» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | | 1999 M3 Swap 09-07-2023 10:10 PM 06-01-2024 03:04 PM 7 Replies, 409,803 Views | | My 318ti build 05-21-2024 04:48 PM 05-28-2024 06:42 PM 1 Replies, 3,548 Views | | OMG!OMG! 05-28-2024 08:53 AM 05-28-2024 08:53 AM 0 Replies, 1,405 Views | | | | | 06-23-2007, 03:27 PM | #1 | Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ohio Posts: 40 | Oil change intervals There is an oil change meter that shows up when I start my '95 318ti. It's been about 3,000 miles since my last oil change and the meter shows red. But the last change was with fully synthetic oil. On a Mustang (cars which I know like the back of my hand), I will go about 6,000 miles between changes if using synthetic oil. Is there any reason I should listen to that light? There is no way sythetic oil is no good after only 3,000 miles. | | | 06-23-2007, 04:51 PM | #2 | NOBODY F's with the Jesus Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ventura California Posts: 7,824 | The green lights are for the oil service and the red and yellow lights are for inspections. The green lights will slowly dissappear depending on how hard you drive the car. Unfortunately, the car doesn't know what kind of oil you're using, so it isn't accurate. You could just drive it like that with the light on, or you could reset it. Since the red light is on, I'd comply with whichever inspection applies to your mileage. The dealer will reset it for you or you could just do the paperclip trick. With the key in position 2, look under the hood and find the 20 pin diagnostic port. Unscrew the cap, and insert a paperclip into pin#7 and pin#19. Hold it there for about 15 seconds and it should reset the lights. Older e36's use a 15 pin diagnostic connector, in this case you would run a wire from pin#7 to a ground on part of the chassis. The strut tower bolts work fine and are somewhat close, just make sure they're sanded down to make a good contact. Hope that helps, If not click here __________________ 4 MORE YEARS BABY!!! | | | 06-24-2007, 12:57 AM | #3 | Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ohio Posts: 40 | Hey thanks | | | 06-24-2007, 02:52 AM | #4 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: back in PA Posts: 204 | I usually change my synthetic oil at 7,000 miles. (BMW / Mustang / Xterra) I guess the original models were still set up to run dinosaur oil with the 3K oil change. (Before BMW changed to free maintenance and a 15K oil change interval) | | | 06-25-2007, 09:23 PM | #5 | Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: state college, pa Posts: 3,431 | Quote: Originally Posted by cooljess76 The green lights are for the oil service and the red and yellow lights are for inspections. | The lights count down regardless of what type of service needs done (oil or inspection I or II). Yellow means do it asap (and tells you the type of service required), red means do it yesterday. I think Steven started me on this, but I run full synthetic, doing a full oil change every 9k miles. Halfway through (4500 miles) I change the filter and top off the oil. __________________ I scream, you scream, we all scream for ZOMBIES. | | | 06-26-2007, 12:10 AM | #6 | Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Central NJ Posts: 2,440 | I've gone 4k miles and only one green light has gone out. I run Mobil 1. I think there's a sensor that checks the oil's cleanliness and that is what judges the need to change oil. | | | | Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Posting Rules | You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | |