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      03-12-2019, 10:03 PM   #55
concordealex
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Drives: 2014 528i M Sport
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Birmingham AL

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I know that my engine will probably disintegrate tomorrow as soon as I post this, but I do want to say that my experience with the N20 has been overwhelmingly positive. Build date of 12/2013 and the car was started on a 5w30 valvoline synthetic and switched at around 75k miles to 5w40 synthetic coupled with mann filters. The car is now at 96k miles and does not use a drop of oil and feels like it did the day it was bought.

What is likely the source of people's problems are the 10k mile oil change intervals, as I have run 5k mile ones instead, as the 10k recommendation is just so BMW will have to do fewer free services during the warranty period. Also of critical importance is to avoid the use of the auto start/stop system, as this puts tremendous stress on the engine. Consider how once a motor stops running, all of the oil drains back into the pan, regardless of what BMW may tell you. Running through the startup procedure dozens of times in a drive is a recipe for disaster, as your motor is basically running without oil for a good bit of that time.

Meanwhile, after driving many 6-cylinder BMWs of olden days, I have determined the N20 to be one of the finest motors BMW has offered. The low revs and silent performance, as well as fuel economy (26.8 mpg in mixed driving) is a winning combo for me.
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