60k between oil changes...

[Fordimus Prime]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh ... ?t=1281659

[drofmub]

shocking!! Done a head gasket on one of them engines before. not fun!

[marc9584]

Youve got to be a complete rod to leave your oil in for 60k

[bgunn]

I've seen (and subsequently owned) an 827 that had done 190,000 miles - and an unknown amount of miles without oil changes (certainly at least 5 years on guess).

After hours and hours of cleaning, the rear bank still looked like this:



It ran really well actually, and didn't have the usual Honda V6 tappet rattle (after setting them up) at all..

It's really amazing how well modern engineering and metallurgy as well as oil technology has come on, allowing for the abuse that occurs not to destroy an engine. 30 years ago, if you neglected an oil change like this, you'd very soon know about it!

[M17CH]

Amazing the bloody thing lasted that long lol...

[munky]

thats what the guy who bought my 5 series would have found if he ever took the rocker off

That had 22000 miles on the oil in it, at least. Mind you, it ran like a charm.

[Din]

thats what the guy who bought my 5 series would have found if he ever took the rocker off

That had 22000 miles on the oil in it, at least. Mind you, it ran like a charm.

We normally change the oil in the later cars every 18,000 miles atm, 60k is somewhat er silly

Still, says something for the engines doesnt it

[munky]

18k on the m50/2 engines?

really? I did about 14K in mine and had to reset the lights twice.

I know the service lights come on dependant on the way the car has been driven as well as the miles its covered... are new bmw drivers that boring?

[BazR]

18k on the m50/2 engines?

really? I did about 14K in mine and had to reset the lights twice.

I know the service lights come on dependant on the way the car has been driven as well as the miles its covered... are new bmw drivers that boring?

Or is it that BMW are boring?

[munky]

18k on the m50/2 engines?

really? I did about 14K in mine and had to reset the lights twice.

I know the service lights come on dependant on the way the car has been driven as well as the miles its covered... are new bmw drivers that boring?

Or is it that BMW are boring?

that was a very poor effort baz...

bmw are boring because they build good engines?

Do you enjoy oil changes?

must try harder.

[BazR]

Haha, give a guy a break. I'm still juggling 4 sausages and some tatties

***Munky I keep forgeting you now drive a boat and not a beemer. My apologies

[bgunn]

We normally change the oil in the later cars every 18,000 miles atm, 60k is somewhat er silly

Still, says something for the engines doesnt it

Which is still mad IMO - 12k is the limit for me, if driving hard or pottered to the shops and back all the time, it gets 6k.

Oil is cheap, engine rebuilds not..

[munky]

Haha, give a guy a break. I'm still juggling 4 sausages and some tatties

***Munky I keep forgeting you now drive a boat and not a beemer. My apologies

My heart is still in the beemer... I'll have another one soon, even worse than the silver one... the same car, but an automatic estate!!!

[BazR]

We normally change the oil in the later cars every 18,000 miles atm, 60k is somewhat er silly

Still, says something for the engines doesnt it

Which is still mad IMO - 12k is the limit for me, if driving hard or pottered to the shops and back all the time, it gets 6k.

Oil is cheap, engine rebuilds not..

Which oil do you use Brian? I try and change every 6k, my pocket can only satisfy that with buying 5 gallon drums at a time, much better value. Fuchs 10/40.

What I see a lot of at work is this....

"I want oil for my Focus, which one is it?"

So I had the chap some 5/30 and then give him the price.

"Have you no cheaper oil?"

So I tell him the things that can happen with using the wrong grade

"Some oil is better than no oil"

and off he goes with some Carlube 15/40 Mineral and an oil filter. So the chap may well change his oil every whatever, but its the wrong oil Now this is on say, an '06 '07 Focus.

[BazR]

Haha, give a guy a break. I'm still juggling 4 sausages and some tatties

***Munky I keep forgeting you now drive a boat and not a beemer. My apologies

My heart is still in the beemer... I'll have another one soon, even worse than the silver one... the same car, but an automatic estate!!!

TBH, if I had the cash and went to buy a car for tiddling around in and looking lordy, it would have to be a 530D, low milage 02 Sport model, Auto. Cant stand the newer models though, this like the designer had an accident with cheese wire

[munky]

02?? you like paying tax then...

why 02? same car on an 01 is a lot less to tax. Never been a fan of the sport kits either... m5 wannabe's.

And for some reason those bloody 530d sports go for stupid money! Same with the petrol ones.

A 528, 535 or 540 is a hell of a lot cheaper. I'm going for the 540. V8 yum.

Then when I can afford it, another silly little e30 as a 2nd car, stripped and slagged.

[BazR]

Well 01 if you wish, lol. I was thinking of my bosses old one at the time of typing. It never gave much trouble but I do recall it ran on red derv for a good while.

I could never understand why a guy who has piles of money would scrimp on fuel, but there ya go. I guess it takes us back to the start. Why do people spend good money on good cars and then let themselves down by simply not getting the oil changed?

[Din]

We use LL04 castrol slx oil, its used in all of the later engines diesel and petrol apart from the M power cars which use Castrol Tws motorsport 10w/60 (tends to be replaced more often than the LL04).

Just found a spec sheet for LL04 http://www.motul-oil.co.uk/pdfs/specifi ... 8GB%29.pdf

The M50 engines are more often Munkey, im talking N43,N52 tec. its all on that spec sheet anyway.

[munky]

thought as much... though I know its not uncommon for a grandad driven m50 to go 12-14k between service lights.

[Din]

thought as much... though I know its not uncommon for a grandad driven m50 to go 12-14k between service lights.

Yeah, its no exact science now either, it does change depending on the use of the car, but only by a couple of thousend miles either way really, its always changed every 2 years regardless.

[Berger]

Well 01 if you wish, lol. I was thinking of my bosses old one at the time of typing. It never gave much trouble but I do recall it ran on red derv for a good while.

I could never understand why a guy who has piles of money would scrimp on fuel, but there ya go. I guess it takes us back to the start. Why do people spend good money on good cars and then let themselves down by simply not getting the oil changed?

Huge saving by buying red diesel, its about 2/3rds of the price of white!

As for oil changes, my van went into a Ford main dealer for service, they are notoriously bad/slow. Cut a long story short, they didnt change the oil, the service interval is already 15k, so it went to 30k before the oil was changed. Done at least 50k since then and still runs like a good'un (slow!).

[E_T_V]

Not good, but remember that oil changes are very milage dependant as well as engine design too.

60k mile oil changes are very frequent in the truck market, whereas they are long in the car market.

The AA used to do 40k mile oil changes on some of their austin-rover vehicles without any apparent issues.

Oil on a car that is used for a 1 mile trip to the shops and back every day is going to have a far harder life than oil in a car that drives 100 miles up the motorway every day (mile for mile that is).

[darwin]

A few years ago my dad bought a Hyundai Lantra , 4 years old with about 40k on the clock . Had a slight ticking sound coming from the top end and so got it for dirt cheap . Tried to change the oil and only sludge came out , took the rocker cover off and there was sludge all over the place . One of the cam squirters was blocked , unblocked it with a wire and put fresh oil and a flush in . Changed the oil again and the ticking went away . Car ran after that and I've seen it on the road recently years after he sold it .
My dad came to the conclusion that when he bought it , it still had the original oil from the factory.

On an episode of The Garage someone brought in a Jeep Cherokee V8 with serious bottom end noise . The big end bearings were gone . A result of the engine oil never being changed from new (IIRC car was 4 or 5 years old). Who buys a £40,000 car and NEVER services it.

[618ireland]

In the current economic climate I reckon there are loads of cars that haven't seen a service in 2 years or so, madness.

[bgunn]

In the current economic climate I reckon there are loads of cars that haven't seen a service in 2 years or so, madness.

Definitely. Missing an oil change is one thing, not changing brake pads or tyres is something entirely different..

[BazR]

I recall they were mad keen to get a 2 year MOT up here, just like the NCT down with you, James.

Half the motors up here are hanging apart already on the one year basis.

[618ireland]

Yeah, disadvantage of the 2 year test is that many folk have the view that once they have the disc on the window the car is fine. I've notived loads of parked cars with smooth tyres of late. One of the buddies wives has an 03 Focus for two years, haven't serviced it yet, I get the distinct impression its not on the agenda either

[munky]

I've only ever changed the oil in my cars if its leaked out.

Never had a 'proper' service on any of them. I've changed the plugs once, cos they were f***ed...

never topped up fluids unless they're leaking at all tbh. Antifreeze? wtf is that?

ps, never buy a car off me... have I mentioned that before?

[Punx0r]

No, but we all realised a long while ago that you're a massive pikey

Not spending £8 on a set of new plugs is a false economy when you're dropping £5 per tankful due to increased fuel consumption.

[munky]

meh, effort.

to be fair, I tend not to own cars for more than 6 months or so anyway (the 5 series was the longest, at 10 months), so servicing them isnt really much of an issue most times.

And I've only ever sold two of the 40 ish I've owned... So I'm not that bad... honest.

ps, find me a set of bmw 6 pot plugs for £8 and I'll eat my shoes.

[Punx0r]

I was going to say "should get a Rover, then", but random google search for 325 plugs, seems some beemers use NGK BKR6E just like the Rovers:

http://www.partsgeek.com/mparts/spark_plugs/bmw.html

In which case, yes, about £2 per plug

[munky]

plus shipping to the uk... fail.

[Punx0r]

Yes, I buy all the plugs for T and K-series rovers from the U.S. rather than any number of retailers in my local area The link just illustrates the part number...

[munky]

proof of shipping costs and exchange rates or gtfo... I only just bought these trainers...

[Sheaf]

I change the oil in my cars between 4k and 6k.

Given that it takes all of about 45 mins and £25-£30 then its not really an effort or a significant expense.

Did the gearbox oil last time too, even that was dead easy.

I tend to plan on keeping my cars for a significant period of time, so keeping on top of the maintenance is important. I'd much rather solve a problem before it's caused me an issue than wait until time is critical and the problem is more far gone and expensive.

My Dad's Octavia was on VAG variable service intervals, it seems if you drive sensibly then it only calls for intervals every 30k or so. He's now switched to fixed for peace of mind, changing every 10k. We now have a 25L drum of oil in the garage to serve both our purposes, lol.