Oil Change Interval

[SD ///M4]

I have the day off today and I'm planning on changing my oil in my Z4 M Roadster. I know that the last time I changed it was about a year ago, just before I headed north to the Rolex Motorsports Reunion in Monterey, including the BMW CCA Legends of the Autobahn and Oktoberfeset 2013, so I went back and looked at the service logs I've kept since I bought the car just over two years ago on 7/19/12 in Pleasanton, CA with 31,810 miles on the odometer. I drove ~525 miles on the trip back home.

On 10/3/12 at 33,848 miles I changed the oil and filter, cabin and engine air filters, and did a brake fluid flush. On 10/24/12 at 34,064 miles I did the valve adjustment, which completed the Service I items, which were not done by the original owner.

My next oil change was almost a year later, on 8/4/13 at 39,815 miles just before my Monterey trip which was about 1,200 miles round trip.

Now the mileage is at 43,405 and it's been exactly a year since the oil was changed. So my oil change intervals have been 10 months and 5,337 miles between the first oil change and the second oil change and 12 months and 4,220 miles between the second oil change and today's oil change.

It's pretty obvious that I don't get to drive the car very much, even with two relatively long trips in the last two years. When I do drive it though, it's the occasional autocross, and canyon and mountain runs. My trip to Monterey last year included hundreds of miles of windy twisty canyon and mountain roads, staying off the freeways as much as possible, in both directions.

So, given the low mileage, am I correct in changing the oil at least once a year? (BTW, I send a sample to Blackstone and the both reports were fine.) In a couple of months it will be two years since my last brake fluid flush, with the low mileage should I still do the brake fluid flush every two years? I'm comfortable with these intervals, but I wanted to hear other's opinions.

[David70]

I change mine every 12-13 months (plan is 12 months but sometimes I don't get to it). I have no data to support it, and from internet speculation only. Based on the number of miles I drive it I have never seen a recommendation to do it more often.

[Finnegan]

Schedule seems reasonable to me. No hard data either, but I don't like the idea of oil sitting longer on a car driven somewhat infrequently.

[chickdr]

I do mine yearly as well(~2k miles a year)

[Clearancediver]

Do mine every 5K Km's which is about 3000 miles....

[itdnwiwbp]

Doing mine next week after ~1 year and less than 3,000 miles, Tom. From what I've read annual oil changes regardless of mileage are the way to treat a car you love.

[MZHammer]

Originally Posted by chickdr

I do mine yearly as well(~2k miles a year)

Same for me.

[Incompatible]

Yearly for me which is less than 5K miles a year.