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      06-16-2009, 07:49 PM   #10
JCtx
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Drives: No BMW yet
Join Date: May 2008
Location: El Paso TX

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No current car has any kind of oil 'sensor'; it's just an algorithm; that's why you have to reset them . Each manufacturer uses different criteria: ignition cycles, fuel usage, along with average speed, duration, mileage, etc. But all are just a guesstimation at best.

AFAIK, only some big trucks have oil sensors, but even those can only measure viscosity, not contamination, additives, etc. To me, changing oil every 5 to 7.5K miles on a high-performance engine is cheap insurance. Also worth noting is BMW used to recommend changing oil every 3K miles, but when they started paying for oil changes, that was conveniently raised to 15K miles . Good day.
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