Is the initial oil change required at 1,200 miles, or can it be stretched?

[lucid]

Originally Posted by gr8000

I know that the DCT oil is there for life but I wanted to have it changed in the break in service so the system would be washed out of any metal particles (which is what the break in service is mostly about).

Well, appearently BMW does not think so since they claim it is sealed for life. This could have something to do with how DCT transmissions are cooled. I might be wrong on this, but aren't they supposed to have dedicated oil coolers? If so, there might be additional filters in place to catch particles that should not be circulating. Just a thought...

[gr8000]

Originally Posted by lucid

Well, appearently BMW does not think so since they claim it is sealed for life. This could have something to do with how DCT transmissions are cooled. I might be wrong on this, but aren't they supposed to have dedicated oil coolers? If so, there might be additional filters in place to catch particles that should not be circulating. Just a thought...

Sure, but for the benefit of any doubt I chose to change it as I didn't want to have any particles from the break in to sit there (or blocking any filter) for life. It may be in my mind but its a few more bucks (and it wont happen again anyway) so I didn't even think of this a second time.

[Seth_Horwitz]

Originally Posted by southlight

Don't ask what one liter of 10W-60 costs...

South,
Please do tell. If it's cheaper, do you think I could ship the oil over from the US before I leave? Actually, I don't plan on bringing that much luggage, as it would have to fit in an M3 trunk, so maybe I'll just put it in a suitcase.

[osteome]

Originally Posted by Seth_Horwitz

South,
Please do tell. If it's cheaper, do you think I could ship the oil over from the US before I leave? Actually, I don't plan on bringing that much luggage, as it would have to fit in an M3 trunk, so maybe I'll just put it in a suitcase.

The weight may kill you on that one, not to mentiont that the airline / TSA may have issues with lubricants being stowed as baggage.

I did ship fluids back for my other vehicles when I last in the states (dual pump for my soon-to-be CRV winter car and Toyota ATF for the wife's Sienna). Then again, this in not exactly "endorsed" by the USPS and I was able to ship via USPS at a domestic rate to an APO. You would have to ship via an international rate and that may kill you on costs as well and be under closer scrutiny.

It may be easiest to see if BMWNA would re-imburse the service costs as you are doing an ED with the intent to return it to the US in a short interval, rather than taking delivery to keep it over here via the diplomatic/military sales route.

Given the deal that military sales typically offers, I look at the next 2.5 years of ownership costs over here as the "price to pay" for the upfront savings on the cost of the vehicle and the lack of the gas guzzler tax. Of course the pain is more acute on an M car than a non M-car....

[southlight]

Originally Posted by Seth_Horwitz

South,
Please do tell. If it's cheaper, do you think I could ship the oil over from the US before I leave? Actually, I don't plan on bringing that much luggage, as it would have to fit in an M3 trunk, so maybe I'll just put it in a suitcase.

€ 20 excl. VAT per liter. You need 8.8 liter, so it would cost you about $ 270.


Best regards, south

[Seth_Horwitz]

Originally Posted by southlight

€ 20 excl. VAT per liter. You need 8.8 liter, so it would cost you about $ 270.


Best regards, south

Ouch. Is this one of those items where you can show your VAT receipt at the airport and get the money refunded? (Although, I'm pretty sure that I'm still waiting for my last VAT refund from 10 years ago.)

[Voltigeur]

-

Well, guess there's no way around it then. Need to find out whether there's any recoupment of the costs of the 1st service being completed in Europe....

[Seth_Horwitz]

Let me know if you get it. I'll do the same.

[Voltigeur]

Originally Posted by Seth_Horwitz

Let me know if you get it. I'll do the same.

My CA just told me that this expense would NOT be covered, also:

Originally Posted by BMW CA

Why don’t you just let me handle it [service] when the car arrives back here?

It won’t matter if you go over the 1200 miles a little.

Now I'm not driving from S. France to Paris I may be only going a little over the 1,200 mi... maybe 200-300. But does mean I can't max the rpm over there May be an issue for my Aussie mates who are meeting up with me

[Seth_Horwitz]

The next question, does putting the car on the ocean for two weeks matter? Is it a problem that the oil, which will just sit there like all of the rest of the cars, now has all of the break-in metal shavings in it? I'm guessing not.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by Voltigeur

My CA just told me that this expense would NOT be covered

Guys, check out this very old thread, particularly the claim made by M3MIKE.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134122

This is what I was referring to above when I said I've heard people claim they got reimbursed.

Here's the relevant post:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showpos...3&postcount=27

"Here's what I was told by my CA today. 1200 mile service on Euro Delivery. The process is.. take it to any BMW center in Europe for 1200 mile service, pay upfront and save the service invoice. Turn invoice into selling dealer when you get home and dealer then turns it into BMW for refund. BMW will then credit back dealer for service, and then dealer will mail refund check to customer. So if this is true 1200 mile service is no charge on Euro Delivery"

You might try PM'ing the guy and getting more details. If not, I would contact BMW customer service and try to get some results. Here's what I know: BMW replaced one of our wheels free of charge because my wife accidentally curbed it doing a canyon run through the alps. I didn't even have to ask, it just came off the boat that way (my dealership did not touch it). So, if they are willing to shell out the free wheel (MSRP $500 or so) then I don't see why they won't foot the bill for the service. Might be worth a try anyway.

[Voltigeur]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

"Here's what I was told by my CA today. 1200 mile service on Euro Delivery. The process is.. take it to any BMW center in Europe for 1200 mile service, pay upfront and save the service invoice. Turn invoice into selling dealer when you get home and dealer then turns it into BMW for refund. BMW will then credit back dealer for service, and then dealer will mail refund check to customer. So if this is true 1200 mile service is no charge on Euro Delivery"

mkoesel: great info, many thanks for posting

[RowanBuds]

Some thoughts:

When your car comes off of the boat, it is driven off by port workers---May not be the best idea to let the break in fluids go over the recommended interval, and then end up in the hands of someone at the Elizabeth/Newark ports listening to the 8-instrument symphony at 7800+.

Also, Same deal as the port workers taking the vehicles off of the ships, they end up going to a corporate "checking out" process, where any dents, dings, scratches (probably your wifes curb rashed wheel) are corrected before they even get shipped to the dealer. Assumption being that the costs incurred to replace that wheel never were passed to the dealer. Was just simply handled by BMWNA, cutting out the middleman so to speak.

My $0.02

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by RowanBuds

Some thoughts:

When your car comes off of the boat, it is driven off by port workers---May not be the best idea to let the break in fluids go over the recommended interval, and then end up in the hands of someone at the Elizabeth/Newark ports listening to the 8-instrument symphony at 7800+.

Good point and it makes me wonder something I've never thought about before. That is, do they put the cars back into shipping mode before shipping them back to US? I would have to guess yes, which means the M won't rev all the way to 8400RPM (I forget what the limit is in shipping mode). But yes, still, a good idea to have the car serviced beforehand because you don't know exactly how many miles will be put on it during shipping.

Also, Same deal as the port workers taking the vehicles off of the ships, they end up going to a corporate "checking out" process, where any dents, dings, scratches (probably your wifes curb rashed wheel) are corrected before they even get shipped to the dealer. Assumption being that the costs incurred to replace that wheel never were passed to the dealer. Was just simply handled by BMWNA, cutting out the middleman so to speak.

Exactly, and that's kind of my point. In that same way, the cost for the initial service could also be handled directly by BMW USA and never passed onto the dealership either. And if not the whole thing, then at least a portion based on how much the service would have cost them if you had had it performed at a US dealership.

[Voltigeur]

More on recouping 1st service costs in Europe [ED] after I emailed my CA:

Originally Posted by BMW of Austin Service via my CA

True [can recoup] with some additional requirements, he will have to pay for services rendered while in Europe. America is the only place that has the great warranties for our clients. Along with the invoice, we will also need a copy of the credit card receipt. This will be needed since he will be charged in Euro’s, we will need to convert that to U.S. Dollars at the time of the receipt. Also we need to make sure that his BMWNA warranty is activated before anything can be processed.

[Voltigeur]

Originally Posted by RowanBuds

Some thoughts:

When your car comes off of the boat, it is driven off by port workers---May not be the best idea to let the break in fluids go over the recommended interval,

A worthy 2c, which could cost a lot more than 2c down the track