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01-19-2014, 07:18 PM | #1 |
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So much for BMW's Oil Change Intervals...
I usually change my oil, but this time around due to some work/life/family issues as well as for me wondering what would happen (or how bad the oil get) if I followed BMW's 15,000 mile oil change interval I ended up waiting longer than usual. Long story short, I only waited 12,000 miles as the car started acting strange (rough starts etc) and changed my oil today (so 12,000 miles ago BMW changed the oil, now I did, and 3,000 miles later BMW will again). I have never seen engine oil that smelled so much like gasoline before. It was so thick and horribly bad smelling to the point anyone would say you have gasoline in your oil drain pan, absolutely terrible. The sample is going to blackstone soon and I hope they are not going to find anything wrong with it.
Anyways, I don't know if I should be worried at this point, not sure a permanent damage has happened to the engine |
01-19-2014, 07:23 PM | #2 | |
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01-19-2014, 07:36 PM | #3 | |
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I baby my car but as much as I am careful with it I drive it really hard redlining it once a day at least. That being said, I think the extremely cold weather this year may have something to do with it. I'm guessing this extreme smell was most likely due to car running rich, the question is was the reason not changing the oil (and thus oil getting thicker and thicker in cold weather) or was it something else? I am really worried now. |
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01-19-2014, 08:04 PM | #4 | |
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Best of luck to you! |
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01-19-2014, 10:08 PM | #5 |
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Gas smell in the oil is probably means it has gas getting in there somehow. I think fuel injected engines usually don't get much rich mixture time to where you would smell it and then it should burn off quickly once the oil heats up.
If it is fuel in the oil that should thin the oil not cause it to thicken. Old age and mileage could thicken it. From what I have read different oils thin and then thicken with mileage but that is really getting to the end of the oils life. I would think good synthetic should last pretty long. It will be interesting to see what Blackstone says. |
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01-20-2014, 07:48 AM | #6 |
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You really can't judge the oil by smelling it. Just wait until Blackstone analysis comes back and post it.
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01-20-2014, 07:51 AM | #7 |
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Another thing I have been noticing for about 2 months now is my mileage has gotten very bad. To give you an example, I usually get around 18 mpg city/hwy 50/50 mixed, I get around 16 in city exclusive and 23 or so in highway. Those numbers are about 3-4 mpg under where they should be unfortunately. In city for example, I cannot get over 10-11 mpg and this is with conservative driving. Highway is more like 18-19. I always thought its because of the way gasoline is changed in cold weather so it burns faster, but I don't know if that much change can be attributed to that. This is about 25-30% or so reduction in mpg.
I'm worried that BMW may have used wrong oil last time around AND/OR me driving in extremely cold weather (unfortunately I had to do this several times this year) with old oil (10k miles). There were many instances where I drove when it was 2-3F outside. Last edited by JasonTDude; 01-20-2014 at 08:04 AM.. |
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01-20-2014, 08:38 AM | #8 | |
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Switch to a shorter interval this time, but I'd wait to see what Blackstone says. Don't know how many miles on your car, but it might be worth checking spark plugs too.
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01-20-2014, 09:48 AM | #10 |
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4 mpg seems like a big difference in fuel economy. Cold weather does not affect the mpg that much. I am seeing about 1 mpg difference at most between summer and winter (that's 80+ temp difference in Chicago) with same driving habit.
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01-20-2014, 10:01 AM | #11 |
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Thats what I thought as well and that's how it always has been for me.
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01-20-2014, 10:04 AM | #12 | |
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For the oil change, I drove the car for 30 minutes in city and highway, made sure I drove her "properly". Is there a chance that a permanent damage happened to the engine? I am going to do the next oil change in 5000 miles and see what happens. |
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01-20-2014, 12:11 PM | #14 |
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01-20-2014, 02:17 PM | #15 | |
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I do see the cold & moisture as a potential factor in the oil problem. That & the BMW recommended 15,000 mile interval is just that, BMW recommended. Nobody else recommends this. Simply a BMW's tactic to save on their "free maintenance" costs that certainly didn't help your situation. All the BMW indy shops i've spoken to have advised against that interval & it was a general consensus with the E46 M3s that changing the oil at 7500 vs 15000 yielded significantly cleaner engines (there was a thread with photographs). I'm sure the S65 motor in our E9Xs are no exception to this. Sorry to hear what happened. Get that oil analysis done & change your oil more often!
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01-20-2014, 06:37 PM | #16 |
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My used oil analyses have shown the detergents are almost used up around 8-10K miles. So for the remaining 5K miles, you are gumming up the engine.
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01-20-2014, 06:38 PM | #17 |
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01-20-2014, 06:53 PM | #18 |
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Yes, the detergents in the additive package that keep carbon deposits and sludge from building up in the engine.
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01-20-2014, 07:05 PM | #19 |
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01-20-2014, 07:06 PM | #20 | |
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edit: All engine oils. As far as I know. At least I hope there isn't one sold without it...
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01-20-2014, 07:10 PM | #21 |
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01-22-2014, 08:26 AM | #22 |
Stop the hate, get a V8
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There are non-detergent oils, such as the stuff for lawnmowers.
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