Full oil service - completed

[X5Sport]

Spent the morning doing a full oil/filter service on mine.

Got 8L of Castrol FST from Costco and £22 per 4L pack, air and oil filters from Carparts4less and a new pair of external cabin air filters from Amazon of all places. I use MANN filters.

I use a vacuum system to suck the oil out these days (as many main dealers do) which makes it a less messy and more comfortable job than lying on cold tarmac and faffing about jacking the car up.

The only thing I couldn’t find was my 36mm socket to get the oil filter cover off. Managed to do it with a large adjustable and have now bought another socket! I also lost a 13mm socket down the back of the air trunk when changing the cabin filters. No chance of getting it back without major disassembly so it can stay lost. Bought a new one when picking the oil filter cap socket.

The fuel filter still needs replacing but I’ll get the Indy to do that when it’s next in. I didn’t want to be under the car messing about with diesel spillages and taking acres of plastic underbody covers off. Happy to pay someone else for that.

BMW main dealer quoted £400 for this service. I reckon it was under £100 for parts and oil, and about 90 minutes of my time.

Reset the service light with Carly and diagnostics all came up as green. Carly whinged that my Gen 2 adapter needs replacing to support some of latest functions. I have pinged Carly a message to ask whether it really is necessary and ‘how much’?

When I had the car MOT’d the dealer made no comment about it needing a ‘safety inspection’ (that meant a second visit and £75), and they told me the next service was in 10,000 miles. The service light came on two days later (120 miles!) and went red two days after that. Hence doing the job myself. Not happy that the info they provided wasn’t current despite reading the car key.

[sapphireblack]

Well done you especially in current temperatures, but what about your extended warranty requirements. Surely DIY servicing is against the law

[X5Sport]

They know I know what I’m doing and that I only use OEM equivalent parts. They know I was originally trained by Surrey Police - albeit 40 years ago and on petrol engines, but apart from modern electronics being everywhere, the underlying tech is the same. I think Mann supply BMW anyway. I have a contact at an Indy that gives me occasional access to the TIS so ‘I can get the correct instructions. It still gets checked by BMW - the ‘law’ has only so much flexibility - for jobs I’m not happy with or confident doing. They do the MOT.

Given they’ve just done a full inspection on it and that only identified an issue with the NSF lower ball joint - a job they probably will get - showing slight movement, I think I can say I’m showing willing. Servicing doesn’t have to be done by BMW but OEM parts should be used and the schedule stuck to. Oil and filters changed isn’t rocket science.

[marti]

X5sport, could I ask what make of vacuum system you use, been thinking about getting one as fed up getting under the car etc...does it extract well as in near whats in there??
Many thanks.

[X5Sport]

It’s a Mityvac 7201

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B ... UTF8&psc=1

The price has jumped a bit as mine was £92 when I bought it.

Can be used in vacuum or pressure mode. Tank is big enough to drain the M57/N57 engines with room to spare. Goes into the dipstick tube and just pushes down. Comes with one larger (10mm) main pipe and two different diameter thinner ones that connect together via a rubber adapter. You just use whichever fits better. I take the car for a run to warm it up (5 mins or so), then let it cool for 15 mins, remove the dipstick and oil filler cap. Stick the tube in and give the pump a dozen or so cranks and it takes about 10 mins to pull the oil out (time for a cuppa whilst waiting ). Can be used with most fluids but not petrol! The oil needs to be warm or it just won’t pump out.

There’s a load of reviews of it on line. Don’t buy the Chinese look-alike copies. They aren’t anywhere near as good. The OEM is US made. Overall it just makes the job easier. It can be emptied via a spout, or just reverse the pump switch and the oil goes back out of the same tube into a suitable container.

From the reviews I’ve seen as long as you’ve got the hose in properly there’s very little left in the sump. Some people worry about swarf, but do modern engines really generate that much? When I did drain via gravity I never saw anything on the magnetic sump plug anyway.

[Leslie]

If you see any swarf in the oil big problems are looming or is that a knocking The fuel filter probably needs the pump run to prime it now so you need software to do that certainly the F15 does but the e70/71 should be ok
Good morning work , I have a pela oil extractor and its as slow as watching paint dry plus it needs emptied halfway through as it doesn't hold enough but I'm probably not warming it up enough beforehand.

[X5Sport]

Fuel filter is primed according to the official manual by switching the ignition on ‘several times’ without starting the engine. I can only assume the need for software intervention on the F15 inwards is to stop peeps like us DIYing

[marti]

Thank you X5 sport, Im getting one of those for sure

[X5Sport]

The Pela is good for changing brake fluid. I have one and use it just as a pressure reservoir. Pump it to 15psi and it works well. I use an old Easi-Bleed as the fluid reservoir. Saves cleaning the Pela out again.

BMW use a vacuum system but I don’t have the kit to do that. The advice I got was to keep the pressure below 20psi, hence using 15.

[Leslie]

When I changed my fuel filter despite the ignition priming it still took a good few seconds to start, longer than I was expecting , I think the newer f15 cars the pumps are different and much more fragile than the e70 ones which virtually never give bother...much like the engines lol Progress

[marti]

My new oil extractor arrived, looks a good bit of kit, cheers X5 sport, bit to damn cold to change it at the moment but not due for another 3k