bmw 15000 mile oil changes
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From: Burlington, VT
Originally Posted by ProV1,Aug 30 2005, 02:51 PM
you need to put down your crackpipe if you think our bimmers can "read" & do a full composition analysis on the oil.. 
the service interval (SI) lights are purely calculated based on gas consumption.
the service interval (SI) lights are purely calculated based on gas consumption.
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From: Bay Area
Originally Posted by ProV1,Aug 30 2005, 10:51 AM
BMWs hold large volumes of engine oil, 7.9qts for my 540 for example. and while the SI lights go out every ~15k miles, BMW NA replaces engine oils for free once a year under the full maintenance program. so it's either 15k miles or once per year.
Seriously though, I have to ask those who don't believe oil can last longer than 3-5k miles what they are basing that judgement on. Have you really had your oil analyzed? Have you really had an oil related failure? I think peace of mind is what drives most of us, me included. It does seem kinda funny to me that some of the people who are the most meticulous about maintenance are generally the people who are the *least* likely to keep their cars beyond 100k miles. Some of the folks I know who are still milking the last drop of life from their 260,000 mile beaters are pretty bad when it comes to maintenance!
Peter
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From: Bridgewater
Originally Posted by PoweredByCamry,Aug 30 2005, 03:22 PM
Yup, even my 2.8 takes 7 quarts. Hey you figure with almost twice as much oil it might take longer for it to get contaminated?
Seriously though, I have to ask those who don't believe oil can last longer than 3-5k miles what they are basing that judgement on. Have you really had your oil analyzed? Have you really had an oil related failure? I think peace of mind is what drives most of us, me included. It does seem kinda funny to me that some of the people who are the most meticulous about maintenance are generally the people who are the *least* likely to keep their cars beyond 100k miles. Some of the folks I know who are still milking the last drop of life from their 260,000 mile beaters are pretty bad when it comes to maintenance!
Peter
Seriously though, I have to ask those who don't believe oil can last longer than 3-5k miles what they are basing that judgement on. Have you really had your oil analyzed? Have you really had an oil related failure? I think peace of mind is what drives most of us, me included. It does seem kinda funny to me that some of the people who are the most meticulous about maintenance are generally the people who are the *least* likely to keep their cars beyond 100k miles. Some of the folks I know who are still milking the last drop of life from their 260,000 mile beaters are pretty bad when it comes to maintenance!
Peter
My beater gets minimal attention, yet I'm far more likely to drive it into the ground than my "S". I probably would have (after 4 years) already traded my Honda in for something else but seeing as I'm in the midst of a divorce I'm probably lucky if I can hold on to it. 
What percentage of S2000 owners will keep their cars long enough to see the 100k mark. I'll bet it's less than 5%.
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From: Bay Area
Originally Posted by 124Spider,Aug 30 2005, 12:33 PM
But, as I said above, for my S2000, which sees a pretty steady diet of (i) daily commuting; (ii) autocross, and (iii) track days, it just seems like a trivial expense, and practically no trouble, to change the oil every 5,000 miles or so, and use synthetic. It's more trouble to have my oil analyzed than to just change it (it really does take only 15 minutes); when a single track day costs perhaps $500 (when you include the cost of admission, gas, and wear and tear on brake pads and tires), it just seems silly to me to take any risk with oil. So I change my oil a lot.
In the case of the BMW, it's very hard to do an oil change for less than $30 when the car takes 7 quarts of synthetic, even though their re-branded Castrol oil is pretty cheap. If you did that every 3k miles and didn't need to, it would end up being extra cost and extra waste. I pretty much settled on 7500, but I wouldn't dismiss the idea that it could go longer.
Peter
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