E46 M3 - service intervals

[torres del paine]

I'm swaying towards a very nice 54 plate, manual M3 with 39000 miles.

FBMWSH is as follows:

Running in service at approx 1400 miles, then an oil service at over 14,900 miles and then an inspection at just over 29,400 miles, so approximately 15,000 miles apart.

However, this seems to be at odds with what some owners are saying and that is going for oil changes at around 7,500 mile assuming 15,000 miles between services.

So, is it 15,000 miles between oil change and inspection 1/2 and so on, or 15,000 miles between Inspection 1/2 with oil changes roughly half way?

Frankly, I'm a bit confused.

[MGR]

they are generally 13-15K apart.

running in should be about 1000 miles ish, I think 1400 is the limit.

[Pork]

From memory, mine is something like -

1k miles - Running in
11k - Oil
23k Inspection 1 (I think)
34k - Oil

Milage depends on usage but I would say 7500 must be on a car thats used for only short journeys or not used much.

[MGR]

I thought it was generally done on an amount of fuel used so better MPG would give you longer service intervals.

[Pork]

MGR said:

they are generally 13-15K apart.

running in should be about 1000 miles ish, I think 1400 is the limit.

I dont know if there is any hard cut off...I've read several different things and have a recollection of someone who left it until 2000 and still had BMW honour the warranty. I would check with a dealer though if it is over 1200-1400 just to be safe.

MGR said:

I thought it was generally done on an amount of fuel used so better MPG would give you longer service intervals.

Agreed, I've heard that too but not sure how true it is. It is definately timebound (2 years I think) and the service indicator goes down in 50 mile incriments.

[M5Dave]

Service intervals are calculated on the amount of fuel the car uses in litres, although I can't remember what the magic no is.

The newer M cars like the E46 and E39 tend to go around 12-15k miles between services, and the older ones like the E36 and E34 go about 6-7.5k miles.

I think the official limit for the running in service is 1800 miles.

Edited by M5Dave on Tuesday 17th February 15:02

[MattOz]

The running in service is at 1200 miles. It can be done as late as 1700 miles.

My car has been serviced approximately every 13000 miles, with the first Inspection 2 being done at 48500 miles.

I understand that the distance between services is based on the amount of fuel used. Can't remember the exact figure, but it's something like 2400 litres.

Hope that helps

Matt