Changing a BMW 330ci's Oil

[OriginHacker21]

Ok, those of you who have or have changed oil in a BMW 330ci (2002 I believe): I need your help.

A friend of mine has this car and I'm wondering how hard it is to change the oil? The car is pretty low to the ground - and we don't have ramps. Is it possible to access the drain plug?

In addition (because I'm lazy) - could you tell me how many quarts of oil it needs & what filter you recommend?

Many thanks!
-Paul

 

[Bryanccfshr]

Have your friend buy a topsider pump instead of ramps( You will not be able to get under this car easily. Don't be lazy.. Look it up or have your friend bring the owners manual. Expect to need 7 or 8 quarts of BMW LL-01 engine oil and it has a cartridge filter. I suggest the appropriate sized socket to get the cap off the filter case.


Here Is a link

 

[OriginHacker21]

Thanks for the forum links. Did some searching, looks like 7 quarts should do it in the E46 engine.

Thanks for the suggestion not to be lazy - I went to some BMW forums and found that you can turn the wheels all the way to the left to reach the drain plug easily with a wrench.

Next time I'm at my friends house I will look. Now to find the oil filter and socket size.

 

[windnsea00]

E46 3-series require a 36mm socket for the oil filter housing, yes I know it's big! Other than that it's rather straight forward if you have worked on German cars before. I would recommend a Mann, Mahle or BMW filter. In the box for the filter they will supply you with a new o-ring for the oil filter housing cap and a washer for the oil pan bolt. Underneath the car there should be a plastic or metal cover that involves using a phillips screwdriver to take off the one screw to access the pan.

For oil, I would recommend an LL-01 approved one. That includes GC 0w30, BMW 5w30, Lubro Moly 5w30, and Mobil 1 0w40. I would imagine Mobil 1 5w40 and Lubro Moly 5w40 would be excellent choices as well even though they are not LL-01 approved. Make sure to get 8 quarts cause I have had to use a bit over 7 quarts to get a full reading before, I also suck the extra oil out of the oil filter housing but I'm overly anal.

 

[Old Mustang Guy]

A friend has a 540i. He told me it has an aluminum oil pan and that the threads are easily stripped. His dealer suctions the oil out because of this.

 

[windnsea00]

quote:

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Originally posted by Old Mustang Guy:
A friend has a 540i. He told me it has an aluminum oil pan and that the threads are easily stripped. His dealer suctions the oil out because of this.

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As long as you don't go insane re-tightning it then you should be fine. Plus you don't want to because then it's much harder to loosen up next time around.

 

[OriginHacker21]

I did this on my own car and gouged my hand on the chassis after pounding the wrench to undo the drain plug... Did it once, won't do it again

.

Thank you for the information about 8 quarts and the 36MM socket for oil filter. My car has a 32MM socket for the cartridge oil filter. Friend will probably use GC 0w30 (I have a big stash).

Is that why BMW can go 15,000 miles on hydrocracked Group III oil??? <-- Because the engine holds almost 8 quarts. I looked at my friend's dip stick and the oil was BLACK as mud at 10k.

 

[windnsea00]

quote:

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Originally posted by OriginHacker21:
I did this on my own car and gouged my hand on the chassis after pounding the wrench to undo the drain plug... Did it once, won't do it again

.

Thank you for the information about 8 quarts and the 36MM socket for oil filter. My car has a 32MM socket for the cartridge oil filter. Friend will probably use GC 0w30 (I have a big stash).

Is that why BMW can go 15,000 miles on hydrocracked Group III oil??? strong>

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The computer will say ~15k miles which is really measured when you have used 660 gallons of fuel. Personally I feel safer doing it in half that time. In some cases it could be a bit wasteful but it surely doesn't hurt.