[SteveInfante]

So I'm at just under 49K miles in my 14' 228i 6MT. I end up driving about 2K miles per month give or take. I primarily use my car for my daily to and from work. So far it's been flawless and fun with overly decent gas mileage to boot.

I picked up some Castrol EDGE 0W-40 Euro blend from Wally World, 3 5 qt jugs for $66. I ordered the oil filter cap wrench, BMW filter kit, and a magnetic drain plug.

The first time I attempted to do the oil change I got the car up and everything set up and slid underneath only to find that the oil drain plug is a 10mm hex drive instead of the 17mm bolt style. Well, I just so didn't have one so I put everything away and went on about my week. (If anyone want to take the plug off my hands for a small fee let me know, I can't use it).

I got the change to do it again and bought the hex I needed and got set up again. I have read a ton on getting your oil tested by Blackstone Labs in the E9x series M community and decided to get it done for my 228. Couldn't hurt. I'm in charge of sampling all the equipment that we use at work with oil samples so I'm very aware of what kind of insurance it can provide you.

The BMW 5W-30 oil that came out was pretty bad. By bad I mean overly dark and a little burnt smelling I see oil every day at work so I have a good nose for trouble. But I don't know, I'm not an expert, just a guy who works on mining equipment where the results of your sample could save you 100K on a rear end explosion. I decided to go 0W-40 because it gets super hot here in SC and it's a turbo car. I plan to stick with this for some time and keep testing it with every oil change to see how it does. I will post the results when I get them back in a couple of weeks.

I got the car buttoned up and back down and filled it with about 6.5L of new oil. I let it drain until it stopped and had it up on all 4 corners so it was level. Took a ride around the block to warm the oil up and pulled back in the garage. Ran the oil level test and it was right at perfect. Cool.

Anyone else use Blackstone Labs regularly? Have a great day.

Prost!!!!