Quote:
Originally Posted by tracer bullet
….I send samples to Blackstone to analyze and it always comes back that, even at 1 year, there's tons of life left in it. Additives are still present, no fuel or water dilution, etc…..
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This, IMO, is the important part. Anything other than an actual OA is pure speculation, whether for increased or decreased OCIs. At the end of the day, the owner of the car has to decide what’s appropriate for their vehicle & their driving habits.
Our non-bmw, (‘21 Acura RDX, with its trusty K20C), gets an oil change every ~5.5k-6k miles, despite the MM claiming ~60% oil life remaining. Why? Because our OA consistently shows high amounts of fuel dilution (which jives, as we have a lot of short trips) as well as reduced TBN. I’d rather make the minuscule investment in ‘earlier’ OCI based on data, hopefully helping to ensure longevity, than blindly follow any manufacturer guidance or computer which at the end of the day has zero responsibility to me post-warranty period.
I’ll be doing the exact same thing when we take delivery of the Z4 - plan to follow manufacturer guidance, but conduct an OA at each oil change to gauge the sweet spot for that particular car and use pattern, which may or may not result in more frequent OCIs.