[RockCrusher]

Over 1000 miles on the car now. The engine is loosening up nicely. Oh, had the oil/filter service done at 600 miles and will have it done again at 1200 miles (end of "break in").

Gas mileage is getting a bit better. 'course, with the engine running stronger I have to be careful or I'll negate the improvement in gas mileage by more spirited driving.

Car is quicker than it at first seemed. Yesterday after washing the car had to drive it to dry the brakes. Ended up getting on a local freeway and accelerated up the long on ramp using the +paddle to up shift at between 4K and 4.5K RPMs. Car accelerated quite smartly but I thought nothing spectacular.

Glanced down at the speedo and the car was going 101mph! Now I have owned cars and driven cars (Hellcat to name just one) quite capable of 100+ mph with ease. While the 230i is no Hellcat I'm quite impressed.

Once broken in and I can use more RPMs the thing's going to be a bit of a beast.

Seriously thinking taking the car on a nice road trip from AR to CA and back rather than taking my M-B van just to experience the car out on the open road.

The 230i is quickly climbing the list of my favorite cars. In the top 4 now and it could go higher depending upon how trouble free it is. The top 4 cars were quite trouble free besides being a pleasure to drive.

[polakai]

I'm at 840 miles currently and feel the same!

Quick question for you - could you please let me know if you've seen the old oil?
I haven't changed it yet, but definitely planning to do it at 1000-1200 miles and disregard BMW schedule of 10,000 miles or 1 year which sounds ridiculous. So I'm just curious how clean it was after first 600 miles.

And separately from that, did your dealer consider it a part of included maintenance and did it for free, or if you went to your local shop to do it?

Thank you in advance!

[Cklam1209]

Originally Posted by polakai

I'm at 840 miles currently and feel the same!

Quick question for you - could you please let me know if you've seen the old oil?
I haven't changed it yet, but definitely planning to do it at 1000-1200 miles and disregard BMW schedule of 10,000 miles or 1 year which sounds ridiculous. So I'm just curious how clean it was after first 600 miles.

And separately from that, did your dealer consider it a part of included maintenance and did it for free, or if you went to your local shop to do it?

Thank you in advance!

Same question. I want to change oil at 1200 for first time, but dont use bmw free maintainance. So, i just need oil change and filter at 1200 is enough ? Do u guys know how much cost estimate is it ?

[jbazz]

Originally Posted by polakai

I'm at 840 miles currently and feel the same!

Quick question for you - could you please let me know if you've seen the old oil?

I just changed my M240i's oil at 3500 miles, and the oil was in very good shape. Very light looking, no signs of particles in oil or on filter.

The 0-20 oil runs like water, just make note of that, it was my first time changing oil this thin.

[M-System]

It’s really unnecessary to change the oil on a 230i at 600 miles, and again at 1200 miles. There is no “break-in” period or mileage for non-M cars, even M240, M340, M440 doesn’t get a 1200 mile warranty covered break-in service oil change. Unless you are tracking your car weekly or just beating driving hard daily, changing oils sooner than the recommended intervals is just a waste of money. But hey, it’s your money. Also, why would you want your beloved car under the knife of potentially incompetent techs more often than necessary? They almost never put shit back the way it’s supposed to be.

[MPR]

0w20 mobile1 since 8 miles on the clock has my BRZ running like new still at 190k. Since I don't care about resale, I'm going to do my own oil changes, maybe just save receipts to make a prospective buyer happy when I do sell.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by polakai

I'm at 840 miles currently and feel the same!

Quick question for you - could you please let me know if you've seen the old oil?
I haven't changed it yet, but definitely planning to do it at 1000-1200 miles and disregard BMW schedule of 10,000 miles or 1 year which sounds ridiculous. So I'm just curious how clean it was after first 600 miles.

And separately from that, did your dealer consider it a part of included maintenance and did it for free, or if you went to your local shop to do it?

Thank you in advance!

Didn't see the old oil.

Have seen oil from other engines from new. Pic below is from my 2008 Cayman S at 750 miles...

The oil is from the filter canister. There's a filter and the debris was "trapped" but my concern is if the high pressure bypass valve opens up it lets unfiltered oil flow to the engine.

And what the filter doesn't "trap" is contamination.

Turbo (or supercharged) engines can really load the oil up with not only metal debris but contamination.

So I'm a firm believer in early oil/filter services.

I paid for the oil/filter service out of pocket at the dealer where I bought the car. I wanted an early oil/filter service but I also wanted to know how well the dealer's service department worked.

As expected I got a tiny bit of push back (if one can even call it that) about the early oil/filter service in the form of: "Are you sure?". Yep. Had a printout of the color pic of the pic I posted below. Service manager said he's never seen that before. Was quite surprised at the debris.

(I've built a couple of engines and am used to seeing the oil after just 30 minutes of run in time.)

(Also, I showed the Porsche techs that pic. I had changed the oil myself. They said they never bothered to trap/capture the oil but of course just let it drain right in the old oil collector. But they too were surprised.)

The dealer service was good. I'm relieved. Had it been crummy I would have gone back to the M-B dealer next door and traded in the 230i for an AMG C43.

Service cost around $150.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Cklam1209

Same question. I want to change oil at 1200 for first time, but dont use bmw free maintainance. So, i just need oil change and filter at 1200 is enough ? Do u guys know how much cost estimate is it ?

Up to you. At 1200 miles which is based on my car's owners manual the end of break in means post break in as you push the engine harder you do so with fresh oil in the engine.

Could be considered by some as overkill, unnecessary but I like to give the engine/car a reasonable chance of delivering years and thousands of miles of trouble free service.

My dealer charged me around $150 for the service. Let me check the invoice... Ok, I was charged $159.05. A bit more than around "$150" for the service. Still not bad. Worth it to me for peace of mind.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by jbazz

I just changed my M240i's oil at 3500 miles, and the oil was in very good shape. Very light looking, no signs of particles in oil or on filter.

The 0-20 oil runs like water, just make note of that, it was my first time changing oil this thin.

That's good to read. Kind of odd though nothing on the filter. Even an engine with some miles on it will shed metal and the bits collect in the filter folds.

At any rate, I'd rather err on the side of caution.

Even 0w-40 or 5w-50 oil runs "like water" when up to temperature (which I consider 212F, the temperature at which the high temperature viscosity index is measured).

My 2018 MINI JCW engine used 0w-20 oil and it was fine although I sold the car with less than 30K miles on it before I left CA for AR. I would have liked to keep the MINI as it was a very nice car but no MINI dealer here.

It is a bit unsettling to watch the BMW Sport engine telemetry and specifically the oil pressure and see it so low even with the engine turning over above idle. But it just highlights how "over oiled" engines are that run a constant displacement oil pump that has the hot idle oil pressure at 30psi and at 60psi (or more) at higher RPMs.

Believe it when I say if the reduced oil pressure of these engines was not sufficient, more than sufficient, one wouldn't need a low oil pressure gauge to tell him there's a problem, the engine was sound the alarm with a rod through the block.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by M-System

It’s really unnecessary to change the oil on a 230i at 600 miles, and again at 1200 miles. There is no “break-in” period or mileage for non-M cars, even M240, M340, M440 doesn’t get a 1200 mile warranty covered break-in service oil change. Unless you are tracking your car weekly or just beating driving hard daily, changing oils sooner than the recommended intervals is just a waste of money. But hey, it’s your money. Also, why would you want your beloved car under the knife of potentially incompetent techs more often than necessary? They almost never put shit back the way it’s supposed to be.

Don't have the manual handy to quote from but there is a 1200 mile break in the owners manual for my non M model.

I have let a new engine go for more miles. My first Porsche (a Boxster) was at 4K miles when on a whim I had the oil analyzed. The numbers came back ok except there was 7% water in the oil. Not a coolant leak just the result of winter usage and the engine not getting up to temperature. I changed the oil ASAP (the factory called for 15K miles oil service and 30K miles filter service) and then every 5K miles after that. Even at 317K miles the engine was quite and strong and oil consumption had increased a bit but still around 1qt in 5K miles.

My first Scat Pack I let the oil go to around 1500 miles. The oil on the dipstick looked pretty good but as the miles approached 1500 the oil got darker. The oil on my Hellcat's dipstick was dark at around 500 miles and I had the oil changed before 600 miles. My 2nd Scat Pack was abou the same as my 1st Scat Pack.

if I felt the BMW dealer service department was not up to properly servicing the car, and there was no other dealer nearby, I would not hold off on oil changes I'd get rid of the car and get a car from another brand of dealer from which I could count on good service. The M-B dealer next door to the BMW dealer has provided me good service for my M-B van. I would have no problem trading in the BMW for another M-B vehicle.