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      10-30-2005, 02:44 PM   #50
mc68386
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Drives: '06 330i 6MT
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tucson, AZ

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Here's some pics from my oil change. I jacked it up from the right-rear jack point, then placed a jack stand under the right-front jack point for safety.

As you can see, my drain plug is parallel to the ground, unlike Wraith's.
I've got a 330, late July production.

A couple of things I found:
The copper crush washer was glued to the drain plug with paint, so it took me a bit of looking to see that I needed to pry it off first.

After the change, I parked my car on my slanted driveway, and when I later moved it, there were some oil drippings. I figured I had under-tightened the plug, so I checked it out. There didn't seem to be any oil around the plug, and it was plenty tight. However, there was oil on the underside of the plastic underbody cover. I'm guessing that the oil stream went a little wild while it was draining, and got oil in there. Once I sopped it up, I haven't seen any more drippings.

I got about 6.25 quarts of drained oil out, so I initially refilled with 6.5 quarts. I took it for a drive, and at first it showed up as full. As I drove more, it soon showed one notch low. I added another quarter quart, and it still showed a notch low. A little more, still low. Then I took it for a longer drive (around 20 miles) and it eventually showed as full. In all I added about 7.5 quarts. The lesson is, when you think it should be full, take it for a long drive before adding too much oil.

I used jacks on the right side instead of ramps. After I had drained it fully, I dropped it back down to level ground, and another 1/2 quart drained out. If you want to be really anal, this a good way to get the most oil out.
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2006 330i | Black Sapphire Metallic | Black Dakota Leather | 6SP MT | ZPP | ZSP | ZCW | Sirius
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