E46 330i M Sport - When to change oil?
Discussion
Please excuse the newbie questions, this is the first BMW I have ever owned and my first car for many years.
I have just picked myself up a E46 330i M Sport with 70k on the clock.
The service booklet shows that the last service was an Inspection II at 62k back in April 17. Does the Inspection II include an oil change?
The OBC is showing that the next service (Oil) is due in 8k. This seems a bit long to me.
What are the recommendations for a car of this type? Oil change every year regardless of mileage?
I have just picked myself up a E46 330i M Sport with 70k on the clock.
The service booklet shows that the last service was an Inspection II at 62k back in April 17. Does the Inspection II include an oil change?
The OBC is showing that the next service (Oil) is due in 8k. This seems a bit long to me.
What are the recommendations for a car of this type? Oil change every year regardless of mileage?
On the m54b30 it works out about 15-18k miles, and if you run to 2yrs it’s due no matter what.
I serviced my Z4 according to book and it was fine to 125k miles.
But I spent a fair bit on general maintenance.
Ie, coolant has no interval iirc, but worth doing.
Diff and gearbox oils no interval, but worth doing.
Etc.
I’d invest the money/time in keeping ancillary things nice rather than spending money on engine oil/filters more often than needed then ignoring other areas.
Unless you’re throwing money at it in which case an annual/12k service won’t do it any harm.
I serviced my Z4 according to book and it was fine to 125k miles.
But I spent a fair bit on general maintenance.
Ie, coolant has no interval iirc, but worth doing.
Diff and gearbox oils no interval, but worth doing.
Etc.
I’d invest the money/time in keeping ancillary things nice rather than spending money on engine oil/filters more often than needed then ignoring other areas.
Unless you’re throwing money at it in which case an annual/12k service won’t do it any harm.
Mr Whippy said:
On the m54b30 it works out about 15-18k miles, and if you run to 2yrs it’s due no matter what.
I serviced my Z4 according to book and it was fine to 125k miles.
But I spent a fair bit on general maintenance.
Ie, coolant has no interval iirc, but worth doing.
Diff and gearbox oils no interval, but worth doing.
Etc.
I’d invest the money/time in keeping ancillary things nice rather than spending money on engine oil/filters more often than needed then ignoring other areas.
Unless you’re throwing money at it in which case an annual/12k service won’t do it any harm.
Coolant does have a schedule on BMWs, at least for the pre-2010 stuff at least. They use IAT coolants and due to how they work (barrier protection as opposed to active protection from later OATs) the schedule is every 5 years. My M3 needs doing soon.I serviced my Z4 according to book and it was fine to 125k miles.
But I spent a fair bit on general maintenance.
Ie, coolant has no interval iirc, but worth doing.
Diff and gearbox oils no interval, but worth doing.
Etc.
I’d invest the money/time in keeping ancillary things nice rather than spending money on engine oil/filters more often than needed then ignoring other areas.
Unless you’re throwing money at it in which case an annual/12k service won’t do it any harm.
Back to the point, if it were me I'd throw an oil change in half way between each service or an annual oil change for a low mileage user. 15k IMHO is a bit too long and BMW breather system have historically not quite been the best.
Annually or 10k max on older cars. A brand new car might be able to hold up with 15k-20k intervals whilst under warranty, but as cars age they need more attention and maintenance to keep them running.
Service schedules are not aimed at keeping cars going forever, they are designed to get the car through the (extended) warranty period. Since service packs were introduced, they are designed to do that with the least amount of servicing too. Hence why gearboxes suddenly became sealed for life and intervals jumped from 10k to 15k+.
It's a small price to pay to give the engine the best shot at reaching big mileages. Good condition oil makes a big difference to the engine.
Service schedules are not aimed at keeping cars going forever, they are designed to get the car through the (extended) warranty period. Since service packs were introduced, they are designed to do that with the least amount of servicing too. Hence why gearboxes suddenly became sealed for life and intervals jumped from 10k to 15k+.
It's a small price to pay to give the engine the best shot at reaching big mileages. Good condition oil makes a big difference to the engine.
I’m sceptical on the idea that 15k=bad, 10k=the best you can do.
Who set 10k as intervals? And why? Same people and same reason they set 15k miles no doubt.
Then when an OEM says 6k (older Evos) people say they’re costly to service.
So it has always been.
And many faults that occur, fresh oil won’t solve.
Being pro-active and scheduling stuff not on the ‘service’ book is what an older car needs.
We’ve run a few cars to big mileages and engine failures or issues from oil have never been a thing.
It’s stuff like water pump failure, HG failure, radiator failure, ancillary failure, rust, suspension, etc.
After 20 years of driving, my two engine catastrophic failures were cam belt (plastic top sprockets coming loose from metal bolt adjuster) and cam chain failures.
Maybe the latter was oil based but afaik it was the crappy tensioner pistons slowly letting the guides go sloppy and lashing at high rpm (went at the limiter haha oops)
If you’re throwing money at a car then fine.
But if you’re budgeting then I’d say spend money all over the car.
Focussing on the engine oil at the cost of other things isn’t a good idea.
The M54B30 is a gem of an engine, and reliable, but it does need more than just oil/filters to keep it happy.
If there is no evidence of DISA, cam cover oil seal or oil housing seal in the last 10yrs then there is £200-£300 straight away of stuff that will cause issues or potential catastrophic failures right away.
Who set 10k as intervals? And why? Same people and same reason they set 15k miles no doubt.
Then when an OEM says 6k (older Evos) people say they’re costly to service.
So it has always been.
And many faults that occur, fresh oil won’t solve.
Being pro-active and scheduling stuff not on the ‘service’ book is what an older car needs.
We’ve run a few cars to big mileages and engine failures or issues from oil have never been a thing.
It’s stuff like water pump failure, HG failure, radiator failure, ancillary failure, rust, suspension, etc.
After 20 years of driving, my two engine catastrophic failures were cam belt (plastic top sprockets coming loose from metal bolt adjuster) and cam chain failures.
Maybe the latter was oil based but afaik it was the crappy tensioner pistons slowly letting the guides go sloppy and lashing at high rpm (went at the limiter haha oops)
If you’re throwing money at a car then fine.
But if you’re budgeting then I’d say spend money all over the car.
Focussing on the engine oil at the cost of other things isn’t a good idea.
The M54B30 is a gem of an engine, and reliable, but it does need more than just oil/filters to keep it happy.
If there is no evidence of DISA, cam cover oil seal or oil housing seal in the last 10yrs then there is £200-£300 straight away of stuff that will cause issues or potential catastrophic failures right away.
Mileage is a tricky one to judge for servicing.
Taxis for example that do 6,000 miles a month will give their old a much easier time per mile than a car that does 10,000 miles over a year. Why? The heat cycles are more constant/less severe than an infrequently used one.
You could still see a golden tinge on well maintained taxis when the oil change came up to 10k and the cam cover still being clean inside. I know other cars aren't quite as good when they have covered less!
I've never had to change a chain/tensioner (yet) on a chain driven engine and that includes engines that have done almost 400k. They were maintained on the dot however (oil changed at no more than 10k intervals or annually).
Taxis for example that do 6,000 miles a month will give their old a much easier time per mile than a car that does 10,000 miles over a year. Why? The heat cycles are more constant/less severe than an infrequently used one.
You could still see a golden tinge on well maintained taxis when the oil change came up to 10k and the cam cover still being clean inside. I know other cars aren't quite as good when they have covered less!
I've never had to change a chain/tensioner (yet) on a chain driven engine and that includes engines that have done almost 400k. They were maintained on the dot however (oil changed at no more than 10k intervals or annually).
But before ll04 came along intervals were annually and 10/12k ish.
So what did ll04 add if it doesn’t really add anything?
Was stretching servicing fractionally really that useful to overall car costs? Probably not even noticeable as fancy oils cost more.
All said, with a heavily used car (12k+ a year) I’ve had more issues with bushings, corrosion, and other things, not the engine giving up by 200k miles instead of 400k miles because I didn’t do the oil more often.
As said, spend the money if you will.
But over 200k miles and 20 years, if you’re one for keeping things nice, you’ll have spent £20,000+ on general maintenance easily.
Over 400k miles and 40yrs, £40,000.
The cost of an engine rebuild in there is gonna be irrelevant.
And that’s ignoring things like recon wheels every 10 years, bodywork refreshes.
And then fuel, insurance, consumables.
I sit here worrying more about the diffs and haldex, bushings, underside corrosion, on my car, not if the engine will reach 250k before needing work because I didn’t do oil more often than book.
Interestingly R32 Golf is annual/12k or Longlife style 16-18k miles with a more special oil.
So what did ll04 add if it doesn’t really add anything?
Was stretching servicing fractionally really that useful to overall car costs? Probably not even noticeable as fancy oils cost more.
All said, with a heavily used car (12k+ a year) I’ve had more issues with bushings, corrosion, and other things, not the engine giving up by 200k miles instead of 400k miles because I didn’t do the oil more often.
As said, spend the money if you will.
But over 200k miles and 20 years, if you’re one for keeping things nice, you’ll have spent £20,000+ on general maintenance easily.
Over 400k miles and 40yrs, £40,000.
The cost of an engine rebuild in there is gonna be irrelevant.
And that’s ignoring things like recon wheels every 10 years, bodywork refreshes.
And then fuel, insurance, consumables.
I sit here worrying more about the diffs and haldex, bushings, underside corrosion, on my car, not if the engine will reach 250k before needing work because I didn’t do oil more often than book.
Interestingly R32 Golf is annual/12k or Longlife style 16-18k miles with a more special oil.
Thanks guys, I appreciate all the responses.
I have the car booked in for a service next week where they will be changing the oil & various filters.
As some of you have advised I want to carry out some preventative maintenance as well to get ahead of things.
I have asked the garage to check over the various cooling system components as these are a known weak spot on the e46. They will also be inspecting the sub frame mounts (fingers crossed on this one!)
Is there anything else I should be looking out for? Is it worth checking/replacing fuel filter, transmission & diff oil?
I have the car booked in for a service next week where they will be changing the oil & various filters.
As some of you have advised I want to carry out some preventative maintenance as well to get ahead of things.
I have asked the garage to check over the various cooling system components as these are a known weak spot on the e46. They will also be inspecting the sub frame mounts (fingers crossed on this one!)
Is there anything else I should be looking out for? Is it worth checking/replacing fuel filter, transmission & diff oil?
JaFool1 said:
Please excuse the newbie questions, this is the first BMW I have ever owned and my first car for many years.
I have just picked myself up a E46 330i M Sport with 70k on the clock.
The service booklet shows that the last service was an Inspection II at 62k back in April 17. Does the Inspection II include an oil change?
The OBC is showing that the next service (Oil) is due in 8k. This seems a bit long to me.
What are the recommendations for a car of this type? Oil change every year regardless of mileage?
done 8k, and it's showing as do in 8k....I have just picked myself up a E46 330i M Sport with 70k on the clock.
The service booklet shows that the last service was an Inspection II at 62k back in April 17. Does the Inspection II include an oil change?
The OBC is showing that the next service (Oil) is due in 8k. This seems a bit long to me.
What are the recommendations for a car of this type? Oil change every year regardless of mileage?
That sounds about right to me. Modern oils can easily do that mileage and still do it's job very well
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