[bracer028]

I have a 2007 E90 with 60k miles.

I know i have to do the water pump soon, but what else should i be doing during this maintenance.

coolant flush?
spark plugs?
oil change? which i do every 6 months
transmission flush?

Anythign else?

[3allday]

Made a thread about this recently got some helpful answers hopefully this will answer all your question http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=934199

[pmeloche]

Shouldn't the user manual give a list of things to do at regular intervals?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by pmeloche

Shouldn't the user manual give a list of things to do at regular intervals?

It should, and BMW used to provide a maintenance schedule (like most manufacturers still do), but they don't.

The car has a condition-base service (CBS) system that provides notification of when oil changes (oil life monitor), and spark plug changes (100,000 miles for the 325i/328i - 2006 - 2009 MY) are due. On Older cars the CBS would also indicate when the cabin air filter (not the engine air filter) is due for replacement, but that function was removed in 2009 car. The CBS also provides an estimate for when brake pads will be due, but there is also a "positive-due" indicator, which is a constantly red illuminated "Brake" light. The CBS is also settable for reminders for state mechanical inspections and emissions inspections. In the service manual that comes with the information manual set (in the trunk), the fine print tells you coolant is to be changed at 100,000 miles, along with an automatic transmission flush, and that the engine air filter should be changed every 3rd oil change using the elongated BMW Oil Change Interval - OCI - (averages about 15,000 miles), so engine air filters every 45,000 miles or so, which is about the industry norm now a days.

Finally, the CBS has a 30,000 mile inspection notice. This is the famous "red-car-on-lift" symbol with no other service indicator to go along with it. In this case BMW wants you to bring the car in for a routine inspection.

And lastly, the oil life monitor is programmed to become dysfunctional (obsolete) at 186,000 miles, which means at around 200,000 at the next oil change the CBS will not correctly reset the OCI. At around 215K - 220K the CBS will only reset to 0 (zero) miles OCI at the next oil change, which then the car constantly tells you upon start up that the oil change service is past due by counting backwards in negative numbers.

[floydarogers]

Originally Posted by pmeloche

Shouldn't the user manual give a list of things to do at regular intervals?

The Maintenance and Warranty manual does that (not in the big, thick user manual.)

[cnguyen84]

Originally Posted by bracer028

I have a 2007 E90 with 60k miles.

I know i have to do the water pump soon, but what else should i be doing during this maintenance.

coolant flush?
spark plugs?
oil change? which i do every 6 months
transmission flush?

Anythign else?

power steering flush and differential oil

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by bracer028

oil change? which i do every 6 months

uhhh 6 months? Might want to look into that. I mean even if you barely drive the car i would try and squeeze in 3 a year.

I change mine every 7k don't listen to BMW and their 14k change interval or whatever. Especially if modified.

[Kid Red]

I change every 7500 miles and I drive 15k miles a year. That puts me at the same every 6 months as OP.

[tc535i]

Originally Posted by Torgus

uhhh 6 months? Might want to look into that. I mean even if you barely drive the car i would try and squeeze in 3 a year.

uhhh that's a waste of money if you aren't over 5k miles, but to each their own I guess

[AWD Addict]

The Mike Miller schedule is probably the best standardized program out there. Now that I'm out of warranty, that's what I follow. BMW will tell you oil change every 15k, and that you'll never need to change tranny fluid. If you intend to own the car past the maintenance plan, that's all bogus.

Mike doesn't like the plan posted on line (it's copyrighted), but you'll find the PDF via google. It's not a super big secret, as it's effectively the E30 BMW schedule (before BMW started picking up the tab for maintenance, they reccomended a lot more - shocker) Both are available online, though admittedly, Mike has a lot of nice commentary and added information for each item (it's not a simple list).

In short it suggests:

Spark Plugs: every 15k-30k
Air filter: every 15k - 30k
Interior filter: 15k-30k
Fuel filter: 60k
Coolant Flush every 2 years
Coolant & fuel lines ever 150k
Tstat/Water Pump: every 60k (this is a good preventative item)
Power Steering fluid: every 30k
Manual Tranny Fluid: every 30k
ATF: every 60k
Xfer case: every 30k
Diff fluid: every 30k
Brake fluid: every year (seems excessive to me)

Oil's up to you. Most people agree 3k intervals are too frequent, and plenty of oil studies prove that. But 15k is too much. Even with the benefit of modern synthetics, the filter technology has not advanced as well. I stick to 5k- 7500.

[Meeni]

This schedule is completely overcautious for the e90 and throws money out the window without good reasons.

The electric water pump is very expensive, you don't change it just because. Most intervals, the max value is what could be used for min interval, and that's already being extremely proactive.

[SSW]

Originally Posted by Meeni

This schedule is completely overcautious for the e90 and throws money out the window without good reasons.

The electric water pump is very expensive, you don't change it just because. Most intervals, the max value is what could be used for min interval, and that's already being extremely proactive.

+1

The Miller schedule seems to mainly benefit the shop that does the work and/or the companies that sell the products required.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Meeni

This schedule is completely overcautious for the e90 and throws money out the window without good reasons.

The electric water pump is very expensive, you don't change it just because. Most intervals, the max value is what could be used for min interval, and that's already being extremely proactive.

100% agree. My pump went at 149,000. I just changed all the hoses at 236,000 and cut a few up to ease removal and for inspection. All the hoses had plenty of life left in them. I've done diff and trans (manual) fluid changes a bit over 85,000 miles each time, just about to do my third changes). I did coolant at 95K the first time. I did the power steering oil at 150K just for shits and grins.

Miller's schedule is nothing more than BMW's original Oil Service > Inspection I > Oil Service > Inspection II maintenance schedule; there's no magic to it. Copyrighted - LOL.

Water pump money is better spent on buying a BMW scan tool and scanning the car every few months to keep an eye on things IMO.

And unless you want to buy a $200 fuel pump, you can't change the fuel filter on an E90.

[AWD Addict]

Just thought I'd add that while I agree that's a very conservative schedule, I think tranny and diff fluids should be done on that schedule. Mine were both dirty, tranny in particular after 45k.

[Snakedog116]

What do you think about this schedule?
https://www.ecstuning.com/resources/...rsrc=bvadomain

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Snakedog116

What do you think about this schedule?
https://www.ecstuning.com/resources/...rsrc=bvadomain

That schedule is Miller's schedule and was BMW's schedule for cars up until 1996. I have one of the highest miles E90 at over 370,000 and I do my maintenance basically on BMW's CBS schedule. I did coolant hoses at 8 years 230,000 miles - none needed changing, water pump went at 149,000 the replacement is now at 220,000 miles and has not coded once. Plugs every 100,000. Engine airfiter about every 45,000 t0 50,000. I left in once for 80,000 miles. Now since the CBS doesn't report oil intervals, I change every 10,000 miles. Coolant, diff, and trans I've done near 100,000 mile intervals.

The fuel filter is integral to the low-pressure fuel pump. The fuel pump is in the fuel tank. The fuel filter is not replaceable, the fuel pump is over $150. Through December 18, 2018, I've run 13,468 gallons of gasoline through my fuel pump; it's still the original fuel pump. So when their schedule says replace the fuel filter every 45,000 miles, they are just copying the old school maintenance schedule, which is not applicable to the E9X chassis. The serpentine drive belt easily lasts 100,000 miles; it'd probably go 200,000 miles. BMW doesn't call for power steering fluid changes. I've done mine twice at 150,000 mile intervals. What I recommend is cleaning and swapping the VANOS solenoids on the N52 every 50,000 miles or so.


So bottom line, just follow BMW's schedule for the E90.

[nvargas78]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

That schedule is Miller's schedule and was BMW's schedule for cars up until 1996. I have one of the highest miles E90 at over 370,000 and I do my maintenance basically on BMW's CBS schedule. I did coolant hoses at 8 years 230,000 miles - none needed changing, water pump went at 149,000 the replacement is now at 220,000 miles and has not coded once. Plugs every 100,000. Engine airfiter about every 45,000 t0 50,000. I left in once for 80,000 miles. Now since the CBS doesn't report oil intervals, I change every 10,000 miles. Coolant, diff, and trans I've done near 100,000 mile intervals.

The fuel filter is integral to the low-pressure fuel pump. The fuel pump is in the fuel tank. The fuel filter is not replaceable, the fuel pump is over $150. Through December 18, 2018, I've run 13,468 gallons of gasoline through my fuel pump; it's still the original fuel pump. So when their schedule says replace the fuel filter every 45,000 miles, they are just copying the old school maintenance schedule, which is not applicable to the E9X chassis. The serpentine drive belt easily lasts 100,000 miles; it'd probably go 200,000 miles. BMW doesn't call for power steering fluid changes. I've done mine twice at 150,000 mile intervals. What I recommend is cleaning and swapping the VANOS solenoids on the N52 every 50,000 miles or so.


So bottom line, just follow BMW's schedule for the E90.

Awesome advice from someone that's had success. So difficult to filter through the range of advice. Of course someone will always get bitten by a part going out, but impossible if it was due to mods, extreme weather or just bad luck.

Only caveat to this schedule is if you have other repairs that will affect other parts. Meaning, if you have a leaking valve gasket, you may get oil into the plugs/coil, speeding up your interval for those. Will AWD mean you should change your ATF/Diff fluid more frequently (vs. non AWD)?

[charmer37]

My 325i currently have 200,000 miles...I change the oil every 6 to 7 thousand miles, I Changed the coolant, Power steering reservoir and fluid at 170k, I replaced the transmission pan/filter, Connector plug etc,. The electric water pump, Thermostat and hoses and a few other parts was replaced by the original owner at 115k...The only thing I need to replace is my oil pan gasket.

[Frankkkk]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

That schedule is Miller's schedule and was BMW's schedule for cars up until 1996. I have one of the highest miles E90 at over 370,000 and I do my maintenance basically on BMW's CBS schedule. I did coolant hoses at 8 years 230,000 miles - none needed changing, water pump went at 149,000 the replacement is now at 220,000 miles and has not coded once. Plugs every 100,000. Engine airfiter about every 45,000 t0 50,000. I left in once for 80,000 miles. Now since the CBS doesn't report oil intervals, I change every 10,000 miles. Coolant, diff, and trans I've done near 100,000 mile intervals.

The fuel filter is integral to the low-pressure fuel pump. The fuel pump is in the fuel tank. The fuel filter is not replaceable, the fuel pump is over $150. Through December 18, 2018, I've run 13,468 gallons of gasoline through my fuel pump; it's still the original fuel pump. So when their schedule says replace the fuel filter every 45,000 miles, they are just copying the old school maintenance schedule, which is not applicable to the E9X chassis. The serpentine drive belt easily lasts 100,000 miles; it'd probably go 200,000 miles. BMW doesn't call for power steering fluid changes. I've done mine twice at 150,000 mile intervals. What I recommend is cleaning and swapping the VANOS solenoids on the N52 every 50,000 miles or so.


So bottom line, just follow BMW's schedule for the E90.

Hi,
Fully agree, no need to change parts so often. Oil every year or 10 k miles is good enough, it could be as efficient 2 times longer... never push a cold engine, water pump - replace it if broken, that can happen never... just stop the car to avoid overheating, oil filter - with oil change, air - every third oil change, brake fluid every 2 or 3 years, automatic gear every 80/100 k miles, etc

Buy a code reader is a great idea

[mehrlovin]

All of the above is good info. I would add this part, which is a cheap DIY that was just recommended to me, to replace simply plastic part with a metal one. FCP Euro also recommends it on the 100k maint video.

Definitely do the serpentine belt. It's cheap and it's a potential engine killer if it goes. I had a mechanic come to my house and do it for $100.

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Repl...omotive&sr=1-1

[tylat2023]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

That schedule is Miller's schedule and was BMW's schedule for cars up until 1996. I have one of the highest miles E90 at over 370,000 and I do my maintenance basically on BMW's CBS schedule. I did coolant hoses at 8 years 230,000 miles - none needed changing, water pump went at 149,000 the replacement is now at 220,000 miles and has not coded once. Plugs every 100,000. Engine airfiter about every 45,000 t0 50,000. I left in once for 80,000 miles. Now since the CBS doesn't report oil intervals, I change every 10,000 miles. Coolant, diff, and trans I've done near 100,000 mile intervals.

The fuel filter is integral to the low-pressure fuel pump. The fuel pump is in the fuel tank. The fuel filter is not replaceable, the fuel pump is over $150. Through December 18, 2018, I've run 13,468 gallons of gasoline through my fuel pump; it's still the original fuel pump. So when their schedule says replace the fuel filter every 45,000 miles, they are just copying the old school maintenance schedule, which is not applicable to the E9X chassis. The serpentine drive belt easily lasts 100,000 miles; it'd probably go 200,000 miles. BMW doesn't call for power steering fluid changes. I've done mine twice at 150,000 mile intervals. What I recommend is cleaning and swapping the VANOS solenoids on the N52 every 50,000 miles or so.


So bottom line, just follow BMW's schedule for the E90.

Question: what is the schedule for changing these parts:

- struts, control arm, tie rod, wheel hub, shocks and struts?
- ekps fuel module?
- dtml pump?
- vanos solenoid ?
- coolant tubes/hoses?
- window motors
- alternator?
- blower motor?

[POBEP]

Originally Posted by tyronelatour@latouresquir

Question: what is the schedule for changing these parts:

- struts, control arm, tie rod, wheel hub, shocks and struts?
- ekps fuel module?
- dtml pump?
- vanos solenoid ?
- coolant tubes/hoses?
- window motors
- alternator?
- blower motor?

schedule: when it fails (for the quoted list above)