My 2008 M3 Needed Service At 653 Miles!

[Fubarysky Jr.]

One of the salesmen's Kia's probably broke down and they needed your car for a hot date . . .

[G-Known]

Originally Posted by kbk_75

G-Known, my car indicated that it needed it's first service at just over 800 Kms (or 500 miles). This is because my car was the BMW show car and it had been repeatedly started and stopped BEFORE I bought the car. This did not allow the engine to get-up to proper operating temperature, which would result in more wear on the engine while it was brand new.

I did not push my car hard at all while I was running-it in. Do you take frequent, short trips? Could be a similar situation as mine. Either way, assuming there's no foul-play on the dealer's part, you should not have anything to worry about. Just avoid using the car if you're only gonna drive it 2 mins up the road and park it there all day!

Thanks! That makes me feel much better about the situation! And yes...I do only live 5 minutes from work! The majority of my driving is short distances. That is definitely something to think about.

[G-Known]

Originally Posted by Fubarysky Jr.

One of the salesmen's Kia's probably broke down and they needed your car for a hot date . . .

lol

[G-Known]

Has anybody ever checked out this guy's take on engine break-in? What do you guy's think?

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

[Leg]

Mine is booked in for its 1200 mile service and for the rest of the BHP to be released next Friday. However, it came up with service needed at 750 miles (after I had pre booked it in). When I rang the Stealership the service guy told me (as well as confirming that I dont yet have the full 414bhp) that it comes up at this sort of mileage so people book for when they hit 1200 miles due to the fact that BMW dealers cant book you in next day. I.e. it is forewarning you.

[Buschy]

One of the demos at my dealer I know for a fact has been driven pretty hard and they serviced it at 1050 miles, only becasue they wanted to get it done, it was not asking for it.
not sure why your car is crying.

[Epacy]

More info about the restriction of HP...
Thanks for sharing. Wish we could put this to bed one way or the other.

[umwolverine]

Hey, if BMW wants to look at it and there is no expense to you thats good. Maybe they are leaning on the side of caution. You know what they say, " It's
better to be safe than sorry".

[the_stranger]

My car is at service now. I didnt get a call from them. I called and made an appointment.

[alpineweissM3]

Originally Posted by Epacy

More info about the restriction of HP...
Thanks for sharing. Wish we could put this to bed one way or the other.

All this talk of HP restriction is very interesting.

A few cases and I think it could be dismissed as your typical Service Advisor incompetance.

Now, I'm starting to wonder.......

[mkoesel]

IMHO, your car must have given some indication it needed service to you also. I know that my wife's 335i has service indicators for all of the major types of routine maintenance. I can't recall right now, but I think that it does not pop up an actual "dash light". It might just give a tiny little exclamation icon in the corner of the small LCD in the guage cluster - but if you have iDrive you probably don't even have that LCD. For iDrive there is probably some indicator on the iDrive screen but it might be subtle.

In other words, I can't imagine the car will call BMW and tell them it needs service without giving you some indication also. Have other people who have had their car in for the "1200 mile" service gotten some feedback from the car? Or does it not normally give any?

[southlight]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

In other words, I can't imagine the car will call BMW and tell them it needs service without giving you some indication also. Have other people who have had their car in for the "1200 mile" service gotten some feedback from the car? Or does it not normally give any?

Don't know if that's different for the US version, but Euro cars show a check control message when less than 100km are left till service.


Best regards, south

[e46e92love]

Originally Posted by southlight

Don't know if that's different for the US version, but Euro cars show a check control message when less than 100km are left till service.


Best regards, south

South,

U.S. spec BMW's do as well, at least my dad's '05 7 series does as does my '07 e92 335i. My assumption is the whole line does.....

Regards,
e46e92

[tdc]

You vehicle's service intervals are based upon engine use and fuel consumption.

Your vehicle has a service indicator that illuminates in your instrument cluster for about 10 seconds when you first start your vehicle displayed as a mileage countdown.

Short trips will in fact call for services earlier than the estimated mileage. This is a combination of harsher conditions for the engine as well as more fuel consumption.

There is nothing to worry about with your M3.

[G-Known]

Originally Posted by tdc

You vehicle's service intervals are based upon engine use and fuel consumption.

Your vehicle has a service indicator that illuminates in your instrument cluster for about 10 seconds when you first start your vehicle displayed as a mileage countdown.

Short trips will in fact call for services earlier than the estimated mileage. This is a combination of harsher conditions for the engine as well as more fuel consumption.

There is nothing to worry about with your M3.

Quick questions.... Do you think I should have it looked at again when I do reach the 1200 mile mark? Should I change my driving style until then?

[G-Known]

Originally Posted by the_stranger

My car is at service now. I didnt get a call from them. I called and made an appointment.

How many miles did you have on your car before you took it in?

[G-Known]

Originally Posted by Leg

Mine is booked in for its 1200 mile service and for the rest of the BHP to be released next Friday. However, it came up with service needed at 750 miles (after I had pre booked it in). When I rang the Stealership the service guy told me (as well as confirming that I dont yet have the full 414bhp) that it comes up at this sort of mileage so people book for when they hit 1200 miles due to the fact that BMW dealers cant book you in next day. I.e. it is forewarning you.

Did you get any type of indicator/icon from your car that came up or did your car send the Stealership (lol) a message like my car did? Also, I was able to make my appointment within the hour.

[tdc]

Originally Posted by G-Known

Quick questions.... Do you think I should have it looked at again when I do reach the 1200 mile mark? Should I change my driving style until then?

Absolutely no need to bring it in at the 1200 mile mark. Again, those mileage indicators are simply estimations based on averages not absolute rules.

Granted I have an E46 M3 but I had my "1200" mile run-in service performed at 1060 miles. I had my "15k" service done at roughly 12k miles. My Inspection I service was done at 24k miles. No problems whatsoever. I've only had to top off the oil a single time during those miles (compared to others that have to top off on a monthly basis)

What you should consider is taking your baby out for nice long drives on the weekends. It's what she's built for and you'd be doing her a disservice by relegating her to simple daily driver duty. Let her run!

As for the nonsense about not having all of the 414HP available until you complete your 1200 mile service, that is simply just not true.

The ONLY reason you cannot get 414HP out of your car prior to the 1200 mile service is because most people adhere to the break-in procedure of keeping the revs under 5500. If you check the manual or any magazine, you will see that the 414HP is achieved at an RPM of 8300. Not because of any software governor on the engine. So your CA/SA is talking out of his ass and I highly suggest finding someone that actually knows what they're talking about.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by G-Known

Has anybody ever checked out this guy's take on engine break-in? What do you guy's think?

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Very interesting....makes sense! I wish he had pictures of M3 rings and not just motorcycle rings!!

[tdc]

Originally Posted by gasman

Very interesting....makes sense! I wish he had pictures of M3 rings and not just motorcycle rings!!

It's worked for me consistently. And it's actually been recommended to me by an BMW engineer to do exactly just that.

[T Bone]

Originally Posted by tdc

Absolutely no need to bring it in at the 1200 mile mark. Again, those mileage indicators are simply estimations based on averages not absolute rules.

Granted I have an E46 M3 but I had my "1200" mile run-in service performed at 1060 miles. I had my "15k" service done at roughly 12k miles. My Inspection I service was done at 24k miles. No problems whatsoever. I've only had to top off the oil a single time during those miles (compared to others that have to top off on a monthly basis)

What you should consider is taking your baby out for nice long drives on the weekends. It's what she's built for and you'd be doing her a disservice by relegating her to simple daily driver duty. Let her run!

As for the nonsense about not having all of the 414HP available until you complete your 1200 mile service, that is simply just not true.

The ONLY reason you cannot get 414HP out of your car prior to the 1200 mile service is because most people adhere to the break-in procedure of keeping the revs under 5500. If you check the manual or any magazine, you will see that the 414HP is achieved at an RPM of 8300. Not because of any software governor on the engine. So your CA/SA is talking out of his ass and I highly suggest finding someone that actually knows what they're talking about.

With the M5 / M6s, the P500 (500 hp) mode is not active until the 1200 mile service, so it wouldn't surprise me if this was also the case for the M3.

Also, there is a rumor BMW uses a break-in oil for the first 1200 miles and then they use the Castrol 10W60.

Ask the SA if the cars come with a "break-in" oil.

[PortoM3]

Please keep us informed. I hope your car will be okay.. Mine just went in today. It had 1202 miles on it..