Enthusiast recommended maintenance shedule

[BPe90M3]

Does anyone have a good maintenance schedule they follow? (Not BMW) looking for things like 6MT fluid change, Diff fluid change, spark plugs etc. I plan on changing my oil every 5k. I find BMW's maintenance schedule to be ridiculous, but thats just me. Yes I did a search, but Id like to see how you dedicated enthusiasts are taking care of your machines since they are getting up there in age. Cheers!

[kyrix1st]

5k miles is considered too long if you live in a country of stop and go traffic like mine. We keep it 5k km maximum. OCI all depends on your use.

I go to a track once/twice a month (with E92 and Z3) and I tend to follow this:

Engine oil: 3,000km/3 months/3 track days, whichever comes first.
Transmission oil: 10,000km/3 gymkhana&autocross/5 track days
Differential oil: 10,000km/3 gymkhana&autocross/4 track days
Brake fluid: 3,000km/3 autocross&gymkhana&track days
Spark plugs: 10,000km
Tyres: When they are done. Usually 3-5 track days.
Brake pads/Rotors: Based on visual inspection. I can usually tell by my right foot when mine is going.

[BPe90M3]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

5k miles is considered too long if you live in a country of stop and go traffic like mine. We keep it 5k km maximum. OCI all depends on your use.

I go to a track once/twice a month (with E92 and Z3) and I tend to follow this:

Engine oil: 3,000km/3 months/3 track days, whichever comes first.
Transmission oil: 10,000km/3 gymkhana&autocross/5 track days
Differential oil: 10,000km/3 gymkhana&autocross/4 track days
Brake fluid: 3,000km/3 autocross&gymkhana&track days
Spark plugs: 10,000km
Tyres: When they are done. Usually 3-5 track days.
Brake pads/Rotors: Based on visual inspection. I can usually tell by my right foot when mine is going.

This is very helpful thank you.

[joe6mt]

This what I would do:
Engine oil: 10W60 BMW TWIN POWER OIL EVERY 5,000/6 MONTH whichever comes first.
COOLANT FLUSH/CHANGE: EVERY 30,000 MILES
TRANSMISSION OIL (6MT): EVERY 30,000 MILES
DIFFERENTIAL OIL (6MT): EVERY 30,000 MILES
POWER STEERING FLUID: EVERY 30,000 MILES
BREAK FLUID: EVERY 2 YEARS PER MANUAL
SPARK PLUG: 37,000 MILE PER MANUAL. ( I PROBABLY CHANGE IT @30,000 MILES)
ENGINE DROP IN AIR FILTER: EVERY 2 YEARS/20,000 MILES AS NEEDED.
CABIN AIR FILTER: EVERY 2 YEARS/20,000 AS NEEDED.
BRAKE PADS/ROTORS: CHANGE AS NEEDED. Rotors, general speaking they should last 2 set of pads before you change out rotors. its all depends how you drive your car.
TYRES: Replace as needed.

[BOOF-M3]

derbo and I believe Ngilbe36 have excel spreadsheets on top of word docs with a side of PDF.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

5k miles is considered too long if you live in a country of stop and go traffic like mine. We keep it 5k km maximum. OCI all depends on your use.

I go to a track once/twice a month (with E92 and Z3) and I tend to follow this:

Engine oil: 3,000km/3 months/3 track days, whichever comes first.
Transmission oil: 10,000km/3 gymkhana&autocross/5 track days
Differential oil: 10,000km/3 gymkhana&autocross/4 track days
Brake fluid: 3,000km/3 autocross&gymkhana&track days
Spark plugs: 10,000km
Tyres: When they are done. Usually 3-5 track days.
Brake pads/Rotors: Based on visual inspection. I can usually tell by my right foot when mine is going.

Those intervals are all hilariously short. You are literally dumping perfectly good fluids. OP did not say track days or whatever so I'll assume he means he winds out the motor a bit on public roads. Unless you have a history of UOAs that show the fluids are completely depleted at that point, you're wasting money.

Even if the car goes to the track, 3000km is way too short. Tons of people here have shown UOAs of 7500km+ on cars that go to the track with no ill-effects.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by BPe90M3

Does anyone have a good maintenance schedule they follow? (Not BMW) looking for things like 6MT fluid change, Diff fluid change, spark plugs etc. I plan on changing my oil every 5k. I find BMW's maintenance schedule to be ridiculous, but thats just me. Yes I did a search, but Id like to see how you dedicated enthusiasts are taking care of your machines since they are getting up there in age. Cheers!

The BMW schedule is fine for all but the most extreme situations (e.g. a car that is at the track every single weekend). Why do you find it ridiculous?

Just browse the Blackstone/UOA thread to see that 5k+ oil changes are fine, and that the differential & transmission fluids are good to BMW's interval too. The only exception is probably the M-DCT fluid for which BMW does not publish a spec; most people change it at 50k, but 75k seems fine too based on the reports that have come back from Blackstone. I don't recall if BMW has a PS fluid or coolant change interval, but again, 50k is probably fine.

The spark plug interval is 37k which is actually really aggressive for an OEM interval. Most OEMs specify 100k on platinum plugs, and 150k+ on iridium.


So, to answer your question, this is what I would do if I were being cautious and not taking the car to the track every weekend. As I mentioned above, we have a lot of people sharing lab data showing you can go further. These all assume you are building a trend of UOAs:

Engine oil + filter: 5000-7500mi / every 12 months
Air filter: every 3rd oil change
Cabin filter: every 24 months
Rear diff: every 4th oil change / 30k
MTF: every 4th oil change / 30k
M-DCT: 50k
PS fluid: 50k
Coolant: 50k
Spark plugs: 37k (OEM interval)

[Ngilbe36]

Originally Posted by BOOF-M3

derbo and I believe Ngilbe36 have excel spreadsheets on top of word docs with a side of PDF. But joe6mt is probably spot on.

How did you know I would have a spreadsheet for this too? :P

Here is the link to my template. Fill in the yellow sections.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

This is just a general reference. Sometimes I go shorter than these intervals as well. I just did a oil change at 3,500 miles in preparation for a 1,200 trip because it went through winter and a track day.

[BOOF-M3]

Originally Posted by Ngilbe36

How did you know I would have a spreadsheet for this too? :P

Here is the link to my template. Fill in the yellow sections.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

This is just a general reference. Sometimes I go shorter than these intervals as well. I just did a oil change at 3,500 miles in preparation for a 1,200 trip because it went through winter and a track day.

It is hard to remember so many members, our conversations, PM's, posts, threads, emails, texts, meeting in person etc... But some things stand out when they are either absurd or exceptional. As a member you are the latter my friend. I would love to see derbo check in here also. He is your equal in regard to keeping track of his car.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by dparm

Those intervals are all hilariously short. You are literally dumping perfectly good fluids. OP did not say track days or whatever so I'll assume he means he winds out the motor a bit on public roads. Unless you have a history of UOAs that show the fluids are completely depleted at that point, you're wasting money.

Even if the car goes to the track, 3000km is way too short. Tons of people here have shown UOAs of 7500km+ on cars that go to the track with no ill-effects.

I agree. Your proposed maintenance recommendations are right at where I'm at.

Only thing I'd add is brake fluid. If you track you know how often you need to change. If you don't track, do it every 2 years. Maybe 18 months in Miami/Houston/other super damp climates.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by admranger

I agree. Your proposed maintenance recommendations are right at where I'm at.

Only thing I'd add is brake fluid. If you track you know how often you need to change. If you don't track, do it every 2 years. Maybe 18 months in Miami/Houston/other super damp climates.

Whoops, yes, forgot that. The OEM interval of every other year for brake fluid is fine even if you are driving it hard on the street. For the track, I would just do SRF once a year.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by dparm

For the track, I would just do SRF once a year.

This is what I finally decided to do after years and years of chasing the "best" brake fluid. SRF is the only way to go imho.

I've been using SRF for a few years now and am pissed that it took me so long to come to this. I could have saved hours and hours and hours of time that I spent bleeding brakes.

[Richbot]

5 years or 40,000 miles - replace