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BMW Synthetic Engine Oil

5K views 32 replies 14 participants last post by  rdorman 
#1 ·
I've heard so many mixed comments about this with my two BMW's and I want to know results based on user experience. Although BMW only covers the oil change every 15k miles or so (whenever i-Drive says you need an oil change), but is it really helpfull to change your oil more frequently if you own the vehicle and want to get the most miles out of it? Does BMW only reccom 15k because they're hoping to get more service dollars out of you or is this a trusting answer? Please advise.

Keith
 
#2 · (Edited)
If you plan to keep your car forever or drive off road a lot, it is probably worth getting the oil analysed. There are several labs that do this. I've used Blackstone (www.blackstone-labs.com) but there are other options. Look on Bob is the Oil Guy for recommended labs. Any other advice is just speculation because no one knows what is going on inside your X5.

In the UK, BMWs do not come with service. -- An oil change is about £160 depending on model. Cars sold here use the same conditioned base service counters as the ones sold in the US. So no, BMW NA isn't using long intervals to save money.
 
#3 ·
Oil change interval recommendations are all over the place. Since oil is relatively cheap, and I can do an oil-change myself, and I tend to keep cars for a long time, I tend to change the oil fairly often. If you think the life of a car is 100,000 miles or so, follow the factory recommendations. There is no "right" answer, only opinions. For those who recommend an analysis (which is not a bad idea) if the analysis shows that you went "too long" the damage has already occured.... The more highway miles you drive, the longer you should be able to go between changes. The more stop-and-go driving and short trips you do, the shorter your change interval should be. Pick a number and go with it.
 
#4 ·
Even if you do it yourself, changing the oil isn't free. BMW Synthetic oil is about $8 a quart and the oil filter kit is about $10.00 Oil sump sizes vary, but lets assume your car needs 7 quarts.

If you change every 7,500 instead of every 15,000, you will have done an extra 5 oil changes by 150,000 miles. At todays prices that's ((8 * 7) + 10.00) * 5 or $330.00 not including the cost of disposal, shop supplies, tools etc. if you sell the car at 150,000 miles that $330 spent will get you nothing in return. If you keep the car out to end of life, maybe 300,000 miles, you will have spent $660 extra for arguably 10-20% extra motor life. You do come out ahead but not by that much. . .
 
#11 ·
Even if you do it yourself, changing the oil isn't free. BMW Synthetic oil is about $8 a quart and the oil filter kit is about $10.00 Oil sump sizes vary, but lets assume your car needs 7 quarts.

If you change every 7,500 instead of every 15,000, you will have done an extra 5 oil changes by 150,000 miles. At todays prices that's ((8 * 7) + 10.00) * 5 or $330.00 not including the cost of disposal, shop supplies, tools etc. if you sell the car at 150,000 miles that $330 spent will get you nothing in return. If you keep the car out to end of life, maybe 300,000 miles, you will have spent $660 extra for arguably 10-20% extra motor life. You do come out ahead but not by that much. . .
10-20% additional life cannot be proven or disproven. It's merely a number you chose to throw out there. It could be 5%, it could be 60%. There is no way to tell if increased oil change frequency will prevent a catastrophic engine failure. But one thing is absolutely certain. It doesn't hurt the engine to do so.

I'm a 200K guy. I've never owned a vehicle that didn't make it that far. I put 247K on the original engine of a Honda CRX. I put 200K on a 1967 Ford Mustang. I put 257K on a Ford F250. I've also put over 400K miles on 2 other BMW's I owned. I change engine oil every 5K. For me it's a no brainer. Over the life of the car (200K+) I spend an xtra $400 for oil changes and I consider that cheap insurance over a varnished engine full of problems.

Hey, some guys think buying wheel and tire insurance is a good deal. I find it a colossal waste of money compared to $400 xtra bucks I pay to avoid installation of an $8000 replacement engine. Others are scared to death to drive a BMW without an extended warranty. Since I do old school maintenance on my cars (fluid changes every 30K and assorted other maintenance items), driving a Bimmer out of warranty doesn't scare me one bit.

To each his own.
 
#5 ·
If you plan to ditch the car at 100K or less, go with factory. Now if you plan to sell to a private sale, then 15K oil changes are going to cost you $$$ in that many people will walk away since many consider 15K oil changes abusive to the engine. I tend to agree with this. My 03 had 4 oil changes when I bought it as a CPO. The 4'th was done by the dealer prior to selling it. When I replaced the valve cover gasket, the varnish build up from those 15K mile changes was excessive. My 5K-6.5K mile changes have been cleaning the crap out. I do not believe that BMW approved oil is needed when you do more frequent changes. Others will not agree. I've been using non approved 5W-30 Pennzoil Platinum since 55K miles. I now have 131K miles. Used Blackstone twice for analysis and all looked great. I don't drive my engine hard, so HTHS - High temperature High shear is less
of an issue. The UOA by blackstone also checks this parameter. $23 per 5QT at Walmart. Add in a Napa Gold filter and DYI for $40. I drive about 25K miles per year so 4 changes per year for $160 total.
As for engine longevity, I do not believe based upon the varnish buildup and a small amount of sludge I saw at 60K that your going to get more than 150K miles with 15K mile oil changes. I've got no proof of this other
than the crud buildup I saw that you know is being deposited everywhere including on the piston rings, pistons ring lands, etc.
 
#6 · (Edited)
This is good advice, thanks gtxragtop. I too drive 25k miles a year. My 2012 X5 has 22k miles (all highway) on it already and I'm thinking of bringing it for its second oil change rather than waiting to 30k. Does BMW "reset" the count when you bring it in early? In other words, are you losing your free oil changes since they only cover them every 15k?
 
#7 · (Edited)
Does BMW "reset" the count when you bring it in early? In other words, are you losing your free oil changes since they only cover them every 15k?
They aren't supposed to. Be sure to ask for a "low mileage oil change" not an "oil service." Be sure to request the mechanic not reset the service indicator.

Before you do, get a free sample kit from Blackstone and ask the dealer to get a sample of your oil.
 
#8 ·
Yep, I already requested the free kit from blackstone. Going to give this to the dealer next week when I bring in for yearly state inspection and "low mileage oil change". The oil in there now has 7,500 miles on it, 22,500 total on the vehicle so it will be it's second oil change in 9 months. I hope I didn't buid up too much sludge by leaving the orig oil in there for 15,000 miles/6 months. It is ALL highway mileage.
 
#18 ·
my thinking is simple. I like to change oil often (@5K) and when you do that, you don't need synthetics. Syns are great for extended changes, elimination of sludge and temp extremes, none of which I have. When you are changing often , it's unnecessary to pay the extra $$.
 
#19 ·
Synthetics also have about 700 times the "shear strength" (the abilty to resist being squeezed out from between parts) of conventional oils so there is a great benefit to synthetic oils in addition to the extended change interval. In fact the additive package is what usually is used up in oil and requires that it be changed (oil doesn't wear out, it becomes contaminated and the additives are consumed). The additive in both conventional and synthetic oils are almost identical.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Oh I know I'm in the minority here...I used to be a mobil1 fanatic and put it in everything. And I've heard the "advantages" 1000 times . And simply, I don't need it. I use my cars 10K miles a year, trade them at three years and I'm sure with healthy oil changes they will be fine for the next guy too. I just don't go that anal any more that my oils have to be the ultimate.....After I found out that BMW reps are not "oil police", and only check for fill and quality of oil - (meaning you have the proper amt and it looks ok), I buy Pennzoil = 05w-30 - 5 quarts for $18.
 
#21 ·
I just bought an '89 535i. Been working on it for a while and finally got it to run last night. I have white smoke coming out of the exhaust. I'm thinking it needs new valve seals but not sure about that yet. I'm thinking maybe using a heavy oil to reduce this problem for now. It has 210,000 miles on it. What would be a good, and heavy motor oil to use?
 
#22 ·
White smoke is an indication of steam (water) not oil. I suspect you have a bad head gasket or a cracked head. Blue smoke is usually and indication of oil burning, but with modern catalytic converters oil consumption must be very severe before you see any smoke. Thick oil will not cure bad valve stem oil seals, but will increase wear on the rest of the engine as it will be slower to circulate on a cold start. If the problem is oil seals, one of the "high mileage" oils may help. These oils have additional "seal swellers" in them that cause your old seals to swell and hopefully seal better. These oils should only be used in an engine that already has a problem! Check for head gasket problems first.
 
#23 ·
White smoke is water. If the car has been sitting for ages, it might be condensation. if the car continues to blow white with fresh fuel and fresh oil, it is time to tear down the engine.
 
#25 ·
I frankly don't care about those anal specs...I'll trade this car at 50 k or so and my regimen will treat the motor fine. I'm not saying that the syn is bad, but unnecessary for how most people use their car. I don't race, don't run hard and use it for general tranportation.
 
#29 ·
I change my SUV with QS synthetic every 5K miles. That is more than required but is easy to remember. A 5 qt jug costs just over $20 at Wall Mart. I use purolator filters after reading a review on line by somebody that cut a bunch of filters up to see how they are made. My last SUV was traded by my son at about 140K and didn't use oil. He says he still sees it around 5 years or more later.

I've changed the oil twice in the bimmer but I just get the "free" annual changes now. I only drive about 7,000 miles a year on the bimmer to get cheaper insurance so the once a year seems marginally OK. If I drove 15K, I would do at least one myself. I've used oil change kits from Tischer or United (one each) when I did it. That is probably what I will continue to do. They are not cheap, I think around $60 when I last did it, but the convenience is good, they arrive at the house so no running around.

Being cheap on something basic like oil for a bimmer just doesn't make sense to me. I might be wasting some money but I like my peace of mind and convenience too. I may go to every 5K when I start doing it all the time. That would be about 9 months for me and I can afford $60 every 9 months - or around $100/yr.

Jim
 
#30 ·
I think the MUCH bigger issue is not oil change interval but LOW oil level.
Many of these cars start to leak in multiple places starting around 80k.
No one has ever blown an engine from wrong oil type.
However, hundreds of motors die b/c of low oil.

Yes, I got a low oil light today. Oil change was about 3 months ago.
I added almost a quart, and now it's on the top end of the dipstick guide.

Henceforth, I need to check the oil at least once a month.
 
#31 ·
I think the MUCH bigger issue is not oil change interval but LOW oil level.
Many of these cars start to leak in multiple places starting around 80k.
No one has ever blown an engine from wrong oil type.
However, hundreds of motors die b/c of low oil.
.
Yes you can. Running too light, or too thick an oil will cause problems. Too light and theirs increased heat from friction which causes premature wear.
 
#32 ·
When your oil level gets too low you are effectively running your engine without oil. You have some but parts of your engine aren't seeing it or are seeing it intermittedly. Obviously a bad idea.

Something like this can happen by too infrequent oil changes or oil changes with non-recommended oil. Any of us who have torn down an old engine and found something resembling bearing grease inside the valve cover and/or oil pan have wished the owner changed the oil more. When you get something that thick in the oil passages, it will not flow right and you will starve the engine for oil, at least in places like the upper valve train.

We really need to do both. Keep it full and keep it full of relatively clean, not broken down, oil.

Jim
 
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