E90 Oil Change (DIY)

I would like to share my experience of changing the oil in my 2006 BMW 325i (e90) with sport package. My car has only 2300 miles on it, but I thought I should do a post break-in period oil change. ...

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Anyone know what's happened?

They work for me.

Great DIY! just changed my oil last week..

That is what happened to me. I changed the oil at 9700 miles and the car reset it self to have the next service at 20000 miles. I told the dealer that I want to have my free oil change at 14500 but they said they cannot do it until the car ask for it and now I have to wait 10K to get my next oil change. I am upset about that. :mad:

Do you know if the the dealers can do that?

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Is this just your local dealer policy of it is something in written that even if your ride haven't reach the mileage needed to do the first or subsequents oil changes they still go ahead and change it for you yearly . Do you or anybody else know?

'cause and in PR and it is pretty hot and humid down her and the way I'm riding my car it would take me over 18 months to do my first oil change. It has 4400k and it was purchased in August 2005.

I just finished my first oil change at 3950 miles and have a couple of comments. I mostly followed E90wraith's instructions, but found it interesting that he said that the oil fill cap removes easily by turning it clockwise. Mine came off by turning it counterclockwise which is generally the direction to remove most screwed devices. I wonder if that was an error in the directions or if for some reason some caps come off clockwise and some counterclockwise?

Also I put wheel chocks behind my rear tires once my E90 was on the ramps for added safety along with putting the car in park(steptronic) and parking brake engaged. I heard once that most fatalities from working on cars come from the mechanic working under the car and the car slipping off the jack, jack stands or ramps. It just isn't worth it to add to that statistic.

Other than that, I put in 6.9 quarts of new synthetic oil, drove around the block a couple of times until I got an oil level reading and when it lit up, it showed max.

thanks for the great instructions

I just got my e90 last week and I have no clue how to jack it up. Where are the lift points? are they easy to find?
thanks in advance

The lift points are easy to find...and I would recommend ramps....

I changed my oil for the first time today, but when I took off the nut, I noticed there wasn't a crush washer attached to the nut. I figured it might've just fell into the oil while it was draining, so I didn't bother checking. I placed the new crush washer onto the bolt and screwed it on after the oil drained completely.

But now that I'm thinking back, I'm kinda worried the crush bolt was stuck to the oil pan itself. From everyone's experiences, does the stock crush washer come off with the nut? or is it stuck onto the oil pan..? And if it is, would I need to redo it if I just placed the new washer on and just screwed it back on (meaning I may possibly have 2 washers now)?

I haven't driven the car yet since I'm missing 1qt of oil and all the shops are closed for tonight, but after starting it for a few seconds, I didn't notice any drips yet... Is this something that needs to be fixed? Or do you guys think it will be ok?

Would using a jack and jack stands be ok?

in my non-mechanical experience, there is always a washer for the drain plug. I am not sure what you mean by crush washer. When you buy the oil filter, it comes with a regular washer to replace the old one. Again, in my non-mechanical experience, if you use the washer that comes with the new oil filter, then you are ok. Yes, the old washer could still be stuck on the oil pan. I would think that you should be ok if you had 2 washers. Next time you do the oil change, make sure you check the oil pan to see if one is stuck to it. By design, the washer is not suppose to stick to the oil pan and should be discarded and replace with the new washer (at least that what I have been told).

imo...
I would not trust the jack or jack stands when I'm under the car.

Jack stands are VERY sturdy

My friends who have done oil changes with the Rhino ramps have all had problems with them

One of my friends even had one brake on him

I would be worried about slipping because I have a cement garage

I agree, never go under the car with only jacks and jack stand. Put your tire under the car if you jack it up so if something fail, the tire serves as a safety mechanism. When you are on ramps, make sure you place a thick block of wood under one of the tire so the car will not roll. Alsways use hand brake. Remember, do this at your own risk and always think safety.

Thanks

Don't forget that there is a yearly oil change policy too regardless of miles:rocks: .

changed my oil today, and I used 7quarts of mobil 1 5w30. I was a little concern at first b/c didn't know how much oil I should put in, so i measure the amount of oil that came out (~7quarts) and put in the same. Everything seem okay.

you should use Mobil 1 0W40......BMW LL01

I did a post break in oil change at 1290 today. The oil didn't really *need* changing and the filter looks fine but I like the peace of mind of knowing for sure.

One thing though, I used Rhino ramps, so the car was on an incline when I changed the oil. My drain bolt is parallel to the ground unlike the one in the picture at the top of the thread. I think that the combination of the way the bolt screws into the oil pan and the incline of the car caused oil to run down the back of the oil pan and off onto the top of the plastic shield and from there out and onto the ground about three feet aft of my drain pan.

The lion's share of the oil went into the drain pan as expected but I came back from letting the remnants drizzle out to find a big mess. I think that, next time, I'll put a piece of tinfoil or something up there to keep that from happening.

It seems strange to me that no one else has complained about this. If the car were on a lift, it probably wouldn't happen but I can't see how it would ever be a non-issue when using ramps. It took me quite a while to get the oil off of the top of the plastic shield.

Be careful.

Cheers,

Jim

I used a ramp too.....and all my oil drained into the pan. No mess!

So, just out of curiosity, do you have the drain bolt that's normally parallel to the ground or the one that's at something like 30 degrees? We've both got the '06 330i. Mine's the 6MT.

I guess I'm just unlucky.

mine's like yours......but i have a huge pan to catch it....

with a curb lip on the pan....no spilled!