Embrace Your Maintenance:
Changing the Oil on Your BMW
Especially with high-end vehicles, owners are hesitant to perform any maintenance on their own car for fear of harming any of the delicate mechanisms. Of course, we don’t recommend you come at your beloved M-series with a screwdriver, but there are some services you can do at home to keep up with your vehicle maintenance in between visits to the shop. At IMA Motorwerke, we’re here to perform the services you don’t have the time, knowledge or technical expertise to complete, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take up the grease rag once in a while and spend some time with your vehicle! You can try out your burgeoning mechanic skills with a simple oil change. Our technicians have put together general steps for changing the oil in both six cylinder and V8 BMW engines:
Six Cylinder
Six Cylinder: Under the hood, you will find the oil filter housing, which is in the front of the engine, look near the intake manifold. This will be the situation for most vehicles in the past 30 years, older models than that may have the cap on the right side of the engine. A 32 mm socket will loosen the housing cap on M54 engines, but for N52/N54 engines, you will need an adapter. Be sure you also open the filler cap and remove the dipstick to increase the airflow and allow the oil to drain more quickly. Finally, remove the oil pan and drain, this may require a 17mm socket for a single bolt on the pan.
V8
V8: With the M62 engine, you will be able to follow the instructions provided for the six cylinder. For the N62 engine, everything can be found under the car with the filter housing right next to the oil pan. Using a 6mm hex screw, you can drain the oil from the housing. Once the oil is out, release the oil filter housing with a 24mm socket in order to change the oil filter and o-ring on the oil filler element cap. The o-ring and a new crush washer should have been provided with your oil filter kit.
For diagrams to accompany the instructions provided above, please see the website below: https://www.bmwblog.com/2009/02/02/how-to-change-oil-on-a-bmw/
At IMA Motorwerke, we want to encourage all our clients to take an active role in their vehicle maintenance, because we know how satisfying it is to have a job well done! If you find yourself in our part of Chantilly, Virginia, come into the shop to ask out technicians for tips and tricks or to set up an appointment for any vehicle services you may not want to tackle at home!