How often do you change your oil?

[808@702]

Please chime in. I change mine every 5k.

[FVM3]

every 3k, also change it before track day. Im curious why dealer suggests to change every 15k miles, thats crazy

[persian54]

Originally Posted by christopherchenm

every 3k, also change it before track day. Im curious why dealer suggests to change every 15k miles, thats crazy

Cause they have to pay for it

if they didn't it'd be different lol

[FVM3]

Originally Posted by persian54

Cause they have to pay for it

if they didn't it'd be different lol

LOL. Last time i visited the dealer and they refused to change the oil because they said i gotta reach 15k miles to get it done. I left the dealer and paid $130 to get it changed

[chmura]

I'm going to be changing my oil anywhere between 3-4k miles.

[apecush]

Are you guys who are changing your oil at 3k miles doing so based on any sort of oil analysis, or just because you "feel" you need to? Do an oil analysis and you might be surprised when it indicates you can go a lot longer on the oil in the car. The added oil capacity also contributes to extra life. It will run through the engine 1/2 the amount the oil in a V8 with a 4.5L capacity will.

It is ludicrous to think that an OCI of 15K miles would be determined based simply on the cost of service. Why go through all the trouble of designing, building, and selling a world class engine, and then specify an unsuitable OCI due to cost? If oil change cost was such a big problem, chances are BMW would limit the duration of free changes rather than do something knowingly harmful.

[MDyDinanM]

hasn't this topic been discussed before?

[coogs08]

I think 3k is slight overkill unless you're doing serious driving all the time. It seems like most people, including myself, opt for 7.5k intervals.

[w00tw00t]

roughly every 7.5k

[Z K]

I did 3K synthetic oil changes on my previous car because it was the recommended oil change interval from the factory. The oil also looked like black gunk at 3K so it is pretty accurate.

For the M3, I'm doing it at every 7.5K. The 15K interval seems ludicrous if you drive your car spiritedly. I want my car to last a long time. Oil changes are cheap insurance.

[FVM3]

Originally Posted by apecush

Are you guys who are changing your oil at 3k miles doing so based on any sort of oil analysis, or just because you "feel" you need to? Do an oil analysis and you might be surprised when it indicates you can go a lot longer on the oil in the car. The added oil capacity also contributes to extra life. It will run through the engine 1/2 the amount the oil in a V8 with a 4.5L capacity will.

It is ludicrous to think that an OCI of 15K miles would be determined based simply on the cost of service. Why go through all the trouble of designing, building, and selling a world class engine, and then specify an unsuitable OCI due to cost? If oil change cost was such a big problem, chances are BMW would limit the duration of free changes rather than do something knowingly harmful.

i drive it like i stole it so i change every 3k miles

[E90///M3`]

7.5k and i'm supercharged. But I believe it also depends on how often you track your car.

[JCtx]

I end up doing it every 14 months or so at around 4K miles, but if I drove the car more, I'd do it every 7.5K. I change it at 5K on all my other cars, but because they carry half the oil the M3 does. And the reason I do it every 5K is due to a lot of short-distance driving, which is not good for the oil. Many folks have done UOA and the consensus is more than 7.5K miles is not good for the engine. If I was driving 95% highway and long distances every time, that's the only way I'd consider a 15K oil change.

BMW knows darn well the engine is not going to crap out before 50K miles with extended oil chang intervals, so they save in maintenance costs, and make more money with future purchases since engine is not going to last as long; a win-win situation for them .

[persian54]

Mine has a little less than 9k miles, 10 or so track days

and I don't plan on changing it until the end of the year, where I'll be around 12k miles, and around 3-5 more track days.

I wouldn't mind doing an oil analysis if I knew how lol

[E90///M3`]

Originally Posted by SehrSchnell

I change mine every day.

[Grail05]

7.5K

[M3er]

Originally Posted by apecush

Why go through all the trouble of designing, building, and selling a world class engine, and then specify an unsuitable OCI due to cost? If oil change cost was such a big problem, chances are BMW would limit the duration of free changes rather than do something knowingly harmful.

Because it will give cars sorter life and new production demand will arise?

[08E92M3]

Every 3-4,000 miles, which is about every year.

[ring007]

3-4k miles

[aussiem3]

The ///3 is equipped with a condensation sensor which picks up excessive water in engine oil and then report a change. I did my last oil change 14 months ago and have only done 8k km during this period. I thought it will be a waste of money throwing away good oil. The car is still showing 13k km before the next scheduled oil services. I do a lot of short distance running.
If condensation is an issue then nothing has shown up. Then what's the point in changing unneccessarily. We use synthetic long lasting oil and the sensors haven't found any breakdown of the oil ...? Would like some feedback on this please.

[r53s65e90]

7.5k miles just because I can. No data based reason.

[BPMSport]

I change it at half the interval the cluster says. So usually it's about 7.5K. I would think that the oil would not be broken down by then, but for me it's cheap peace of mind.

I am going to send the oil out for analysis this time also..