Bump on this? Going to take my car in for an oil change soon and want to do whatever else is necassary.

 

The iDrive will tell you what the car needs for regular maintenance. And when you take it into your dealership, they are more than happy to find other things they can charge BMWNA or you for.

I generally don't go for "recommended" but optional service procedures. I think these are just extra money makers for the dealerships. If it was needed, BMW would be covering it already while in the warranty/service period.

Some things are mileage or time based. However other things, like oil changes, are not strictly based on either time or mileage. I was told that oil changes are based on the amount of fuel consumed. So the harder you drive, the sooner it thinks you need an oil change. The 2000 km/1200 mile initial service/oil change being an exception. That first service is strictly mileage based.

 

Thanks Mark i just dont want to void my NAC warranty with anything. I presume they cant just expect you to know what to do, thats what idrive is for. I guess i'll just take mine to bmw for an oil change even though an afermarket shop will be cheaper but at least i have my service records and they should be able to pull them up and let me know whats "recommened" v.s. "mandatory" im thinking stuff like smg flush,tranny flush, radiator flush,etc... are all just "recommeneded" b/c at only 40k miles I dont see how any of that needs to be done. Idrive says im due for plugs and microfiler at 100,000 miles and breaks in 4000miles and thats about it. Oil was done last only about 6000miles or so but its been almost a year so im gonna do it again.

 

So ive been speaking to the main guy at bmw in my area about servicing my car. It seems like most of us still have low miles and have done nothing but oil changes, microfilter change and maybe air filters. Im more curious on the little things like coolant, smg change, tranny oil change, etc.... from the sound of it the guy at bmw seems to think none of that is needed for a long time. But here is our conversation so far. Ill know more when i go in i guess.

here is his reply when i sent him my concerns and emailed him the service record info i posted a few posts above in this thread:

Hey John,


Sounds like your NAC warranty is a power train warranty and as long as you service your vehicle correctly, nothing will be voided. Are you currently due for any services? The necessary services will come up on the screen as you can probably see. To simplify things, not all service items are shown such as air filter/micro and spark plugs (I believe). This data is all stored in the key and upon bringing it into a dealership, we read your key and see what you are due for and what is "recommended" while you're here. The coolant flush and power steering flush are not service we perform regularly and at the low miles your car has, I wouldn't worry about performing them for a while.

my response:

Ok wow i had no clue the actual key had that info. Idrive says plugs are due at 100k miles and microfilter due at 100k miles as well. Only thing due coming up is front pads which i can get oem pads off ebay for like $300. I just heard there are a few things bmw recommeneds like an smg flush and tranny flush and a few other things that are supposed to be done every 3rd oil change. If you think its benefital to make an appt to read my key i'll do it. I can bring my service records as well if you dont have them all in your system. Im also curious on a few things like say the coolant needs to be done every 100k miles or so. The car is almost 6years old and even thought it only has 41k miles the coolant has still sat for a long time. Same with the oil changes. If its recommened every 15k miles, if you only put like 8k miles a year on your car it cant be good to change it every 2 years right? I figured there is a time factor as well as miles.