Oil change..

[Themoog2]

I bought 10 litres of engine oil last week so I thought I'd give the X5 a treat.
Whipped out the old filter and replaced with a Bosch one, lifted the car a bit to get to the drain plug only to find it all mangled up... Getting that out was a challenge and when I had it had to be converted to a 16mm bolt so was able to do it back up.
Anyway, apart from that and the drain pan overflowing making a mess of the drive I can report that the engine is notably quieter and smoother.
The last time the oil was replaced was about 4 years ago at Bartlett auto so they must have sucked the oil out. Probably.. That was when I had the timing chain guides replaced. I'll check the invoice to see if oil is on the list of parts.

[Raj]

Nice you got it done but I tend to change the oil in mine every year even though only do about 4K miles in it.

I’ve replaced the bolt a few times over the years due to it being mangled by other companies when they’ve done it with other work.

[Alan Gunn]

4 years between oil change tut tut tut.(lol).....
My old e46 only did 850 miles one year due to my health but it still got the 12 monthly oil and filter change.(it's just a thing i do at mot time)........

[Themoog2]

In know I know.. I’m a bad boy..
I’ve just checked the level this morning and it’s over the max mark. Yesterday it was ok.
I did notice a sprung valve at the base of the oil filter housing- is that a non return valve? The old Cooper Fiamm filter had a boss at the bottom so I’m assuming it did not press the spring valve down when installed in the housing.
The new filter I put in was flat at the bottom and thus would press the valve open when installed.
I cross referenced the filters and they matched. The Bosch one I bought was 1457429141. It had a number on the box too P9141.
Is the increase on the dipstick due to the oil filter housing draining back into the sump? Have I put in the right filter...

[Themoog2]

The one I took out was Cooper Fiamm FA5439ECO. Just checked again and apparently they are interchangeable. They certainly didn’t look the same..

[henrym3]

Here was me going to give you a whole load of praise for doing such regular oil changes but it appears not everyone agrees.

[Themoog2]

It's not bad. In 4 years I've done just over 15k..

[Raj]

Unsure on the reason for slightly higher oil level now from day before. I always fill to the middle of dipstick and then turn her over temporarily and let it settle again before checking/topping up and it’s always been spot on. I’ve always used genuine or Mann filters and they always looked identical so unsure why the one removed and swapped out is different to the new one.

[X5Sport]

I switched to a suction system (Mityvac 7201) a couple of years back as I’m getting too old to crawl under cars these days. Warm the car for 5 mins, insert tube in dipstick hole, unwind filter cap enough to let it drain too, go and have a cuppa and job done. Decent ones aren’t cheap at the size we need but it is so much simpler. Less risk of oil on the drive too - been there, done that too

[Raj]

I switched to a suction system (Mityvac 7201) a couple of years back as I’m getting too old to crawl under cars these days. Warm the car for 5 mins, insert tube in dipstick hole, unwind filter cap enough to let it drain too, go and have a cuppa and job done. Decent ones aren’t cheap at the size we need but it is so much simpler. Less risk of oil on the drive too - been there, done that too

I have looked at these previously and does look a better solution than having to get the car in the air to drain it all. Only problem for me is the E92 uses an electronic dipstick so nowhere to put the tube down so only useful for the X5 and the GTI. However the X5 oil filter is on the bottom of the engine so I still have to get underneath on my back

[Themoog2]

I had another butchers this morning. It may have fooled me. This time I laid the end of the dipstick on some kitchen paper so I could clearly see where the right level was and it seemed to be just under max. I think it was because the new oil is so clear compared to what came out I couldn’t see it correctly. But saying that, I’m supposed to be wearing glasses anyway..It’s still a bit of a mystery why the filters didn’t match. Every other filter I have looked at is the same as the one I put in.

[Alan Gunn]

I have used the suction system for some years now as it's about the only job i can do myself these day's.
My m8 of 40 years has a garage and he is old school said "you won't get it all out".
So the next time i was going to do the oil i went to the garage on a Saturday morning (quieter then) and we put the car on the MOT ramp as he said that it's level and we sucked the oil out.
He then raised the ramp ant took the drain plug out ......................... not a drop left in there.
He has one now in the corner but say's it's just for any body that has over filled there car ????????????????????.

[Themoog2]

Talking of oil changes- I’m going to do the diffs and transfer case too. The manual says ‘filled for life’ which we all know is a lie..
Anyone know what oils to use? I have a litre of gear oil 75w90 - is that ok for the diffs? What about the trans case?

[X5Sport]

Newtis.info has the correct oils listed, or Realoem and look up the part numbers for (cheaper than BMW).prices. You can get ZF kits that allow a full set of fluid changes too. The approved oil specs are listed in Newtis.info under Section 00 for your car model. Section 00 07 covers operating fluids.

And you’re absolutely right about ‘filled for life’. 8 years or 60k miles I’m led to believe - BMW ‘life’ is just 3 years.

[henrym3]

It’s a very confusing subject, when I changed the oil in the X5 gearbox, ZF recommendation is lifeguard 5 and bmw recommend atf 2, presumably a relabled lifeguard 5. However on the Alpina 5hp 19 ZF recommend lifeguard 5 again and bmw say atf 4.. As I have 21/2 litres of atf 2 in the shed I’ve decided to put the atf 2 in the Alpina and save £45. Of course if the g/b blows up I won’t have saved anything and I’ll curse myself for being a tight git.