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I changed the oil in my car today. It's snowing out, but I can't delay the change. It needed to be done, so I suited up and headed outside to where the car was parked. I have an open garage, so luckily it wasn't that cold out. It will be soon, so that's what prompted me to get moving.
Anyway, I wanted to write this post to offer some photos of the process. It's very simple to change the oil in a BMW. All that's needed are a few tools. I'll go through them all below.
Okay, I first started off by removing the oil filter cap that's under the hood.
I would love to own one of those oil cap removal wrenches that fits over the top of the cap, but I don't. For the time being, I've been using my more traditional oil filter wrench. I'm sure you've seen these around.
The torque for this cap is 18 foot pounds, so it wasn't difficult to remove. I twisted counter clockwise and off the cap came.
I placed the old oil filter and cap in an oil collection tray.
I let that sit for a while to get as much oil in the tray as possible.
At this point, I cleaned up the cap with a rag and then opened up the new Bosch filter.
In case you're curious, I have a file where I keep all my vehicle maintenance information for my cars. Here are my notes for this one.
*** 2009 BMW 328XI ***
Oil Service Interval: 7,500 miles
Oil Type: Castrol 03087 EDGE Extended Performance 5W-30 Synthetic
Oil Amount: Replace 6 quarts
Filter Cap Torque: 18 ft/lb
Drain Bolt Torque: 18 ft/lb
Filter Part #: BMW (11 42 7 566 327) Oil Filter Element Set
Air Filter Part #: FRAM CA10464 Extra Guard Flex Panel
For this change, I switched up the oil, which I'll show you down below. But at least you got a few part numbers out of from what I shared above.
The oil filter kit comes with a filter, two o-rings and a crush washer for the drain bolt. The two o-rings fit on the filter cap, so you'll need to use a pointy tool to remove the old ones and then slide the new ones on. Just look at the cap closely and you'll see where they go.
After I cleaned the area up and fit the new filter in the cap, I screwed the cap back on. Just a word of caution, when replacing the BMW oil filter cap, the second half of the screwing on gets very snug. That's the o-ring squeezing into position. Just keep twisting until the cap is nice and tight.
Next, I jacked the car up, secured it and got underneath it. I used a regular screwdriver to twist the drain bolt flap little clip thing out of the way, so the flap would open. Then, I used a 17mm socket to remove the drain bolt.
I let the oil drain out into the tray. By the way, I warmed the car up so the oil would flow. I also opened up the filler cap up top to allow some air into the engine so the oil would come out.
While the oil was draining, I cleaned the old oil off the bold and I replaced the copper crush washer.
The old washer is off the bolt and the new one is on the bold. As you can see, these washers get flattened out quite a bit.
Once the oil was drained, I replaced the bolt. It's important to use a torque wrench for this process because turning the bold will feel strange as the washer is being crushed. Just keep turning until the wrench clicks or whatever it does when the torque is met.
For this oil change, I used some BMW/Mercedes synthetic oil from Germany. It's fancy stuff.
It's Pento High Performance 5w-30 synthetic motor oil. Check out this spout. I liked this a lot.
The best part is, the amount in the bottle is the exact amount a BMW 328xi needs. It's just about 6 quarts. 1.32 gallons to be exact. I poured all of the oil from the container into the oil fill hole and then checked the oil from the inside while the car was running. It was a perfect fill. To finish, I replaced the oil fill cap, cleaned everything up and I was done. Let me know if you have any questions.
Anyway, I wanted to write this post to offer some photos of the process. It's very simple to change the oil in a BMW. All that's needed are a few tools. I'll go through them all below.
Okay, I first started off by removing the oil filter cap that's under the hood.
I would love to own one of those oil cap removal wrenches that fits over the top of the cap, but I don't. For the time being, I've been using my more traditional oil filter wrench. I'm sure you've seen these around.
The torque for this cap is 18 foot pounds, so it wasn't difficult to remove. I twisted counter clockwise and off the cap came.
I placed the old oil filter and cap in an oil collection tray.
I let that sit for a while to get as much oil in the tray as possible.
At this point, I cleaned up the cap with a rag and then opened up the new Bosch filter.
In case you're curious, I have a file where I keep all my vehicle maintenance information for my cars. Here are my notes for this one.
*** 2009 BMW 328XI ***
Oil Service Interval: 7,500 miles
Oil Type: Castrol 03087 EDGE Extended Performance 5W-30 Synthetic
Oil Amount: Replace 6 quarts
Filter Cap Torque: 18 ft/lb
Drain Bolt Torque: 18 ft/lb
Filter Part #: BMW (11 42 7 566 327) Oil Filter Element Set
Air Filter Part #: FRAM CA10464 Extra Guard Flex Panel
For this change, I switched up the oil, which I'll show you down below. But at least you got a few part numbers out of from what I shared above.
The oil filter kit comes with a filter, two o-rings and a crush washer for the drain bolt. The two o-rings fit on the filter cap, so you'll need to use a pointy tool to remove the old ones and then slide the new ones on. Just look at the cap closely and you'll see where they go.
After I cleaned the area up and fit the new filter in the cap, I screwed the cap back on. Just a word of caution, when replacing the BMW oil filter cap, the second half of the screwing on gets very snug. That's the o-ring squeezing into position. Just keep twisting until the cap is nice and tight.
Next, I jacked the car up, secured it and got underneath it. I used a regular screwdriver to twist the drain bolt flap little clip thing out of the way, so the flap would open. Then, I used a 17mm socket to remove the drain bolt.
I let the oil drain out into the tray. By the way, I warmed the car up so the oil would flow. I also opened up the filler cap up top to allow some air into the engine so the oil would come out.
While the oil was draining, I cleaned the old oil off the bold and I replaced the copper crush washer.
The old washer is off the bolt and the new one is on the bold. As you can see, these washers get flattened out quite a bit.
Once the oil was drained, I replaced the bolt. It's important to use a torque wrench for this process because turning the bold will feel strange as the washer is being crushed. Just keep turning until the wrench clicks or whatever it does when the torque is met.
For this oil change, I used some BMW/Mercedes synthetic oil from Germany. It's fancy stuff.
It's Pento High Performance 5w-30 synthetic motor oil. Check out this spout. I liked this a lot.
The best part is, the amount in the bottle is the exact amount a BMW 328xi needs. It's just about 6 quarts. 1.32 gallons to be exact. I poured all of the oil from the container into the oil fill hole and then checked the oil from the inside while the car was running. It was a perfect fill. To finish, I replaced the oil fill cap, cleaned everything up and I was done. Let me know if you have any questions.