Purpose of the System

Condition Based Service (CBS)

Purpose of the System

The current Service Interval Indicator systems (SIA3 and SIA4) determine maintenance intervals based on fuel consumption, which is done to assess the need to change the engine oil. The main determining factor for the maintenance interval currently is the condition of the engine oil. Other maintenance needs, including the replacement of wear and tear items, are arranged to coincide with due engine oil changes.

On the E65, BMW is measuring the need for maintenance of several critical components besides the engine oil, and independently of the engine oil. This would theoretically afford us the ability to bring a vehicle in for service whenever one of the measured components requires maintenance or replacement. However, customers would be inconvenienced because the maintenance intervals would be dramatically reduced.

Condition Based Service (CBS - further development of SIA) will strike a compromise between too frequent maintenance and too rigid intervals which call for the replacement of maintenance items that may still have substantial useful life left. The objective is to furnish economical maintenance by providing the ideal service for individual vehicles.