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.

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

what's the difference between synthetic and regular?

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

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.

this page has good information on natural oil and synthetic

http://www.bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=view&ID=00015&Section=

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

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

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. . .

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

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.

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

36mm