[advr6]

The dealer just performed the first oil change at 10000km (6200 miles) / 1yr and I asked for the used filter to check for metal shavings and filter integrity as I have seen some suggestions that these can disintegrate upon removal since it's only the paper that holds the top and bottom together and not the central plastic tube.

There were only a few metal specs (appear white in the picture) and the filter still seemed fairly solid.

[AWcoupe]

I took my car to my local dealer earlier this week for an oil change at 5,000 miles. Service advisor comes over to me after check in with a quizzical look on his face. “Why are you here? The car isn’t calling for any service”. Told him to change the oil. “Really? You want to pay for it? I’m sure you know it’s not covered.” Yep, change it and don’t reset the oil service menu, I’ll be back when the car calls for the annual/10,000 miles sometime in January. Didn’t mind spending the 100 bucks to change out the factory fill. Engine is completely broken in at this point. What an engine it is too.
Never felt real comfy with BMW’s suggested 10k oil changes under the “free” maintenance plan. With that being said, I did do strict 10k oil changes from day one on my 2015 M235 which I bought new and had zero issues on the N55. Another nice engine. I guess the point here is maintain your car the way you want to and take the manufacturer’s recommendations as a guideline. At the end of the day, they are really just trying to save themselves money in the long run by extending fluid changes/lifetime factory fills. Love the lifetime fill. Whose lifetime? Mine? The car?

[MPR]

I've had good luck over the years with a 5K interval. My BRZ is still running great at around 200K miles, and I stuck to this OCI since 16 miles were on the clock on day 1 in 2013.

[pantdino]

Originally Posted by AWcoupe

I took my car to my local dealer earlier this week for an oil change at 5,000 miles. Service advisor comes over to me after check in with a quizzical look on his face. “Why are you here? The car isn’t calling for any service”. Told him to change the oil. “Really? You want to pay for it? I’m sure you know it’s not covered.” Yep, change it and don’t reset the oil service menu, I’ll be back when the car calls for the annual/10,000 miles sometime in January. Didn’t mind spending the 100 bucks to change out the factory fill. Engine is completely broken in at this point. What an engine it is too.
Never felt real comfy with BMW’s suggested 10k oil changes under the “free” maintenance plan. With that being said, I did do strict 10k oil changes from day one on my 2015 M235 which I bought new and had zero issues on the N55. Another nice engine. I guess the point here is maintain your car the way you want to and take the manufacturer’s recommendations as a guideline. At the end of the day, they are really just trying to save themselves money in the long run by extending fluid changes/lifetime factory fills. Love the lifetime fill. Whose lifetime? Mine? The car?

I agree. They don't care how long your engine lasts after it is out of warranty

[vntperformance]

FYSA - I just did my first oil change myself this past Saturday at 2766 miles on the odometer, I do the first oil change on my cars typically before 3k miles, just to get the impurities out from a new engine breaking in and my own personal peace of mind. When I transferred the oil from my catch pan into the cat litter gallon container I use, I noticed some very faint metallic dust at the bottom of my pan. So I am happy I did dump the original oil and filter out at the time I did... will do the next oil change at 5k miles and then have the dealer do their typical b.s 10k free interval.

[Littlecoupe]

Originally Posted by AWcoupe

At the end of the day, they are really just trying to save themselves money in the long run by extending fluid changes/lifetime factory fills. Love the lifetime fill. Whose lifetime? Mine? The car?

I too thought 10K mile oil changes were interesting to say the least. Up here in Canada, a lot of dealers without free maintenance push a 5000KM/3K mile oil change interval under the guise of "extreme service." I get it, it's stupidly cold in some regions, dusty in others. Regardless, funny how when the dealer/manufacture is footing the bill, suddenly 10K miles is A-OK.

[Pentland]

Originally Posted by Littlecoupe

Regardless, funny how when the dealer/manufacture is footing the bill, suddenly 10K miles is A-OK.

You could argue that for the vast majority of owners who foot the bill are happy 10k miles is A-OK.

[VegasG42]

Originally Posted by vntperformance

FYSA - I just did my first oil change myself this past Saturday at 2766 miles on the odometer, I do the first oil change on my cars typically before 3k miles, just to get the impurities out from a new engine breaking in and my own personal peace of mind. When I transferred the oil from my catch pan into the cat litter gallon container I use, I noticed some very faint metallic dust at the bottom of my pan. So I am happy I did dump the original oil and filter out at the time I did... will do the next oil change at 5k miles and then have the dealer do their typical b.s 10k free interval.

Probably exactly what I will do.

No way am I going to run the original oil anywhere near 10k miles. And will want fresh oil just after the break in is completed

[BG42]

I think i may have posted this before but if you really are curious send a sample of used oil here.https://www.blackstone-labs.com/ They take the guess work out of it.

[Mike5250]

Planning on doing 2000/3000 mi range. My supra had the same engine and I felt bad changing it at 5k.

[vntperformance]

Originally Posted by VegasG42

Probably exactly what I will do.

No way am I going to run the original oil anywhere near 10k miles. And will want fresh oil just after the break in is completed

I am going to stick to a 5k interval but I'll do every other OCI myself and let the dealer handle the 10k mark free ones, until they run out. Plan to run Vavoline European the first two oil changes and than stick to Triax once the free ones are over.

[pantdino]

When BMW had to start covering maintenance for new cars to match the other manufacturers, the club tech commented what a funny coincidence it was that the recommended interval changed from 5-6 K miles to 10K. Longer intervals suddenly became perfectly fine.

[LivingInSalt]

Originally Posted by pantdino

When BMW had to start covering maintenance for new cars to match the other manufacturers, the club tech commented what a funny coincidence it was that the recommended interval changed from 5-6 K miles to 10K. Longer intervals suddenly became perfectly fine.

When did that change happen? bc it's been 10,000-15,000 since at least 2001

[VegasG42]

10k oil changes lol . That means your average joe who isn't really into cars like we are, will likely go to 10k miles and probably more before servicing.

The BMW factory warranty will be gone by the time any issues start to manifest.

Win / win for BMW

[LivingInSalt]

Originally Posted by VegasG42

10k oil changes lol . That means your average joe who isn't really into cars like we are, will likely go to 10k miles and probably more before servicing.

The BMW factory warranty will be gone by the time any issues start to manifest.

Win / win for BMW

What's your scientific evidence for synthetic oil in a modern engine needing to be changed more often?

[VegasG42]

Originally Posted by LivingInSalt

What's your scientific evidence for synthetic oil in a modern engine needing to be changed more often?

Absolutely nothing beyond anecdotal evidence.

Regardless of what vehicle I have , I have had great results from fully synthetic, 3,000 to 5,000 mile interval oil and filter changes

[LivingInSalt]

Originally Posted by VegasG42

Absolutely nothing beyond anecdotal evidence.

Regardless of what vehicle I have , I have had great results from fully synthetic, 3,000 to 5,000 mile interval oil and filter changes

So how often have you gone 10,000 miles to have felt or experienced a difference from 3-5,000 miles?

[VegasG42]

Originally Posted by LivingInSalt

So how often have you gone 10,000 miles to have felt or experienced a difference from 3-5,000 miles?

Yeah , you're right.

Oil with double or triple the miles provides the exact same level of protection and performance as fresh oil with only a few thousand miles on it.

[LivingInSalt]

Originally Posted by VegasG42

Yeah , you're right.

Oil with double or triple the miles provides the exact same level of protection and performance as fresh oil with only a few thousand miles on it.

You should change your oil every 500 miles, really. Oil with six or ten times the miles just doesn't provide the same level of protection and performance as fresh oil

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by LivingInSalt

What's your scientific evidence for synthetic oil in a modern engine needing to be changed more often?

Had the oil in my new 2002 Boxster analyzed at 4K miles. Don't recall all the details -- I probably still have the analysis in my files -- but I do recall was the water content was found to be 7%. With a total oil capacity of just over 9 quarts that worked out to nearly a quart of water in the oil.

Changed the oil ASAP and decided rather than adhere to the 15K mile oil changes the factory called for to change the oil every 5K miles thereafter.

I was also prompted to dig into this a bit more and found by observing coolant temperature via an OBD2 scan tool the coolant temperature was lower than I expected. This was in the KC MO area in winter. Cold. And my belief that my driving 150 miles once or more times a week to see my parents that this would have the engine "hot" and thus boil the water out of the oil found the coolant temperature the lowest at highway speeds. Around town driving got the coolant hotter. But where I lived I seldom drove in town and the town I lived in was small town driving was about a mile from my house to the freeway.

Since my experience with my Boxster I adopted a 5K mile oil/filter service interval for all my cars.

(Might note I did this for my 2002 VW Golf TDi which I bought just a few months after the Boxster. At some point at the dealer in the service department I saw a notice that VW had declared the region harsh/severe usage and had changed the 10K mile oil/filter service interval to 5K miles.)

Cars since the Boxster, my Scat Packs, Hellcat, and BMWs, the coolant temperature and oil temperature run higher. In the Scat Packs and Hellcat in town driving -- of around 6 miles -- could have the oil temperature to 230F or higher. This gave me comfort because at this temperature any water in the oil was being turned to vapor and this removed via the crankcase ventilation system. Still adhered to a 5K mile oil change interval even though the factory allowed for 6K mile oil changes.

To be sure the coolant and oil temperatures dropped some when I left city streets for the freeway. Still they were above 200F.

More recently I have observed with my BMW M2 and 230i xDrive coolant and oil temperatures run higher. Coolant at least 212F though it can go higher and oil temperature likewise. The 230i xDrive oil temperature has been as high as 226F.

[Maxp]

Did my first oil change at 570 miles. Oil looked brand new as it should. The filter had some small metal shavings. Nothing worrisome. Replaced the oil with Motul LL-12 FE 0w-30. I added 6.5 liters and the oil is measuring just before MAX, do not have the ZTK package. Like others mentioned, the oil plug was barely tightened.

[Maxp]

Today, I did my in between dealer service oil change. This time I added 6.3 liters. Measured the oil level slightly below MAX as seen in the attachment. Filter had like 5 specks of metal.