Not trying to start trouble here okay guys. I'm on my second BMW and never really thought about it until I was just asked.

What is so special about the BMW engines that the have to use special oil. FWIW, I never change my own. Dealer charged me $409 for my e38 when I had it done. The new car is still under warranty so I don't care at this point. Just curious.

In a way there's nothing terribly special about BMW oil. Any other oil that meets the same specifications can be substituted, like Mobil 1 0w40 or the german Castrol Syntec. As it turns out there's not much difference in price between BMW Synth and the acceptable subsitutes in my experience.

u pd $409.00 for an oil change?

u pd $409.00 for an oil change?

That's just what I was questioning. X2:eyecrazy

It was $409 for oil, filter, air filter and cabin filters........Thats what they charge. That too much?

OMG, that's waaaaay too much! I just looked up the parts for an '01 740i on Pelicanparts.com: (they can be a few bucks more or less depending on which brand you go with)

Oil filter - $15
Air filter - $12
Cabin filter - $31

You can pick up the correct grade Mobil 1 0-40 oil for $6/Qt at Autozone. You could buy a nice jack, jack stands, and all the tools you need and still not pay close to $400. If you really don't want to do it yourself, find a decent independant shop, your dealership is robbing you.

edit: Just noticed that you mentioned it was under warranty. I guess it's BMWNA that they're robbing, not you...

No, that price was what I paid for having the e38 serviced. Now that I have the new one I like the no pay thing!!!! They just did an oil change (plus all filters) front and rear brakes and all that good stuff. Great warranty!

I gave up changing my own oil years ago. I know it is much cheaper to DIY but I just hate doing it. It is also very hard to get rid of the old stuff around here. Maybe I should sell all my tooks, jack, ramps and jack stands! Might pay for one oil change right?!?

So when i get a BMW your saying if you don't do it yourself it will cost you like $400 for a freaking oil change!??!! Wow i will rather change it myself...how would you do all that?

nothing all that special about BMW oil, except maybe the oil they use for the S54 M3 motor (TWS 10w-60). otherwise, to find an off the shelf substitute isn't all that difficult. The easiest way is to find one that has a BMW-LongLife-01 or BMW-LongLife-04 approval/certification. You'll find it on the back of the bottle. Some examples are:

Mobil1 0w-40
Valvoline Synpower 5w-40
Castrol Syntec 0w-30 (has to be the made in Germany variety)

I can find the Mobil1 at certain Walmarts. The rest can be found at your typical auto supply stores (Autozone, Pepboys, Kragen, etc.).

The $400 you paid for service is ridiculous. If you're really opposed to DIY, at least find a good indepenent BMW mechanic; the prices should be more reasonable. And if you really just have money to burn, you can send me whatever you save by using an independent BMW shop. Just PM me and I'll give you my paypal address. :D

Hey thanks bimmer75 for the information, this will help me out a lot! Personaly I think i will rather just learn how to maintain my BMW myself because these days its hard to trust people.

Suhaib

Well now I am confused again. I posted a similar question on the e34 forum and was told that you can use the same oil you would use in any other car. I bought Castrol partial synthetic 10/30 and planned on using it in my 95 525i. Is this a good idea? Thanks: Marty

Well now I am confused again. I posted a similar question on the e34 forum and was told that you can use the same oil you would use in any other car. I bought Castrol partial synthetic 10/30 and planned on using it in my 95 525i. Is this a good idea? Thanks: Marty
On older BMW engines, that's probably fine. I would use the 5w-30 or 0w-30 variety though; they have better cold start protection.

I think it was around 1995 or so that BMW started using synthetics in their engines, but I'm not certain. More important than what type of oil you use is how often you change the oil and filter. As long as you're keeping up with maintenance (say oil+filter every 5K-8K miles) you should be fine.

The main reason to select a BMW Long Life approved oil is twofold:

1) it makes it easier for consumers to pick a good motor oil for their BMW engine
2) if you're still under warranty, the BMW-LL oils meet warranty requirements. (this is not a concern for you being a 1995 model)

The manual for my M3 even says that "specific-purpose oils are better" and didn't say anything about using BMW oil haha.

I was using M1 15-50 which was DECENT for the summer, but actually got too thin! Defeating the point..

The Lubro Moly Vollsynthese 5-40 is INCREDIBLE, zero valve tick, zero vanos noise - awesome cold weather startup. It's just awesome stuff all around. It's one of the only oils with BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, VW, etc certifications for the SAME oil - doesn't usually work like that and it's very hard to achieve. It's a genuine German imported oil unlike the cheapo variants and syn mixes we usually get with Mobil 1 and stuff around here in the states.

I found an advance autoparts around here that actually carries it - I think it was like $70 with filter and 8 quarts (always keep extra in the car.)