First BMW Service Due - Premature Alerts(?)

Or just reset it, oh wait you’re not turning it in yet.

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Similar thing happened for my wife Honda. We run it almost exclusively on electricity so we were a bit surprised to see the oil change warning. It turns out that they want you to change it at the year mark even if you don’t hit the gas miles limit. It’s also mentioned in the manual.
I looked online to see what exactly is the deal with oil changes based on time interval but surprisingly there is very little info. I found this but it’s from an oil producer…so i’m skeptical.

With a plugin hybrid it’s probably more important to bring the engine up to operating temp every once and awhile and burn off any moisture in the oil. If you’re not running the engine very often you might want to consider finding fuel with no ethanol and/or throwing some stabilizer in the tank. I’d be good with just giving it the visual check, if you’re not using the engine very much, oil changes once a year are overkill.

I might be completely misreading your message but in case you’re talking about moisture ending up in gas tank, I think PHEV gas tanks should be vacuum sealed. Atleast the one on my 330e is.

Edit : pressurized and sealed. Not vacuum sealed.

Talking about the oil

That actually might not be a good idea anymore…BMW can tell when they scan your car fob, and they’ll charge you…

The inspector ain’t scanning it though :grimacing:

Our dealer does a key read and checks the car’s internal service records.

On lease returns?

Pretty sure it’s illegal to require dealer service be performed, and it’s not in the contract.

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Same happened on the 4, 5 and both the X2’s.

X3 too fresh though. June build. :stuck_out_tongue:

The dealer can’t but the bank can since they own the car. I would have to find it but there is language in the lease contract that the vehicle must be properly maintained.

Yes…but that’s not something only a dealer can do. Do find it and let us know.

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nothing says that it has to be the dealer…

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That is exactly what I was looking for. I also want to mention that did I not claim you have to get it serviced at a dealer, just that my dealer does a key read to see if it was serviced and if not BMW charges a $750 fee.

So BMW can tell by a key read if someone decides to change their own oil at home because going to the dealership for that person is inconvenient?

The key read will show no service has been performed at the dealer, so you will have to provide proof that service was performed at the correct intervals. We had a customer who performed their service at Jiffy Lube and it showed on the CarFax report so there was not a charge. It is free and you only have to do it once a year or 10,000 miles, so unless you live hundreds of miles from a dealer there is no excuse. Some dealers might not charge if they plan on keeping the car and selling it as non-CPO, but expect to be charged if you skip services so it can either be sold as certified (engine has to be taken apart and inspected) or sent back to BMW.

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Find it mildly interesting that they will go through that extent just to certify the car.

It makes sense to me. I would not want to buy a car, let alone a German one, without service records. The worse one I saw was a 40,000 mile M4 without an oil change. They did not even perform the 1000 mile service so its full capability was never unlocked.

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Well, I meant on the whole taking apart the engine bit.

Seems excessive and certifying it/getting the premium from certifying it might just break even on that, probably just better to send it to auction at that point. Crazy that no one would change the oil on an M4 or at least not document it.

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