oil change intervals

[racerchoi]

BMW recomends changing oil on the newer BMW's every 14,000 miles (syn. Castrol GTX). Personally, i change the oil on my 2003 325i around 7000 miles. I'd be interested to know what intervals you guys adopt.

[Celsdogg]

I personally change it a little over 3k miles. i dont use synthetic tho and i like to keep up with it like that.

[badandy_3k]

what's the difference between synthetic and regular?

i don't use synthetic myself but people have told me to switch to it.

[Antiburn]

Synthetic oil properties last longer then regular oil. Their lubricationg properties that is.

Ofcourse for the price of synthetic changing your oil every 3k with basic oil is cheaper. If I had a bmw ide change my oil with synthetic about every 12k.

[Celsdogg]

this page has good information on natural oil and synthetic

http://www.bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacg...00015&Section=

[headydead]

The mechanics at the villiage garage use Mobil 1
in all of the GM trucks. They push more than 10k out of the oil, but change the filter at the regular miliage interval.

In my '87 325e with 175k, I use the Mobil 1 and change oil and filter after about 4-5k. I'm always adding a little oil anyway.

What weight y'all running? I'm doing 5w-30

[Antiburn]

10-40
5-30? why not just put water in since its so thin

[Celsdogg]

i run 10w-40 as well.

what weight it run should really depend on the temps in the area we live.

it seems as if our friend is in NY. perhaps his area is particularly cold. . . and his engine is in great shape. . .

[beemer5]

I use just 30W and I change it every 5000.. it makes it easy to remember.. 325i with 212,000

[sub006]

My wife's 98 318i's computer asks for oil at 9-10,000 mile intervals. In my 400,000 mile Chevy Suburban I change the Castrol Syntec at 7000 miles or 90 days.

[patrickT]

I have a 2001 325: What size socket to remove the oil cannister cap? Having a hard time getting someting to allow me to change oil myself. THanks

[Antiburn]

36mm