BMW Basically Claims Its Vehicles Are Disposable

Bozi Tatarevic
by Bozi Tatarevic

Manufacturers want you to believe that their vehicles are durable, but at the same time they want to make money. So, they make continuous improvements and updates in order to keep buyers coming back. Setting a hard limit for how long a vehicle should last would be detrimental to any brand, but soft limits — like the five-digit odometers of the 60s and 70s — made owners aware that they should dump their car before the 100,000 mile mark rolls around.

We’re well into six digit territory now, as the commonly accepted lifetime for vehicles has doubled to 200,000 miles. However, according to its service software BMW thinks its cars shouldn’t be on the road that long.

Starting around 2002, BMW implemented a system called Condition Based Service (CBS), which is a set of algorithms that calculates how often service such as oil changes should be performed. The system uses sensors and mileage to make the calculations, allowing them to increase the time between service intervals without any detrimental effects on the vehicle.

This worked out well for BMW and allowed the automaker to start offering free maintenance as a perk to dangle in front of potential buyers. This was initially offered for 4 years or 50,000 miles, but was recently reduced to 3 years or 36,000 miles. The timing of the free maintenance offer makes sense, as more than half of new BMWs are now leased. It also works in their favor since the CBS pushed oil change intervals to as long as a 15,000 miles.

The question of how long a BMW is supposed to last past this initial period has been answered partly by the software used to reset the service interval counter for the CBS system.

Owners and technicians have discovered that once a post-2002 BMW hits 300,000 kilometers (186,411 miles), the counter no longer functions and owners will no longer be notified of their next service. While it’s smart to keep up with your own service and make sure to do it at regular intervals, BMW specifically designed this system to notify drivers and put them at ease, safe in the knowledge that their car will tell them when it needs service.

Another tell that these models are not meant to be touched by the customer is that most of them no longer have a traditional dipstick, instead employing an oil level sensor that displays the level in the instrument cluster after a few button presses.

One E90 (2004-2012 3 Series) owner decided to make a case with BMW USA to see if they could patch the issue, but was unsuccessful. According to his reply on e90post.com, he states:

The software in the ECU is programmed to stop taking the oil quality data provided by the oil sensor. After 186,000 miles (300,000 KM) the CBS will start resetting the OCI at a lower level than the previous OCI (mine cut down to about 9,200 from a normal 17,000 miles). The next oil change the CBS will only reset the OCI to 0 (zero). Once that happens the CBS starts counting down from zero in negative increments. As of August 2013, when I discovered the issue, BMW reinstalled the latest software at that time with the “patch” that is supposed to take to oil change past due warning out of the engine start and engine shutoff routines so the CBS doesn’t constantly inform you that the engine is past due on an oil change.

My car now only notifies at engine start that the oil change is past due. The notification at engine shut down did go away. The CBS counts down in negative numbers. BMW recommends that once the car reaches this condition, to inform the customer to change the oil at regular intervals. I change mine now at every 10,000 miles (down from about 17,500 miles on average). Once the CBS gets to -10,000 I change the oil.

In August 2013 BMW NA opened a PUMA case on my car regarding the software not completely removing the oil change notice. I tried for about 16 months to see if BMW Germany was going to address the PUMA, but they never did. At the time in Aug 2013 BMW NA told my dealership that I had the highest mileage E90 in the USA and it was the first instance of the issue they had seen. Why BMW designed the software this way still remains a mystery to me. BMW has really moved on from me as a customer. I’ve found the Cadillac ATS as what I would consider a replacement for my 3-Series as it actually drives like a BMW and most of the 2014 and beyond BMWs drive like old model Cadillacs.

After 221,000 miles once the OCI only reset to zero, my oil consumption seemed to drastically change. Basically the engine at 221K used 1 quart of oil about every 10,000 miles. Now it’s down to about 6,000 miles. But the pan gasket had started to leak around that time too, but not terrible. In January 2016 I replaced the oil pan gasket. I’ve not kept super accurate records of oil consumption since the pan gasket change, but will once I change the oil at 300,000 (probably in 2 weeks). Attached is the BMW information I was given by my BMW Dealer who tried to solve the issue.”

Once the magic number is reached and the technician attempts to reset the interval, they will get a message saying a reset is no longer possible and that their only option is to partially remove the oil service warning. If the removal isn’t completed, the driver will continuously be alerted that an oil change is due during engine start and stop. If the removal is completed, the alert will only come on once the engine is started.

The instructional document tells the tech how to remove the warning and contains a small note to inform the customer that the vehicle must be serviced at fixed intervals in the future. Most mid-2000s models that employ CBS are affected by the limitation. We reached out to BMW to confirm why this specific limit was implemented and if their newer models have a longer service notification life but haven’t received a reply. For now, the only answer for affected high-mileage BMW owners is the partial removal of the service notification and setting your own service intervals.

[Image: CBS Message via r/justrolledintotheshop; Reset document via e90post.com]

Bozi Tatarevic
Bozi Tatarevic

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  • Efthreeoh Efthreeoh on Sep 19, 2021

    A fellow member at E90 Post just let me know this morning that this article existed here on Truth About Cars. As the person from E90 Post that this article quotes, I just thought I'd give an update. Yes, I understand this article is nearly 5 years old, but I want it to be clear, I did not write the quoted words to indicate I think BMW "basically claims its cars are disposable". In 2013 when I was the first E90 owner to discover the CBS OCI issue, I was heavily disappointed in BMW. Being the a 25+ year owner of several BMW 3-series cars (I still have 4 BMWs in my fleet) I was disappointed to find the CBS oil life monitor was "programmed" to stop functioning at 186,000 miles. I was more so frustrated at the time because in August of 2013 BMW did not have a "fix" for the issue. Further, in the referenced E90 Post thread you'll find that I dealt with the problem by changing oil once the oil notification reached -10,000 miles. I posted about the OCI issue on E90 Post in October 2013 after I gave BMW some time to resolve the "PUMA case" they opened against the discovery that the OCI fix didn't work. After several months of inquiry with BMW in 2013, I received no satisfaction that BMW was going to solve the issue of the car constantly reminding the driver the next oil change was "overdue". If one is a BMW enthusiast as I am, he knows that from the 1970's onward, BMWs were held in service by 2nd, 3rd, even 4th and 5th tier owners that keep their cars in top running condition at very high mileages, so the idea that in the E90 BMW purposefully programs the oil life monitor to stop functioning at 186,000 miles seemed counter intuitive at the time; it still does. But the "update" THE UPDATE: My E90 now has accumulated 410,000 miles. Now at 7 years past the initial August 2013 "discovery" about the CBS oil life monitor, I still drive my E90 two to three times a week on a daily commute that is in total 175 miles a day. Even through the COVID-19 shutdown I had to still commute to my office. The most recent service on it was a May 2021 DIY install of a fresh suspension (springs, struts, shocks, and rear outer hub bushings), $1,900 in new parts. In June 2021 I installed a fresh set of tires, Michelin Pilot Sport AS4 (i.e. not the cheapest tires I could have bought). Just to indicate how much I believe in the E90 chassis longevity, in April of 2018 at 350,000 miles, I collected my fourth deer kill with the car, which financially "totaled" it with my insurance company. I bought the E90 back from insurance and with the delta between the totaled cost and buy back, I paid about $900 out of pocket to repair the body damage at a professional body shop. While back in 2013, I frustratingly stated I would never buy a new BMW again because of the CBS oil life monitor issue (and the F30 sucked), I have since that statement, bought a used 2008 Z4 in December 2014, and a used 2005 E46 convertible in September 2019. All four of my BMWs have well over 100,000 miles. The E30 I first mentioned, bought new in November 2008 was kept for 18 years and 256,000 miles between my wife and I. I just did the E90 engine's 33rd oil change at 410,000 miles two weeks ago. It gets well-driven as BMW intended; I have fantastic back-country roads to drive it on. I still hammer the crap out of it. The engine and transmission are original. The lifetime OCI is 12,424 miles. I change the oil every 10,000 miles. So to be clear, I don't think BMW makes its cars to be "disposable"; for the record.

  • Efthreeoh Efthreeoh on Sep 19, 2021

    The Update continued... Now at 7 years past the initial August 2013 "discovery" about the CBS oil life monitor, I still drive my E90 two to three times a week on a daily commute that is in total 175 miles a day. Even through the COVID-19 shutdown I had to still commute to my office. The most recent service on it was a May 2021 DIY install of a fresh suspension (springs, struts, shocks, and rear outer hub bushings), $1,900 in new parts. In June 2021 I installed a fresh set of tires, Michelin Pilot Sport AS4 (i.e. not the cheapest tires I could have bought). Just to indicate how much I believe in the E90 chassis longevity, in April of 2018 at 350,000 miles, I collected my fourth deer kill with the car, which financially "totaled" it with my insurance company. I bought the E90 back from insurance and with the delta between the totaled cost and buy back, I paid about $900 out of pocket to repair the body damage at a professional body shop. While back in 2013, I frustratingly stated I would never buy a new BMW again because of the CBS oil life monitor issue (and the F30 sucked), I have since that statement, bought a used 2008 Z4 in December 2014, and a used 2005 E46 convertible in September 2019. All four of my BMWs have well over 100,000 miles. The E30 I first mentioned, bought new in November 2008 was kept for 18 years and 256,000 miles between my wife and I. I just did the E90 engine's 33rd oil change at 410,000 miles two weeks ago. It gets well-driven as BMW intended; I have fantastic back-country roads to drive it on. I still hammer the crap out of it. The engine and transmission are original. The lifetime OCI is 12,424 miles. I change the oil every 10,000 miles.

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