oil change

[fly gti]

Hey all of you, I was wondering if you guys change oil yourself. Do You use the high performance BMW oil? or other brands and the main question if you have restet the computer after words?

[SoonerE39]

I have heard horror stories about quick change shops screwing up the threads on the drainplugs (someone told me they go opposite direction, I don't know) but there is a cover to be removed below and the fileter is a little trickier to do than on most cars, and you should have a reset tool for the maintenance reminder lights on the dash. With all that said, I found a competent BMW mechanic to do my oil changes (synthetic only). Eventually I will probably do my own but for now, I'll let the mechanic.

OIL: Only use either the BMW oil or Mobil One or Casterol Synthetic (who makes the BMW oil)

[donutchow]

Originally posted by SoonerE39@Jul 7 2003, 01:32 PM
I have heard horrow stories about quick change shops screwing up the threads on the drainplugs (someone told me they go opposite direction, I don't know) but there is a cover to be removed below and the fileter is a little trickier to do than on most cars, and you should have a reset tool for the maintenance reminder lights on the dash. With all that said, I found a competent BMW mechanic to do my oil changes (synthetic only). Eventually I will probably do my own but for now, I'll let the mechanic.

OIL: Only use either the BMW oil or Mobil One or Casterol Synthetic (who makes the BMW oil)

how much do you pay for an oil change?

[fly gti]

I think that my dealership is charging like $79.95, but it is not about the money it is just the distance 21 miles one way on highway which is well known for havey traffics ghead

[DesmoBob]

holy cow $80 for an oil change

[posmaxx]

I changed the oil by myself with mobil1 syn oil not more than $30 and you can get the filter online. Trust me you feel a lot comfortable and satisfied doing it yourself, rather than those quick change shops.

To reset your oil change display on your BC, you can buy peake research tool for less than $150, but its really worth buying!

Check this site for your reference:

Oil Change


Reset tool

Cheers!

[lbriedis]

I think I pay $50-$60.

Even if it was 100 bucks its worth not having to dump the oil, climbing under the car, etc.

Plus its every 10k so its not that big of an expense.

I spend more on gas per week

[Balucanb]

I do it myself too, I have a friend that owns a shop and has the reset tool, once I move I will need to buy one I suppose but until then I I'm good.

[maxxym]

On my 01 525i I just use the trip menthod to reset the lights.

Push your trip button in and hold it while turning the keys to #1 position. release the button, you should see RELEASE or REL text on the dash.. press the trip button again and hold it for 5 seconds.

[npnp]

Originally Posted by maxxym

On my 01 525i I just use the trip menthod to reset the lights.

Push your trip button in and hold it while turning the keys to #1 position. release the button, you should see RELEASE or REL text on the dash.. press the trip button again and hold it for 5 seconds.

Great tip, have to see if it works...

[Eric S.]

Reset - Since I was changing oil more often than the car wanted me to, and I didn't want to mess with the Inspection I and II intervals, I didn't reset after changing the oil. Conversely, the one time I observed the "change oil" indicator, I simply reset the light without changing the oil since I had my own cadence. I used a Peake tool to reset the light and also retrieve codes when they occurred.

Oil - I tried to use BMW Longlife oil from the dealer, but the stupid dealer only carried 5W-30 and would not order 5W-40. Surprisingly it was only $3.97 per quart with my BMW CCA discount (I used it over the winter in the 5W-30 weight). I tried using Mobil-1 0W-40 once and that was OK, but I mostly stuck with Castrol Syntec 5W-50.

Cost - 8 quarts of synthetic ($5+ each) plus $8 to $10 for a Hengst OEM filter means I usually spent around $50 just for oil + filter when changing oil myself. So I see $80 as "in the ballpark" for what dealer might charge. (BMW started requiring synthetic starting in MY99).

Changing my own oil - I always changed oil myself and never encountered much difficulty. The only trick is to remember to crack open the oil filter canister before opening the oil pan bolt so that the oil filter canister oil drains out with the rest of the oil.

[325isBaby]

Well the way I look at it the only oil that was used to run the length between oil changes that BMW recommended was BMW's high performance oil so why mess with things? Or worse have to change your oil more frequently (that racks up the $$ too just in smaller chunks).

[ozarkmark]

O Boy! An oil related thread!

I have always changed my own using a set of ramps to get the front end up. I can get a good quality replacement filter at any Advance/ O'Reilly's/ Auto Zone.

As for oil, I stick with 5W 40 synthetic. I used to buy Amsoil but decided to try Shell Rotella synthetic 5w 40 which you can buy at any Wal-Mart. So far so good with the Rotella. It cost about $15 per gallon. Wal-mart also accepts used oil.

Like Eric said, it is important you loosen the oil filter canister to allow the oil from that to drain through the engine.

If you don't have a place to change it yourself, you can take your car along with any oil/filter you choose to a Valvoline quick change and they will do it for about $20.

At any rate, just use a good quality oil and filter on a regular basis and you should be OK.

[jermattak]

yup, i change my own, i have an 85 535i, and i save 20-30 bucks each time, some places charge more for bmw's(its lame) and they never have my filter in stock, i use quaker state synthetic, put 10w-30 in it for the winter