BMW M3 Forum (E90 E92) - View Single Post

RedCardinal · 11-19-2018, 07:49 AM

Anyone else frustrated by the first post being devoid of DIY instructions now?? Just some torque values.

Anyway, I just changed my oil for the first time in my E93 M3, and here are some thoughts:

1) I wanted to practice Leave No Trace, as we say in the hiking/camping biz. I cut to size a rug pad I was going to throw out, and spread it under the engine and oil pan. This worked great in preventing a mess on the garage floor.

2) Loosen but don't remove the filter cap (the 36mm cap), until the oil has drained. This will prevent you from making a mess when you do take the filter out to dispose of it. Almost every video and DIY I've seen has us taking the filter out first and says something like 'make sure you have lots of shop towels around because this is messy." It doesn't have to be messy if you simply loosen the cap instead of removing it and then drain the oil sumps. I had some very very small leakage this way - I needed one shop towel to deal with it - and then I re-tightened it a smidgen to stop the leaking. You should be alright as long as it's loose enough to allow air in to help drain the oil under the car. I'd imagine you want to remove the filter cap to help drain the two sumps by not causing a vacuum to form as they drain.

3) I drained the warm oil for about an hour. When I measured the old oil later I had about 8.5 liters. The last 30 minutes was mostly almost-quick dripping, but that must add up over the half an hour.

4) I jacked the M3 up on to jack stands. The best method I found was to jack up the rear of the car first using a wood block on the differential - the black metal 'pad' with the hockey-puck-like indentation in it - but I don't recommend this: I found advice on-line to be unclear. In retospect I probably did it wrong. This guy shows how to do it correctly.

5) After jacking up the rear, I found, oddly enough, that this gave the front some clearance. I'd had thought jacking up the back pushes the front down but that was not my experience. My front bumper hangs down a bit more than it's supposed to, maybe that had something to do with it. I used the low-profile racing jack from harbor freight.

6) if it matters, and I don't think it does, I used a few of those blue disposable shop towels to mop up the small amount (a handful of tablespoons) of oil remaining in the oil filter area. Some people have used a turkey baster, that's probably better. Either way, there's not much in there.

7) After I closed everything up and put the car back on the ground, I went for a drive. It took maybe 20 minutes for me to get an oil level reading and it said "+1 Quart" which was confusing to me - was I over by a quart??, or did it want me to add oil? Answer: Add oil. So I poured the rest of the ninth bottle into the engine, and the levels showed almost full. However: The next day I drove 60 or 70 miles and the oil level was about 3/4 - with 9 liters of oil poured in. Tomorrow I'll see if I get yet another reading. Don't know why a car that takes 8.8 liters is not full after I pour 9 liters in...

UPDATE: Although I poured 9 liters into this E93 M3 just a few days ago, the electronic dipstick is showing a little over 2/3 full. I think the electronic dipsticks are not reliable - I mean, I KNOW that I put 9 full liters into the car.

Here's some other gear I used:

This drain pan can hold 16 liters total and has a pouring spout. It's large enough to fit under both oil drains at the same time. For me the size was the selling point especially as our S65s hold 8.8 liters. Picking this up and pouring 8.5 liters into a funnel and into the jug, listed below, was easy.

These 2.5 gallon jugs from amazon come to $15 each, a little pricey, but they have large openings for a funnel and are easy to carry. They also have gallon and liter measurements on the side.

11-19-2018, 07:49 AM	#431
RedCardinal Private 31 Rep 69 Posts Drives: 2013 M3 e93 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: windy roads, hopefully iTrader: (0)	Anyone else frustrated by the first post being devoid of DIY instructions now?? Just some torque values. Anyway, I just changed my oil for the first time in my E93 M3, and here are some thoughts: 1) I wanted to practice Leave No Trace, as we say in the hiking/camping biz. I cut to size a rug pad I was going to throw out, and spread it under the engine and oil pan. This worked great in preventing a mess on the garage floor. 2) Loosen but don't remove the filter cap (the 36mm cap), until the oil has drained. This will prevent you from making a mess when you do take the filter out to dispose of it. Almost every video and DIY I've seen has us taking the filter out first and says something like 'make sure you have lots of shop towels around because this is messy." It doesn't have to be messy if you simply loosen the cap instead of removing it and then drain the oil sumps. I had some very very small leakage this way - I needed one shop towel to deal with it - and then I re-tightened it a smidgen to stop the leaking. You should be alright as long as it's loose enough to allow air in to help drain the oil under the car. I'd imagine you want to remove the filter cap to help drain the two sumps by not causing a vacuum to form as they drain. 3) I drained the warm oil for about an hour. When I measured the old oil later I had about 8.5 liters. The last 30 minutes was mostly almost-quick dripping, but that must add up over the half an hour. 4) I jacked the M3 up on to jack stands. The best method I found was to jack up the rear of the car first using a wood block on the differential - the black metal 'pad' with the hockey-puck-like indentation in it - but I don't recommend this: I found advice on-line to be unclear. In retospect I probably did it wrong. This guy shows how to do it correctly. 5) After jacking up the rear, I found, oddly enough, that this gave the front some clearance. I'd had thought jacking up the back pushes the front down but that was not my experience. My front bumper hangs down a bit more than it's supposed to, maybe that had something to do with it. I used the low-profile racing jack from harbor freight. 6) if it matters, and I don't think it does, I used a few of those blue disposable shop towels to mop up the small amount (a handful of tablespoons) of oil remaining in the oil filter area. Some people have used a turkey baster, that's probably better. Either way, there's not much in there. 7) After I closed everything up and put the car back on the ground, I went for a drive. It took maybe 20 minutes for me to get an oil level reading and it said "+1 Quart" which was confusing to me - was I over by a quart??, or did it want me to add oil? Answer: Add oil. So I poured the rest of the ninth bottle into the engine, and the levels showed almost full. However: The next day I drove 60 or 70 miles and the oil level was about 3/4 - with 9 liters of oil poured in. Tomorrow I'll see if I get yet another reading. Don't know why a car that takes 8.8 liters is not full after I pour 9 liters in... UPDATE: Although I poured 9 liters into this E93 M3 just a few days ago, the electronic dipstick is showing a little over 2/3 full. I think the electronic dipsticks are not reliable - I mean, I KNOW that I put 9 full liters into the car. Here's some other gear I used: This drain pan can hold 16 liters total and has a pouring spout. It's large enough to fit under both oil drains at the same time. For me the size was the selling point especially as our S65s hold 8.8 liters. Picking this up and pouring 8.5 liters into a funnel and into the jug, listed below, was easy. These 2.5 gallon jugs from amazon come to $15 each, a little pricey, but they have large openings for a funnel and are easy to carry. They also have gallon and liter measurements on the side. Last edited by RedCardinal; 11-24-2018 at 07:50 AM..
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