Oil Change

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indyken46619

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Hi,
I attempted my first DIY oil change today and it was a misserable failure. I found the filter hard to get to from either the top or bottom and after what seemed like hours I thought I finally had. When I started up the car I got all the oil on the floor as it leaked from around what I thought was a well seated canister but upon closer examination it was not straight.

Is there any tricks for doing this?
Thx,
Ken
72 3.0 Csi 2260090
 
I'm sure everyone one has a trick or to for this. I used to pull the entire housing from the engine (four bolts) and pull the entire rig up (you need to remove the battery). Once out and on a bench it is much easier deal with. You need to be careful to clean the old gasket out and to never over torque the bolts. I used to buy the housing gaskets by the dozen to support this technique.
 
It sounds like you have an original bottom-bolt canister. They're infamously painful to deal with. Does the canister bolt come out of the bottom? If so, there are a few of things you can do:

1. Get a used top-bolt assembly from any M30 after the E3/E9. The canister bolt is accessed from the top of the unit and is far easier to cope with. It's also a lot easier to see whether you have the rubber o-ring lined up from the top as opposed to lying on your back.

2. If you want to retain the bottom-bolt arrangement, SOP for many folks is to put a baggie around the canister and then remove the 4 bolts fastening the the filter head to the block. It's still a little messy, and you'll need to replace the filter head gasket each time, but you R+R it from the top rather than doing yoga under the car.

3. Korman sells an adapter that allows use of conventional spin-on filters. They're kind of expensive (over $100) but very tidy and simple to use. I found one used a while back and changing the filter is a snap. You'll have to call Korman for a price:
http://www.kormanfastbmw.com/e3e9oili.htm

Nota bene: make sure you oil up the new o-ring before installing it on either type of canister, and/or smear some oil on the rubber gasket of a new spin-on -- it will leak if you don't.
 
Do you have the top mounted or bottom mounted bolt oil filter head housing? The top mounted bolt system is a lot easier to change as you don't have to crawl underneath the car to loosen bolt and remove the filter canister. I've this exact setup now on my coupe.

Check your local Bmw salvage yards for this filter assembly unit as a new complete assembly is quite expensive. Lube the large O ring with a bit of motor oil prior to installation and always put a new crush washer onto bolt even though the old one still appears good. Align canister into head unit and make sure it's properly seated before tightening, tight but not overly tight. The seal and crush washer should be provided with the filter. Use quality filters such as Mahle or Mann only!

I've never try this. It makes sense to use a big heavy duty bag such as a zip lock bag, put it over the filter canister prior to removal. This will probably catch any spillage that that is guaranteed to happen.

The first time is always a mess with oil spillage all over the place but with practice things will become a whole lot cleaner.

Bert
72 3.5 CSi
88 M6
 
Another option on changing the filter housing assembly is to get one with the oil cooler assembly which is attached to the filter head via two hoses. The oil coolers were fitted onto the Euro 635CSi and the later Euro M635 and the US M6 cars.

A good oil cooler system which includes the cooler, the two oil hoses and the entire oil filter assembly lower you oil temperature dramatically, usually by a good 20 to 30 degrees. Good used units could be had for about $200. Only negative thing is the mounting bolt is on the bottom again due to the cooler inlet and outlet line on the top of filter housing. But with this setup, there is a small drain nipple which allows you to drain most of the oil out prior to the canister removal.

Your best option is probably still the top mount system. All derivatives of the post E9/E3 M30 engines which are not oil cooler equipped came with the top mounted bolt filter housings.

Bert
 
Top bolt source

Indyken, I grabbed a top bolt assembly from an abandoned (at least I was told it was abandoned) 530i of 1978 (vintage or so) and have used it over 10 years.

Prior to that I too discovered the mess you got into - and switched to removing the entire housing from the block. I never had to replace the gasket, and it never leaked. There was enough of a mess from my lower timing cover seal, which later required removal of the jesus nut, and all that fun.

But that's something you'll come to later.

Honolulu
 
Oil changes can be made easier.

I use the later top bolt style filter, but as I recall the older style does not have to be as messy as you describe it. I think I finally succombed when I sliced my hand on the sharp steel filter housing. If I am not mistaken, one of the pros to using the old style filter is the fact that other paper elements for GM models may fit, but that is what I have heard.

Back to the use of the old style filter. I found that buying the gallon size plastic bags worked pretty well in retaining the mess even from the bottom. I admit that the hot oil is not easy to handle, but you still have the same problem with even the newer style filter. Similarly, you will likely wash the entire canister assembly while you have it out, so the difference becomes minimal. On the other hand, the steel assembly rusts while the aluminum/pot metal version remains fairly inert. Oh, but that red color on the steel canister!
 
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