[fbsm]

An $80-120 dollar oil change potentially early is cheap insurance against the replacement of a 10-15k motor

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

Some very-low mileage vehicle owners are changing their oil because of the amount of time that has passed. This product might help them.

[drewnel22]

My opinion is the oil lasts much longer than most people go with it. I don't see an issue with going 10-15k miles on an oil change in one year. However the filter is the limiting factor to the OCI. If it were me I would run the oil 15k miles but change the filter in the middle for a peace of mind.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

My car has seen a lot of serious back-road driving with fast elevation changes and quick turns plus 200 miles a week of some of the most dense stop and go traffic in the US (US Route 66 in Northern Virginia). I've pretty much hammered the car on the last 10 miles to my house up in the central Virginia mountains for the past 10 years.

In that trip, is a 11-turn corkscrew mountain road one mile from my house that climbs 600 feet in 1 mile. My car has done that every day for 10 years when the engine has not even reached operating temperature.

But in your scenario, a soccer mom would never reach 17,000 miles in 1 year and would do a 1-year OCI per BMW maintenance schedules.

Driving a car hard is good for the oil IMHO. Much better than the oil never warming up and getting fuel diluted.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by drewnel22

My opinion is the oil lasts much longer than most people go with it. I don't see an issue with going 10-15k miles on an oil change in one year. However the filter is the limiting factor to the OCI. If it were me I would run the oil 15k miles but change the filter in the middle for a peace of mind.

Many manufacturers these days actually recommend the opposite. Only change the filter every second oil change. A dirty filter actually filters the oil better, up to the point it becomes a restriction.

[drewnel22]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Many manufacturers these days actually recommend the opposite. Only change the filter every second oil change. A dirty filter actually filters the oil better, up to the point it becomes a restriction.

Thats the first time I've ever heard of that. I'll have to look it up. Either way I'm comfortable changing both for the time being, the filter is too cheap not to do it.

[davis449]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Many manufacturers these days actually recommend the opposite. Only change the filter every second oil change. A dirty filter actually filters the oil better, up to the point it becomes a restriction.

Actually makes sense.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by drewnel22

Thats the first time I've ever heard of that. I'll have to look it up. Either way I'm comfortable changing both for the time being, the filter is too cheap not to do it.

Subaru, Nissan, Honda, Acura all recommend that now.

[Mingwan]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Driving a car hard is good for the oil IMHO. Much better than the oil never warming up and getting fuel diluted.

Driving a car for short periods of time, or in a way where the oil does not reach a certain temperature frequently can cause the oil to transform into a lard type substance. I've seen a few 335i's used for soft driving where I though the owner had put mayonnaise in their engine.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Driving a car hard is good for the oil IMHO. Much better than the oil never warming up and getting fuel diluted.

Not sure what were arguing about. Short trip intervals bring a short oil change interval; I've never refuted that maintenance requirement. It's virtually impossible to go 15,000 miles in 1 year's time on short driving intervals where the oil never reaches operating temperature.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by drewnel22

Thats the first time I've ever heard of that. I'll have to look it up. Either way I'm comfortable changing both for the time being, the filter is too cheap not to do it.

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Subaru, Nissan, Honda, Acura all recommend that now.

VW also does that. Although when the car's leave the factory... they have a special oil filter with a red stripe. VW says not to change the oil until the car's first service. Then the cars get a normal (white stripe) oil filter.

Personally I would not go with long OCI. Like I have said by the time my car had 15K miles... I change the oil some five times already. 500miles, 1K, 3K, 5K, 10K and 15K miles. Now I change it every six months or ~4K miles or so.

IF you do go with a long OCI... only use a factory BMW oil filter. Not all filters are the same! Heck even from batch to batch... some aftermarket filters look different. I have some photos(that I really ought to post!) comparing a BMW filter to a Mahle, to a Mann and they all look different. I gotta dig up those pics.
Dack

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Not sure what were arguing about. Short trip intervals bring a short oil change interval; I've never refuted that maintenance requirement. It's virtually impossible to go 15,000 miles in 1 year's time on short driving intervals where the oil never reaches operating temperature.

Didn't know we were arguing?

I agree with you. It is surprising how many miles people can put on just doing short trips though.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

VW also does that. Although when the car's leave the factory... they have a special oil filter with a red stripe. VW says not to change the oil until the car's first service. Then the cars get a normal (white stripe) oil filter.

Honda also says the first oil change should never, ever be done early, or engine damage will occur. Wonder if those VW red stripe filters have some kind of anti friction additive in them?

[David70]

Since it is one year or 20k miles, person that is driving 20k miles in a year is obviously driving a huge number of hwy miles which is far easier on the engine on a per mile basis.

Then a tiny percentage of people would ever actually get to the 20k miles in a year so a lot of the Mobil 1 benefit comes from the Marketing side of it. At the store looking at two oils, some will buy this product because the packaging makes it look better than the alternative (and I use Mobil 1 in my/wife's daily).

I would still have to change my Z4M once a year if I used this oil or the oil I use and my daily driver wouldn't get close to the 20k miles in a year so it this oil wouldn't change anything for me.

Edit: Also note -

What we will do to correct problems

ExxonMobil will replace any lubricant that is defective. In addition, if there is equipment failure due to the lubricant you purchased, and the engine was serviceable at the time the oil was installed, ExxonMobil will repair any equipment damage directly caused by a defect or malfunction of the lubricant, at no cost to you, provided that the lubricant was selected and maintained in accordance with specifications of the OEM or the written instructions (which includes product packaging) of ExxonMobil.

Good luck on collecting. Directly caused by a defect or malfunction of the lubricant? Sorry, nothing wrong with the lubricant, goodbye. Oh, there is a massive amount of crud in it but the lubricant has zero defects.

[Dackelone]

Speaking of driving lots of short trips... everyone should pop off their oil fill cap and take a look-see down there. On the cap itself if you see any yellow sludge... your not driving the car long enough - and you should be driving the car for a longer period(miles) before shutting the engine off. If you have that yellow sludge/buildup... you should also be changing your oil more often.

[fbsm]

Originally Posted by David70

Since it is one year or 20k miles, person that is driving 20k miles in a year is obviously driving a huge number of hwy miles which is far easier on the engine on a per mile basis.

Not necessarily at all

20k miles is easily accumulated by several 5-10 mile trips each day

Take an example of someone who performs several local deliveries each day as a use case

20k miles = 54 miles per day

[IndotagSwizz]

doesn't matter if the oil can last 5k, 10k or 20k ....20k mile oil in an engine that was design to have its oil change every 8k miles will be a problem not because of the oil but just because the engine was not design for that kind of interval between oil changes, this is the same reason why you want to always use the exact oil specifications listed on your owners manual.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by IndotagSwizz

doesn't matter if the oil can last 5k, 10k or 20k ....20k mile oil in an engine that was design to have its oil change every 8k miles will be a problem not because of the oil but just because the engine was not design for that kind of interval between oil changes, this is the same reason why you want to always use the exact oil specifications listed on your owners manual.

I agree with this. If you look at the engineering of the N52, it was designed with long drain intervals in mind. One example is the volumetric oil pump.