Oil change is only part of an "Inspection I" or "Inspection II" which is a through check of all safety aspects (brake linings, suspension points, tread wear, battery, brake fluid, coolant level, etc.) as well as replacement of various filters, etc. It is questionable whether changing your oil every 15K miles is enough - but you certainly shouldn't go longer than that without checking/servicing all this other stuff.
The items "inspected" or serviced in an I-I or an I-II are posted in other threads on this board, and are also called out in your owners/maintenance manual.
greg,
Thanks for the reset information. I too am doing most of the maintenance as required myself. How many miles do you currently have on your car?
I will not be getting together for drives much in the future seeing as I am pulling up stakes in CA and moving to Texas(Houston) the end of May. Always enjoyed the drives in the Wine Country with you and the M5 guys. I will have to organize a few drives in Texas through the "cow paddies" .
Mark
__________________
MY2001 Imola Red
Lux. Black Interior
Painted Calipers,
AC Schzitner Type III Two Piece 18 chrome wheels, Stage II HID's Low Beams and Foglights, Supersprint X-pipe (removed).
Autowerke CAI
Powerchip Software Upgrade
Stage I upgrade MB Quarts Speakers from Bavarian Soundwerks (our sponsor here)
Tubi Catback Exhaust
361RWHP
425HP and growing!
Kudos to Greg for once again providing useful information in a form that all can immediately use.
With respect to questions along the lines of how are we to know when service should be performed if the lights are reset mid-interval, we should remember that the BMW service light system is primarily intended to allow BMW dealers to meter out free service during the first 3 years, 36,000 miles at an economically slow rate. Somehow we all managed to service our cars (high performance and otherwise) before the service light system came into being. IMO, fluid changes should be performed at much more frequent mileage intervals than dictated by the service lights - including rear axle, transmission, coolant and brake fluid - particularly so if the car is tracked, or sees only 5000 or so miles in a year. There have been many threads on this latter topic and opinions vary, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I pretty much ignore the service lights, and reset only when all the greens are out. I may do this differently once the car is fully off warranty. I maintain a service log book that indicates when service was actually performed.
.......... we should remember that the BMW service light system is primarily intended to allow BMW dealers to meter out free service during the first 3 years, 36,000 miles at an economically slow rate.
Does anyone know for sure when the service indicator lights came into being in the fiver? I want to say with the E28 which if so is way before the free service with the new cars.
__________________
Jim
2006 Silver Gray Metallic over Black
The "Wolf in Sheeps Clothing" is back in the USA again
1971 2002 Colorado(Light Orange)
1976 2002 Inka(Red orange, a classic)
1982 528e Blue metallic
1984 533i Burgandy
1987 325i Alpine white
1988 535is Salmon silver
1993 525iT Calypso red
1999 528iT Titanium silver
2000 M5 Titanium silver
2006 M5 Silvergray
Does anyone know for sure when the service indicator lights came into being in the fiver? I want to say with the E28 which if so is way before the free service with the new cars.
I read somewhere on this board about pushing the righthand dashbuttom for 8 seconds, will put the display into some testmode? what is the codes actually telling you? Anyone knows? I think there were up to Test 20 I couldn't figure ot what it was though
Greg, thank you for a great thread. Worked like a champ after I performed my own Inspection I this weekend.
__________________ Brian - CCA #273611
Tarheel BMW CCA Street Survival Chief Instructor 03 540iT Sapphire Black - 01 M5 LeMans Blue - 02 330Cic Orient Blue - 94 M3 w/S50B32 Imola Red 08 F800ST Blue
open the hood, remove the cap on the modic connection, get a wire, connect number 7 with number 19, put the contact on, wait 10 seconds, remove the wire and you have full green indicator, wait 20 seconds and you reset the inspection message .