[jewels]

Changed the oil on my 435i today with 2150 miles on it.
This is the first time I have changed oil on a 4 wheel BMW vehicle.
Over the years I have changed oil on many pieces of machinery, my 993TT was probably the worst (2 oil filters, had to remove inside fender panel and several heat ducts).
On the my older Airhead BMW bikes you have to sometimes loosen and remove one of the exhaust pipes to access the filter as well as remove some of the lower fairing.
So what's my point, well this was one of the easiest oil & filter changes I have ever done. What was I prepared for??? Usually auto's with the filters on or towards the top of the engines, you are cleaning up spilled oil (944 ect.), not on this change. Was impressed that the oil from the filter stayed in the oil well of the filter when you pull out the old one. Congratulations BMW for thinking about us backyard mechanics or whatever your intent was?
OK I know...did not need to change the oil till maybe over 10K miles who are we kidding. I am experienced enough to understand NEW metal to metal contact, even if BMW doesn't require it.
I will have the old oil analyzed by Blackstone Labs, and report back as to the results, so don't start with telling me it wasn't necessary till I report the results
Question on this is why does BMW require a 1200-1500mile oil change on the M3-M4?? Yes, yes- a different engine, but again it is still NEW metal on metal contact.
Oh ya, went with 0w-40 Mobil syn European Formula(approved oil in manual and on BMW site), 7 Quarts exact, and yes it did show right on "MAX" when I was done on the measurement (boy do I miss a good dipstick). I have seen some discussion on this and other forums about filling with 7Qts. and showing approx.1/2 quart low when finished, this DID NOT happen.
Stay tuned for the oil analysis, it should be interesting

[m6pwr]

Please do post your uoa when you get the report back from Blackstone.

FWIW, I had a '13 M3 and did a uoa on the oil drained at 1200 mi. Quelle surprise! The oil was a mid 30 wt (the service fill is 10w60), with only a moderate add pack, particularly the detergent/dispersant adds which were very modest. To all appearances, the factory fill was a old fashioned break-in oil, quite probably a conventional mineral oil (not synthetic) as all break-in oils are, and one definitely not intended for an extended drain interval. Thus, the 1200 mi. drain. It was clearly not necessary to drain the oil because of excessive wear metals. All the wear metals in the uoa were far, far below any accepted condemnation limits I've ever seen or read about. Iron (the wear metal IN VERY HIGH CONCENTRATIONS you have to worry about from the standpoint of making the oil abrasive) was 19 ppm. Blackstone uses a condemnation limit of 350-400 ppm fe (seems to depend on who writes the comments) and even that has some safety margin built-in. Blackstone will probably note that the ppm copper is elevated BUT that it is quite normal with BMW's which use copper oil coolers, and with time and over many tens of thousands of miles the ppm copper will reduce as all the copper that will be leached out is leached out.

[chiefneil]

Originally Posted by jewels

Question on this is why does BMW require a 1200-1500mile oil change on the M3-M4?? Yes, yes- a different engine, but again it is still NEW metal on metal contact.

Because the M3/M4 use a special break-in oil. The regular 3- and 4-series do not.

UOA on my break-in oil (around 4k IIRC) showed pretty low metal wear. Actually it was so low the oil looked like a normal change and not the first break-in change. I'd be curious to see if yours is also very low in metals.

[Vegetable]

Originally Posted by chiefneil

Because the M3/M4 use a special break-in oil. The regular 3- and 4-series do not.

UOA on my break-in oil (around 4k IIRC) showed pretty low metal wear. Actually it was so low the oil looked like a normal change and not the first break-in change. I'd be curious to see if yours is also very low in metals.

BMW uses their regular synthetic for non-M break in?

[DJ Rocc]

Is Castrol Syntec Still a good oil for high performance cars such as these?

It's what I have have used in all my cars that I have had, and it has performed excellently!

[floydarogers]

Originally Posted by jewels

... Was impressed that the oil from the filter stayed in the oil well of the filter when you pull out the old one. Congratulations BMW for thinking about us backyard mechanics or whatever your intent was?

Except for the M10 engine way back in the '70s, poretty much every BMW engine has had it's oil filter in a similar setup to current ones. When you see a good thing, don't change it.

Originally Posted by DJ Rocc

Is Castrol Syntec Still a good oil for high performance cars such as these?

It's what I have have used in all my cars that I have had, and it has performed excellently!

Make sure it's got BMW LL-01 on the bottle, it's fine. Or ACEA A3/B3-4 (European spec - SAE classifications are junk.)

BTW, there are at least some people (including a shop owner) that believe BMW does use a special oil for first fill, and that changing it early is not a good thing since you lose that oil's properties.

[m6pwr]

Originally Posted by Vegetable

BMW uses their regular synthetic for non-M break in?

Yes. I believe so. Why BMW does the 1200 mi drain only on the M cars and not on the others? I have no idea. For whatever reason, BMW obviously doesn't think they need it.

From what I've seen on uoa's from the factory fills on non-M cars, the oil seems to be practically identical to the service fill. It's possible that there are some additives in the factory fill that won't show up in a uoa (some friction modifiers, from what I've read, won't show up in a uoa). But if BMW has some magic elixir in the factory fill, that's one more compelling reason not to drain it before they say to do so.

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by floydarogers

Except for the M10 engine way back in the '70s, poretty much every BMW engine has had it's oil filter in a similar setup to current ones. When you see a good thing, don't change it.

Well they mucked things up by removing the dipstick. That is one great way to do an oil change.

[DJ Rocc]

Originally Posted by snowghost

Well they mucked things up by removing the dipstick. That is one great way to do an oil change.

There is no dipstick?? How do you measure the oil?

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by DJ Rocc

There is no dipstick?? How do you measure the oil?

The computer.

[DJ Rocc]

Originally Posted by snowghost

The computer.

Oh no. I would rather the physical Measure too.

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by DJ Rocc

Oh no. I would rather the physical Measure too.

Yes, that's only part of it. With a dipstick you can use a dipstick oil extractor to drain all the oil. I've seen demonstrations that show you drain more oil that way than with the drain plug.

[jewels]

Originally Posted by snowghost

Well they mucked things up by removing the dipstick. That is one great way to do an oil change.

I understand that the removal of the dipstick had something to do with emissions or sealed engines in Germany
At least they left the drain plug, my lawn mower has to be turned upside down to empty the sump...you think on a $300 lawn mower they could have afforded a drain plug?

[DJ Rocc]

Originally Posted by jewels

I understand that the removal of the dipstick had something to do with emissions or sealed engines in Germany
At least they left the drain plug, my lawn mower has to be turned upside down to empty the sump...you think on a $300 lawn mower they could have afforded a drain plug?

Ok I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

LOL @ the lawn mower.

[chiefneil]

Originally Posted by Vegetable

BMW uses their regular synthetic for non-M break in?

That's what it says in the manual. Also I told the Blackstone guys the sample was BMW 5w30 oil and they didn't contradict me on the report.

[f30GTR]

I wish bmw left the hole for the dip sick at least. The computer is useless. When I changed my oil I had poured 6 qts and the computer said that it was half way between min and max I poured half qts and it measured the same thing. I don't fill up my cars to max. Usually I want them quarter less from full.

[jewels]

Originally Posted by f30GTR

I wish bmw left the hole for the dip sick at least. The computer is useless. When I changed my oil I had poured 6 qts and the computer said that it was half way between min and max I poured half qts and it measured the same thing. I don't fill up my cars to max. Usually I want them quarter less from full.

I agree with a 1/4 less than full, next time I will know how to do that.

The most ridiculous electric fill gauge was on my 997 GT-3...it had to be warmed up (oil hot) before it would read THINK ABOUT IT.

[f30GTR]

Originally Posted by jewels

I agree with a 1/4 less than full, next time I will know how to do that.

The most ridiculous electric fill gauge was on my 997 GT-3...it had to be warmed up (oil hot) before it would read THINK ABOUT IT.

Haha yep. But bmw is the same, the oil needs to be warm 160 at least before it will read it. When I did mine I had to wait till it reached that point. I do like my bro's audi s4. You fill in and you start the car and the computer reads it. Also audi left the hole for the dip stick anyways I would not have problem with the computer if it actually can read small differences.

[jewels]

Here are the final results of my first oil change BMW 435i FIRSYT OIL CHANGE RESULTS BLACKSTONE LABS.pdf

As I suspected by the amount of Iron in this report, 10K is WAY too long to go before the first oil change.

As you can see by the comments, there are small other issues that are not enough to address.

My point BMW is not being realistic with at least there first recommended mileage intervals on oil changes.

Choose your own explanation for this, $$$ on there oil change ???

I will report back on the next one.

[m6pwr]

Originally Posted by jewels

Here are the final results of my first oil change Attachment 1081747

As I suspected by the amount of Iron in this report, 10K is WAY too long to go before the first oil change.

As you can see by the comments, there are small other issues that are not enough to address.

My point BMW is not being realistic with at least there first recommended mileage intervals on oil changes.

Choose your own explanation for this, $$$ on there oil change ???

I will report back on the next one.

Jewels: Thanks for posting this uoa.

The iron is high but not above limits, and it's hard to extrapolate from the first uoa what the iron might be at 10k mi, or if it is even uncharacteristic of a N55 at this break-in miles. So few people on this forum have posted uoa's at this mileage on a N55.

Blackstone does keep samples for awhile. You could ask them to do another report on your sample if they still have it just to be sure on the iron. They should be able to do it at no charge.

You could also post your uoa on BITOG and solicit comments from some of the more experienced members, particularly Doug Hillary.

Just curious, do you have the ZF 8 speed automatic? In Comfort mode the ZF likes to run low rpms a lot of the time (not lugging but presumably with relatively high pressures in the cylinders pushing the rings against the cylinder walls), almost like a diesel, and I have seen uoa's on BMW diesels with characteristically high iron.

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by jewels

Here are the final results of my first oil change Attachment 1081747

As I suspected by the amount of Iron in this report, 10K is WAY too long to go before the first oil change.

As you can see by the comments, there are small other issues that are not enough to address.

My point BMW is not being realistic with at least there first recommended mileage intervals on oil changes.

Choose your own explanation for this, $$$ on there oil change ???

I will report back on the next one.

I did my first oil at 10k and just under one year. Not worried about that amount of mileage for first change, but I think that is about the limit of my interval preference.

[jewels]

You could also post your uoa on BITOG and solicit comments from some of the more experienced members, particularly Doug Hillary.

Just curious, do you have the ZF 8 speed automatic? In Comfort mode the ZF likes to run low rpms a lot of the time (not lugging but presumably with relatively high pressures in the cylinders pushing the rings against the cylinder walls), almost like a diesel, and I have seen uoa's on BMW diesels with characteristically high iron.[/QUOTE]

Yes, it is the ZF but does not spend a lot of time in comfort.
I am by the book with constantly varying RPM and not over 5K till 1.2 K miles.

What is "BITOG" please?