[Flyboy161]

Back story- So I bought an '08 M3 with 29,000 miles on the clock. Love it, but I took it back to the dealer and asked for the service records since it's out of warranty. They happily obliged along with key data that shows Service Data (CBS). It shows among other things rear diff service and spark plug change remaining distance 14k miles.

My thought process: I'm more of an old school gear head and while I am not against CBS, I still like to perform preventative maintenance based on mileage. So I researched and studied and came up with a happy medium for me. According to the Service and Warranty book spark plugs should be changed at 37,500 miles (not 44,000 miles). I found mention of 30,000 miles somewhere in here and in several shops recommendations. So oil change every 5k. Air filter and cabin filter every 15k. Rear diff fluid, spark plugs every 30k. I perform the vehicle inspection at every 5k so, that encompasses everything else.

So what's the point? While running INPA, I went into Functional Jobs, Condition Based Service, Status, Read Data: it shows spark plugs 61% (remaining?). Clearly the key data shows service life remaining and can thus be reset (I'll assume dealer only option, unless one owns the key reader). But I can't find a reset option in INPA.

THE QUESTION: Does anyone know of a way to "register" diff fluid change and spark plug change, air and cabin filter changes for the home mechanic or should I just suck it up and have the dealer write this info to the key? My SA did offer to reset things as needed, but they are about 40 miles away, so there's that. My ISTA-D will not write service history to the ECU but does show the jobs as completed using the built in TIS.