

 

[AlanJ]

Me - every 10k miles coz that's what I've always done and old habits etc. Just don't feel happy at 15k plus miles even though tolerances and oil quality have significantly improved since my first car AND it's always been a good selling point.

 

[BobZ4]

I tend to change mine mid way through the interval, I always change the oil when i first get a car to check the condition of the engine. !5K is probably ok but I dont trust it, i take it you have the N52 engine as you dont have a dipstick? My engine is the M54 with the good old trusty dipstick.

 

[sars]

I believe that modern cars which have a variable service indicator measure the viscosity of the oil to determine the service frequency, as the oil is worked and gets dirty its viscosity become less, i.e. it gets thinner. So if it says another 4,000 miles (18,000 miles in total) the viscosity and therefore the quality of it must be within the safe working tolerance.

Different driving styles and situations govern how quickly the oil degrades, such that if its short journey and stop start then service levels will be low, if like me its long journeys the service intervals will be longer so its running about 26,000 for mine

 

[mmm-five]

I've halved the frequency at which I change oil, oil filter & air filter compared to my e34 M5s, but I did them every 3 months (or 3,000 miles). I've doubled that interval now, but am sticking to having an interim one (done by myself, not the dealer) every 6,000-7,000 miles, or every 6 months at a minimum.

 

[yg54sg]

One thing I have noticed is the engine tickover is a lot quieter with the fresh oil, perhaps someone who does thier own oil changes could take a look at the oil that comes out when its been in there for 15k and see just how bad it is, from what I gather if its jet black and like water it needs changing?

 

[WLH]

I change around every 7,000 to 8,000 miles...

 

[craig3.2]

There have been variuos discussions,etc on this,and one of the bmw mags(not so long ago),said that u are best to ignore the variable servicing in regards oil changes,and do them at least annually or every 8-10k. i have just started doing mine vry year,as i have owned it for 3 and a half yrs,and am only doing aprox 7.5k mls per yr,so felt 2yrs/15k was too much,after reading that article,that says u can get a nasty layer/coating in your engine,that builds up,due to longer service intervals,and can cause damge! (even using the rt oils)