Re: Oil/flied changes.

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

"Eduardo E. Silva" <esilva@domain.elided> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I haven't driven my 98 M3 sedan much lately. Since Nov '01 I have
> put only 4k miles. I had an oil change in nov '01 with synth oil.
> I have some questions.
>
> 1- Do I need to change the oil every six months regardless of the
> miliage ?

Ed,
Not necessarily.
However, if your ambient temperatures change significantly from winter to
summer, it may make sense to change oil once in the fall and once in the
spring. That's what I used to do when I lived in VA (Mobil 1 10W30 for the
winter, 15W50 for the summer). Now down south in TX I'm on an exclusive
15W50 diet and change the oil by the lights (about 5K miles the way I
drive).

> 2- What is the recommended interval change for synth oil ?

I go by the SI lights on my M3.
Unless you know something BMW engineers didn't when they designed the
engine, it should suffice.

> 3- Do I have to change my brake fluid every two years ?

Yes.

> 4- what happens if I change the brake fluid it later ?

The longer it sits in the brake lines the more moisture it absorbs.
Moisture in the brake fluid tends to boil and turn into vapor during hard
brakes. Unlike brake fluid, vapor compresses and in the extreme case you
will loose your ability to apply the brakes when you need them most. This
is what people call 'running out of brakes'. 99% of the time that only
happens on the track, but there is always that one pesky 1 percent...

> I usually change my oil when that car says oil change. I also change it
> when there are only two green leds left.

Good man.

alex f

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