Average service intervals for LCI 330D?

[Soberhans]

Hi all,

I’m currently looked at an E92 LCI 330D for my next car. I’ve found one that meets my needs however the recorded service history is concerning me. The first service was at 24,000 miles. Is this normal for a BMW diesel? Furthermore, at just under 80k is has had 3 stamped services and a 4th ‘oil change’ the seller claims the garage he bought it from forgot to stamp. Does 4 at his mileage seem correct to any BM diesel owners on here?

Many thanks in advance for advice.

[Smuler]

Soberhans said:

Hi all,

I’m currently looked at an E92 LCI 330D for my next car. I’ve found one that meets my needs however the recorded service history is concerning me. The first service was at 24,000 miles. Is this normal for a BMW diesel? Furthermore, at just under 80k is has had 3 stamped services and a 4th ‘oil change’ the seller claims the garage he bought it from forgot to stamp. Does 4 at his mileage seem correct to any BM diesel owners on here?

Many thanks in advance for advice.

Not a diesel, but owner one of my E92 335i got 21k miles before oil service, so I'm confident whilst not usual 24k is well possible on a car with an easy life.
Contrast that to when I got hold of the 335i I got 16k miles between oil services

BUT with oil services whilst whilst CBS differs on mileage, depending on driving, the car will always call for a oil service every 2 years.

So with a LCI even if it's a 2012 at least 3 stamps for oil.

CBS also requires brake fluid service (I think that's ever 2 years with E92), a vehicle check, I reckon that was every 3 or so many miles, plus fr / rear brake pads. It's possible more than one of these requirements are carried out during one visit to a garage, so only 1 stamp but lots more ticks in the book.

However, 3 or 4 stamps seems low. My 2009, 59 plate @ 85k when sold in May 2016 had 7 or 8 stamps.

Get a photo of the service book and post it here, if you want a more definitive answer.

[Soberhans]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply! As advised, ive attached a photo of the cars service history. As above the seller says a 4th oil change was carried out by the garage he bought the car from but they apparently neglected to stamp the book.

Whether that is actually the case or not would you say this is even close to a good service history for a 330d with 70k+ miles?

Thanks again for your advice!

Edited by Soberhans on Sunday 15th April 22:26

Edited by Soberhans on Sunday 15th April 22:27

[Mr Whippy]

So it’s done 2.5yrs and 15k miles since last recorded service.

Not hugely terrible given they can go 2yrs or 25k depending on use.

So the question is do you trust it had a service which is missing?

Do you care?


I just bought a car with no service book and only patchy evidence of history, but I trust my judgment based on what I saw and know and how long I plan to keep it.

If you feel happy with the car go for it. Get a full service done. Leave a gap in the book for later (if you get evidence), and enjoy it knowing that it could blow up tomorrow because it missed a service.
Or you could buy one with fsh and interim oil changes and it blow up tomorrow too.

[Mr Tidy]

That doesn't seem too far out, but it is probably due one very soon (if not overdue)!

My 123d had it's 1st at 18K, 2nd at 36K, third at 54K and 4th at 73K (I was trying to put it off).

But when you first start it up it will tell you if something is due anyway.

I could live with 3 services in 80K, but would expect the car to be needing one imminently - so I'd budget accordingly!

Good luck.

[Soberhans]

Thanks for all the replies... advice greatly appreciated!

The CBS says it requires everything doing next month (with exception of the brake pads which have 3k miles left) so I’ll definitely be including a full service in my budget!

Other than that though the car feels looked after. I’ll post on here how I get on! Cheers all

[JWH]

I have a 2009 330d Touring, owned for 5 years currently on 165k. I average 22k mainly motorway miles a year and, left to its own devices, it does comfortably in excess of 20k between oil change requests. In reality I do an oil change around every 12k because I'm a cynical creature who doesn't believe 20k oil changes are a good thing!

[Smuler]

Soberhans said:

Thanks for all the replies... advice greatly appreciated!

The CBS says it requires everything doing next month (with exception of the brake pads which have 3k miles left) so I’ll definitely be including a full service in my budget!

Other than that though the car feels looked after. I’ll post on here how I get on! Cheers all

Sytner Cardiff and Newport are my local dealers. You don't say how old car is, but I'll assume the first service was within 2 years and the dealers did all that was needed.

The photos are not complete, but it strikes me there's no record for a brake fluid change since 2014 and as noted if it was serviced just recently that's outside the time parameters of 2 years for an oil service.

Can't see ticks for sparks plugs or confirmation of the vehicle check. Maybe they were done but the 'admin' went awry after it was taken out of BMWs hands.

If everything needs doing now, besides pads , then I assume whoever supposedly did an oil service recently never reset the i.drive.

I wouldn't consider this as having fully documented service history.

With any used car, it's down the "individual car," I'd says risks are greater if it hasn't been serviced as required.

If you want to buy and everything needs doing, you really ought to negotiate an amount to cover that of price, plus make sure tyres are the same type and good tread and negotiate down for incomplete service book.

[Pica-Pica]

My 335d will be 2 years old in November. It has done 16k. At the moment it is showing first service due in 22k or Nov 2018.
Others seem to want to change oil more frequently, with modern oils I see no need.

[helix402]

Smuler said:

Sytner Cardiff and Newport are my local dealers. You don't say how old car is, but I'll assume the first service was within 2 years and the dealers did all that was needed.

The photos are not complete, but it strikes me there's no record for a brake fluid change since 2014 and as noted if it was serviced just recently that's outside the time parameters of 2 years for an oil service.

Can't see ticks for sparks plugs (it’s a diesel!) or confirmation of the vehicle check. Maybe they were done but the 'admin' went awry after it was taken out of BMWs hands.

If everything needs doing now, besides pads , then I assume whoever supposedly did an oil service recently never reset the i.drive.

I wouldn't consider this as having fully documented service history.

With any used car, it's down the "individual car," I'd says risks are greater if it hasn't been serviced as required.

If you want to buy and everything needs doing, you really ought to negotiate an amount to cover that of price, plus make sure tyres are the same type and good tread and negotiate down for incomplete service book.

[Soberhans]

Yeah the photos aren’t great. It’s what the seller sent when I asked for them yesterday. I too have just noticed the plugs have never been changed! This is one of the few things that aren’t showing up on the CBS screen at all. Does it only start showing when a component is close to service time?

The CBS shows oil, brake fluid, vehicle inspection and all filters need changing 05/18 (pads are 3100 miles). Does this suggest they have all gone beyond the recommended mileage but are just inside the recommended time?

Either way, I’ll certianly be putting major service costs into consideration when a calculating a sensible offer. Thanks for your info people.

Also, the car is 7 years old this year!

[Smuler]

Soberhans said:

Yeah the photos aren’t great. It’s what the seller sent when I asked for them yesterday. I too have just noticed the plugs have never been changed! This is one of the few things that aren’t showing up on the CBS screen at all. Does it only start showing when a component is close to service time?

The CBS shows oil, brake fluid, vehicle inspection and all filters need changing 05/18 (pads are 3100 miles). Does this suggest they have all gone beyond the recommended mileage but are just inside the recommended time?

Either way, I’ll certianly be putting major service costs into consideration when a calculating a sensible offer. Thanks for your info people.

Also, the car is 7 years old this year!

• No, where there is a date AND a set mileage it's whatever happens first.

• If the car has gone 'overdue,' there'll be warnings in the iDrive and I believe when you start it up a red symbol.

• If you look at Helix's post, I think he's saying spark plugs are not changed on diesels

• However, with regards to what shows on iDrive it doesn't change i.e. no other menu items are added. This feature happened on later generations of BMW.

I find this car confusing, because the last service book entry was 2.5 years ago (11.2015).

If the garage reset the iDrive the car should have called for an oil service within 2 years i.e. last November irrespective of whatever mileage target was set.

If it's been reset since November, then why would it be calling for it now unless it has done mega mileage which it has not.

Have you HPI'd this car, check out MOT history to make sure miles tally?

[Soberhans]

Yeah I’ve bought an HPI check and the MOT history seems to coincide with the mileage. Seller said he bought the car in 2016, my assumption is the garage did an oil change at that point which would put the 2 year mark at about now.

Re. The mileage/time recommendations - what dicatates whether it asks for one or both? Other 330’s I’ve test driven of a similar age recently have had oil and filters etc with mileage and a date, whereas everything on this is a date only? The fact there is no mileage recommendation is not a sign that it has already exceeded it?

[helix402]

I wouldn’t worry too much about whether the service history is perfect. If you like the car and you’re confident it’s in good condition I’d go for it. It’s always worth given an unknown used car a full service anyway.

At the least a diy oil and filter change, here’s the filter and a good oil:

[Smuler]

Soberhans said:

Yeah I’ve bought an HPI check and the MOT history seems to coincide with the mileage. Seller said he bought the car in 2016, my assumption is the garage did an oil change at that point which would put the 2 year mark at about now.

Re. The mileage/time recommendations - what dicatates whether it asks for one or both? Other 330’s I’ve test driven of a similar age recently have had oil and filters etc with mileage and a date, whereas everything on this is a date only? The fact there is no mileage recommendation is not a sign that it has already exceeded it?

I've never seen a E9X car without mileages, so maybe that's it : it has exceeded them.

BUT if the oil is saying service by 05/18 then the iDrive menu for oil must have been reset 05/16 (always the 2 years)

However, even if driven VERY hard, I really don't see how it would've required oil in anything less than 15k miles (lowest I've heard of), so how can it have exceeded a mileage target when it's only on, you say, 70k miles now and was on 55k back in November 2015??

• *It doesn't add up to me so how far is the seller from a BMW dealership? Could you and he take car in, even if the service dept. only read the key it'll gleam a lot of useful information?