DIY: Let's Change the Engine Oil

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by blueman2

Is it possible to change the oil without jacking up the car? I am guessing the clearance below is going to be tight and I would need a VERY shallow pan.

Has anyone done this? How hard was it?

It would not be possible to reach and remove the drain plugs. Unless you are parked over a pit like at the oil change places.

[elp_jc]

Originally Posted by blueman2

Is it possible to change the oil without jacking up the car?

As Greg said, no way. I have the shallowest oil pan I've seen, and doesn't even slide thru. And remember you need space between pan and engine to remove drain plugs. A pair of 2x6s in front would have been enough, but rear drain plug is in FRONT of the sump, so you want car either flat or raised at the rear, not the front. Therefore I put rear on ramps and front on jack stands to level the car, which made the job a lot easier. Then dropped the front a notch and left it draining overnight. Good luck.

[GregW / Oregon]

Okay, mid-point oil change today. I've done this before, no big deal. Well, main drain plug comes out and proceeds to flip upside down into my drain pan's inlet. So, hot oil pouring out; I try to get it out with a screwdriver.
Didn't think until later that I could have used a magnet. Anyhow, about 2 liters of dirty oil flowed over the pan onto my garage floor, but it cleaned up pretty well in the end.

Always something new to learn - HOLD ONTO THE DAMN PLUG!

[mdosu]

sorry a bit of confusion here, so 2 questions:

1. There only only 2 drain plugs total correct? The manual instructions in first post lead it to believe there's 3.

2. in this pic of one of the plugs:

The plug we need is simply the one front and center in the pic right? It looks like we got some oil on the metal parts around the plug?
B/c slightly to the top and left of this above pic, there's another what appears to be a "plug-like cap housed in the side of the black round thing with holes" (it's out of focus in the pic). This is not the plug we need, correct?

The confusion is the above pic's plug appears to be the "plug-like cap house in the round thing with holes" that appears in the location of the back arrow in pic in this post below:



please confirm:
1. there are only 2 plugs to drain.
2. we're simply talking about the one front and center in the pic.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by mdosu

please confirm:
1. there are only 2 plugs to drain.
2. we're simply talking about the one front and center in the pic.

1. Correct, two identical plugs that take a 6mm hex drive bit.
2. Correct. The other "cap like" black element you see at the top of the first pic and between the arrows in the second pic is the front jack lift point. The element at the bottom of the first pic is the oil sensor.

[montreal red]

^^+1
i can confirm the above statement. there are 2 plugs and not 3. the 2 plugs require the same bit size to unscrew. dont touch the black rubber thing in between the two plugs. thats just the jacking point.

dont worry too much bout the little bit of oil thats on the pan. i believe my car has some residue like that as well. i think its probably due to the expansion and contraction of the metal oil pan and drain plug that causes a slight leak. you shouldnt see any oil dripping though. if you do, then you have a problem.

[GregW / Oregon]

Okay, this is not my week. I picked up a business associate for a 100-mile trip to Eugene for some meetings this morning. I allowed and extra 1/2 hour in our schedule for the trip. Well, I get about 15 miles down the freeway and notice a thin veil of smoke behind the car. WTF?! I pull over with things clicking into place in my mind. I had added 1/2 liter of oil the night before after changing over the weekend, and yes, you guessed it, forgot to put the cap back on! Giant mess in the engine bay. I stufffed a rag in it and got back home to add some oil and do a quick clean up. Cap was setting on a shelf in the garage. We were only 5 minutes late to the meeting in the end.

But, this is going to be all over my office!

[elp_jc]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

I had added 1/2 liter of oil the night before after changing over the weekend, and yes, you guessed it, forgot to put the cap back on!

Now you can't ever insult dealer techs again .

To make you feel better, I still remember when I bought my first nice car ('96 Lexus SC400 coupe), when we were about to move. It was 100ºF+, and one of the garage door springs broke, so had to change it. Didn't want my new baby roasting under the sun, so I figured I could do the job without pulling the car out. Secured my trusty 8' A-frame ladder, inches away from my baby, set the tools I needed on top, and proceeded to do the job. When spring gave up its death grip, momentarily lost my balance, and tools went flying over my brand new car . Funny thing is they took like half an hour to fall. You know how you can see them falling in slow motion. Scratched and chipped the crap out of my car's trunk and rear fender. Wanted to kick myself in the a$$. Unfortunately, that's how we learn our lessons sometimes. Glad yours wasn't as painful . But you were close man; oil shoots out of that hole like crazy from the cam gears, even when just the gasket is twisted. But in that instance, the 9+ liters in there saved your bacon. Take care.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

Now you can't ever insult dealer techs again .

To make you feel better, I still remember when I bought my first nice car ('96 Lexus SC400 coupe), when we were about to move. It was 100ºF+, and one of the garage door springs broke, so had to change it. Didn't want my new baby roasting under the sun, so I figured I could do the job without pulling the car out. Secured my trusty 8' A-frame ladder, inches away from my baby, set the tools I needed on top, and proceeded to do the job. When spring gave up its death grip, momentarily lost my balance, and tools went flying over my brand new car . Funny thing is they took like half an hour to fall. You know how you can see them falling in slow motion. Scratched and chipped the crap out of my car's trunk and rear fender. Wanted to kick myself in the a$$. Unfortunately, that's how we learn our lessons sometimes. Glad yours wasn't as painful . But you were close man; oil shoots out of that hole like crazy from the cam gears, even when just the gasket is twisted. But in that instance, the 9+ liters in there saved your bacon. Take care.

Thanks for your story. I think I lost about a liter and a half, after stuffing a rag in the filler before heading back home.

[flint]

Has anyone had issues with the 6mm hex plugs starting to strip out? Went to change mine today with the correct hex drive and the front sump came out fine but the rear must have been over torqued because it wouldn't budge and then started to strip. I want to have a new plug on hand to replace this with before I complete the oil change. Lucky for me i didn't remove the front plug, only loosened it. I haven't seen this before as my 545 had the same hex plug and I have done many mid-interval oil changes with no issues.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by flint

Has anyone had issues with the 6mm hex plugs starting to strip out? Went to change mine today with the correct hex drive and the front sump came out fine but the rear must have been over torqued because it wouldn't budge and then started to strip. I want to have a new plug on hand to replace this with before I complete the oil change. Lucky for me i didn't remove the front plug, only loosened it. I haven't seen this before as my 545 had the same hex plug and I have done many mid-interval oil changes with no issues.

Did you use a socket drive hex? The L-wrenches are harder to hold straight when applying a lot of force.

[flint]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

Did you use a socket drive hex? The L-wrenches are harder to hold straight when applying a lot of force.

Sure did. Those hex threads have always seemed a little delicate but this one has got to be over-torqued.

[montreal red]

Originally Posted by flint

Has anyone had issues with the 6mm hex plugs starting to strip out? Went to change mine today with the correct hex drive and the front sump came out fine but the rear must have been over torqued because it wouldn't budge and then started to strip. I want to have a new plug on hand to replace this with before I complete the oil change. Lucky for me i didn't remove the front plug, only loosened it. I haven't seen this before as my 545 had the same hex plug and I have done many mid-interval oil changes with no issues.

i had the same issue. i just did an oil change recently and i had to buy a new drain plug from the stealership because who ever did my last oil change stripped out one of the drain plugs. it was annoying as hell since this is my only car at the moment. had to go to the dealer without my car to pick up the drain bolt which cost $10. i was lucky that i still managed to take the semi-stripped drain plug off the car.

[Richbot]

Give it a few taps with a ball peen hammer while you're turning it, lightly. Allen keys are terrible, which is why BMW uses torx everywhere, but a copper-gasketed steel plug in an aluminum oil pan is going to bind up no matter what you torque it to, correct or not.

Took 8.75l for mine, and about 45 minutes start to finish. Took another 10 minutes to let it idle long enough to get a few accurate readings and re-readings. I started at 8.25l, warmed up and checked, and it was calling for an additional 3/4l. Added half a liter and everything's peachy. Driven it fo several days now and it hasn't budged. Doesn't seem like such a big deal to get right the first time if you're patient?

[elp_jc]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Allen keys are terrible, which is why BMW uses torx everywhere, but a copper-gasketed steel plug in an aluminum oil pan is going to bind up no matter what you torque it to, correct or not.

Good point; that's why it's important not to overtorque those bolts. I've always done that by hand with zero problems, and probably end up putting a lot less torque than specified. Dealer put mine pretty tight from the 1.2K service, but I assume was done to spec. And remember to always loosen the bolts by hitting the ratchet with your palm; it's a lot easier to strip bolts with steady force than a quick jolt. Works like a charm .

[montreal red]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

Good point; that's why it's important not to overtorque those bolts. I've always done that by hand with zero problems, and probably end up putting a lot less torque than specified. Dealer put mine pretty tight from the 1.2K service, but I assume was done to spec. And remember to always loosen the bolts by hitting the ratchet with your palm; it's a lot easier to strip bolts with steady force than a quick jolt. Works like a charm .

good point. i should keep this in mind next time. my partially stripped bolt was stripped even more after i attempted to loosen it. i was glad that i could even take the bolt off the car. would have been a huge headache if i couldnt since the other bolt was already removed and most of the oil was already drained out of the engine.

[flint]

Got my new drain plug. I'm nervous the stripped bolt isn't going to come out. Guess we will see...

[HebrewhaM3r]

Can I make my own oil filter?I have a bunch of cardboards,empty coffee cans layin around the house.

[2000gsr]

Is it possible to change the oil just by driving up some ramps and leaving the rear wheels on the ground, i guess the only negative is that all the oil wouldn't come out. Is this correct?

[mdosu]

Originally Posted by 2000gsr

Is it possible to change the oil just by driving up some ramps and leaving the rear wheels on the ground, i guess the only negative is that all the oil wouldn't come out. Is this correct?

I would just find a low profile drain pan. Jack up the front of the car high enough for you to open the drain plug, then take the car back down and let it drain.

The hardest part is finding a low profile drain pan, I have the black one shown in the pics on this thread too, I think it might be too high.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by 2000gsr

Is it possible to change the oil just by driving up some ramps and leaving the rear wheels on the ground, i guess the only negative is that all the oil wouldn't come out. Is this correct?

Clearance is very tight in front for even low profile ramps. Works better to back up like in my post #15, but then, of course, you have to jack the front up. Not having the car level, as you suggest, will result in some amount of oil left in the two sumps, but it may not be much.

[saeedg48]

good thread .. anything out there that's better then the M oil?