[Madill21]

I just purchased an 08 335i with 47K miles on it. Reading through the manual the other day I saw that spark plugs are to be changed every 45K miles in the 335 series. I enjoy doing my own work on cars but am unsure how much BMW tries to prevent this.

Would changing spark plugs be as straight forward as most vehicles? If so, which plugs do I buy and how much $ am I looking at?

And oil changes...I've read some posts and seen some things about intervals. Right now my car is telling me I don't need an oil change till 11/2014! Is this true...? Can I change it myself anyway right now just to make sure the oil is fresh and reset the counter?

Thanks in advance guys, look forward to gaining more knowledge through these forums and yourselves!!

J.D.

[deluxe 247]

spark plugs are pretty easy a set of oems run about $90-100 I believe, your car will defiantly need an oil change before 11/2014 if you don't know when it was last done you should do it now, about $60 if you go all oem and diy.

[Efthreeoh]

Check the DIY section. All your answers are there. Read the procedures people have posted and see what you think. Generally, BMWs are pretty easy to work on and no more difficult than other cars, but have specific procedures that must be followed. You need an extensive set of good tools and prior wrench-turning experience; BMW are not the vehicle for 1st timers.

Get the Bentley service manual if you are going to work on it yourself.

[Madill21]

Thanks guys! Not a first timer for sure, just the last BMW I've worked on was a 1979 323is straight up from Germany!
Owned a lot of VWs recently, diesel models and am comfortable doing much larger DIY jobs than plugs and oil, just not sure if these newer BMWs needed special BMW tools and things like that. Or of the manufacturer locks up a lot of the compartments to force you to go to a dealer to have it service. Plugs and an oil change will happen this weekend! I've look at the DIY thread and looks very helpful, ill also order that Bentley manual.
Appreciate the input

[Madill21]

Just to clarify...

What oil change intervals should I expect? I'm not running any aftermarket equipment. (Some day!)

[Alarbus]

I just did the oil on my 328, and it said 17k until service! My 2006 325 was set at 15k after a rest. I usually change it every 7k, and use the Euro spec Mobil 1 0w-40. Definitely do not wait the 15k+ factory suggestion. If you don't drive it that much in a year, do it once per year at least. You can get the filters for $10 or less on Amazon, and I've been buying the oil at walmart.

Get OEM spark plugs from one of the site vendors, it'll probably be about $15 per plug. It's also a pretty easy job.

[PA66400]

Originally Posted by Madill21

Would changing spark plugs be as straight forward as most vehicles? If so, which plugs do I buy and how much $ am I looking at?

And oil changes...I've read some posts and seen some things about intervals. Right now my car is telling me I don't need an oil change till 11/2014! Is this true...? Can I change it myself anyway right now just to make sure the oil is fresh and reset the counter?
J.D.

Changing spark plugs is very easy, BUT you will need to invest in a particular socket (thin wall, different socket pattern from anything I've ever seen. the Bosch plugs can be bought on the internet for less than the dealer. The OEM "BMW branded" Bosch plugs are exactly the same as the non-BMW logo Bosch plugs, but not worth the extra money, unless you need a BMW and Bosch logo on the plug (the plug is made by Bosch only for the N54/N55 engine).

Many people change the oil themselves, halfway through the condition-based service indicator interval and don't reset the interval. Others here have just followed the interval and nobody who did that has ever reported catastrophic or even non-catastrophic failure - one person did this and had his car for well over 150K miles. It is worth it to invest in the spark-plug socket and the oil filter cap removal tool if you are going to do maintenance and hold onto the car for a few years. Oil change takes me literally less than 30 minutes, spark plugs less than 1 hour.

Hope this helps. You will enjoy the dramatic improvement in performance and safety and refinement over you older BMW but you will find the new car less reliable. My car history is the same as yours, basically.

Get the plugs + socket from BMS when they come back in stock:
http://www.burgertuning.com/N54_BMW_...t_adapter.html

[Madill21]

Have you guys ever heard of Liqui Moly Motor Oil 5w30??
It's European synthetic and with their studies are shown to reduce wear and increase engine cooling. It is a good price, 5L for $34ish at www.bavauto.com they also have plugs on their for 12.95!
Thanks for letting me know about the special socket, would suck having my car apart and not the tool to pull the plugs!

When it comes to oil you're going to get a thousand different opinions on this site and 99% of the time there will be zero scientific data to back it up. Go here if you wanna do some research on the subject itself:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by PA66400

Changing spark plugs is very easy, BUT you will need to invest in a particular socket (thin wall, different socket pattern from anything I've ever seen. the Bosch plugs can be bought on the internet for less than the dealer. The OEM "BMW branded" Bosch plugs are exactly the same as the non-BMW logo Bosch plugs, but not worth the extra money, unless you need a BMW and Bosch logo on the plug (the plug is made by Bosch only for the N54/N55 engine).

Many people change the oil themselves, halfway through the condition-based service indicator interval and don't reset the interval. Others here have just followed the interval and nobody who did that has ever reported catastrophic or even non-catastrophic failure - one person did this and had his car for well over 150K miles. It is worth it to invest in the spark-plug socket and the oil filter cap removal tool if you are going to do maintenance and hold onto the car for a few years. Oil change takes me literally less than 30 minutes, spark plugs less than 1 hour.

Hope this helps. You will enjoy the dramatic improvement in performance and safety and refinement over you older BMW but you will find the new car less reliable. My car history is the same as yours, basically.

Not to start the debate, just a data point: my car is at 198,000 miles on 17,000 mile OCIs (average). It's an N52 however. Runs as new.

[Madill21]

That's always good to hear about BMWs running strong with almost 200K!

And when it comes to oil, yeah I've seen that everyone has an option on why the one they use is the best, I've looked into the date on this oil and it looks good, just curious if anyone here uses it or that www.bavauto.com to get parts. It's out of NH.