Oily Stuff
It is a never ending debate.
Which oil to use, and how often to change it.
Have a look at the website mentioned in another post - it contains good information
I work for a large car manufacturer, and how we work it is like this:-
When someone is looking for a car, they want one that is going to be cheap to maintain. This results in the quest for longer and longer service intervals. In order to achieve this, we turn to better oils (but these are more expensive), larger oil filters, and bigger sump capacities (although this is not always feasable), as well as better engineering of the engines.
All our durability work is carried out at continuous operation, or very close to it. The cars do not see continuous stop/start operation, but do see a long run that enables the engine to get up to operating temperature - this is the only way we can put enough miles on the car in a short enough time!)
It is common knowledge that constant stop-start driving can wear an engine quicker than constant high speed driving - this is a major contributor of black sludge.
I'd rather buy a 40,000 mile 5 year old car than a 5,000 mile 5 year old.
What you will find if you read the small print, ALL manufacturers (Including BMW Bikes) reccomend that these service intervals are reduced if the vehicle is used in extreme conditions. Cold start/short journey is an extreme condition.
Considering the low cost of oil and a filter , there is absolutely no harm in changing the oil early. I halve all my oil changes, changing the oil & filter in my car every 5,000 miles (It's a Turbo, so I use synthetic). On my last car, the head gasket failed at 100,000 miles due to a machining flaw in the head (and probably due to the fact that I drove the wheelnuts off it. I had changed the oil at 5,000 miles on this car since my father bought it at 6,000 miles. The camshafts looked like new, there was no dirt in the engine, it was as clean as a whistle. Nuff said.
On My 2001 GS, I changed the oil at 9,000 miles (Last service was 6,000 miles). I refrained from using synthetic, as the engine has still not bedded in, and is using oil at the rate of about a litre every 2,500 miles. I will wait until the oil consumption falls off before I change to synthetic, but I will still change it at 3,000 mile intervals.
Also, if it says to change the oil at 10,000 miles or every 12 months, then do it! if you do less than 6,000 a year, then you need to change the oil every 6 MONTHS, not 10,000 miles!
Changing the oil at half the regular service interval has seen me good on all my cars, vans and bikes.
Always use a good quality oil, and a grade that is reccomended for that engine by the manufacturer. It is not wise to deviate from a reccomended oil grade - it can cause all manner of problems - an engine can suffer high oil pressure as well as low. Always change the filter.
One last point - NOT ALL ENGINES CAN USE SYNTHETIC!!
Check that your engine can take fully synthetic oil before using it.
Enjoy!
To be honest, I have no idea whether it's an advantage to change that more regularly or not.
