Service Intervals

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Thu 21 Jun 2001 12:03
Service Intervals - Mark
(I know BMW drivers get a bit of stick on these pages but...)
I bought a '92 518, 65k in January, had just been serviced with five
green lights on the service indicator. Now 5 months and 6k later I've
got two lights left and no sign of an oil change indicator light on.
Recognising the importance of frequent oil changes can anyone tell me
whether I can rely on the indicator to tell me, or should I stick to my
own intervals of 6months/6k? Also, if I do do it myself is it worth investing
in the tool to re-set the indicator as suggested in the Haynes manual.

Many thanks, courteous BM driver (usually the wife).
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Thu 21 Jun 2001 15:39
Re: Service Intervals - Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up Ltd.)
Follow your instincts and continue with your 6month/6k service intervals. There is a way to reset the service lights without the special tool but I can't remember how! (Adam / Steve can you remember?)The tool is available from Euro Car Parts and is now ridiculously cheap.
Good luck
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Thu 21 Jun 2001 17:51
Re: Service Intervals - Adam Going (Tune-Up Ltd)
Nope, can't remember, and when I bought the reset tool I binned the notes on the trick ! It involved bridging two of the diagnostioc connetion socket terminals through a certain resistance, but can't for the life of me remember.
Regards, Adam
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Thu 21 Jun 2001 16:56
Re: Service Intervals - John Slaughter
Mark

The orange 'service due' indicator won't come on 'till the last green goes out. Don't forget that the BM uses an 'oil service', 'Inspection 1', 'oil service', Inspection 2' regime, so changing the oil early and resetting the computer brings the (expensive) inspections closer.

There's no reason you can't just change the oil yourself half way through the period - you can work out how many miles you get for each green light - but you don't have to reset the computer when you do it.

My old '90 318 would do about 1500 miles for each green, but my '99 323 seems to cover about 2000 for each green. I'll just change the oil a 1000 or so after the second light goes out.

regards

John
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