Upcoming Civic and 335i BMW maintenance

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Now that the charge pipe has been replaced on the BMW(2012 F30 N55 Sedan), I will be delaying the oil change for a tank or two of gas. I have replaced the air filter, cabin air filter and the charge pipe while it was laid up this week. Originally, I was planning on changing oil after this tank of fuel system cleaner was used up but the engine work made me decide to run a few more tanks through so that any introduced dirt can work through the system. This will also allow me to see if any of the above changes or work had any impact on fuel economy in any sizable way(i.e. worrisome level).

I will start looking into walnut blast(DIY feasibility) and atf flush options(definitely ASE shop) for the remainder of the year. This will let me consider some fun modifications once the basic maintenance is up to date.

For the Civic(2008 LX Sedan), new brakes are already in and the first tank of Techron is working through the tank. There is still 60% on the MM, so I have a little time to plan. This is a family car, so maintenance history is not a concern and I do know what they were putting off like brakes. All else was pretty much done as per MM. The motor mount gap on the passenger side is at the thickness of the ignition key (1/8". 6.4mm). This is less than the 1 cm gap that an initial search yielded, but is it completely shot? I notice uneven idle, especially with the AC running. If the mounts are bad, I might be amplifying the roughness as a result.

I am also going to do a few drain and fills of the transmission in the future. The timing will depend on review of the maintenance records and anticipated MM upcoming demands. Currently@ about 78.5k miles on the clock.

Any comments on mounts or any maintenance that I might have left out? These two cars need to go the distance, as I hope to avoid any new outlays for 3-7 years as I aim to save $ for investments both for retirement and a toy car.
 
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
what does a charge pipe do


It's the post-turbo (or supercharger too?) pipe that delivers compressed air to the intercooler, or from the intercooler to the intake.
 
Spark plugs are due every 45k on these motors IIRC, check the rear shocks and see if theyre leaking as well. You dont need the walnut blaster to do a thorough carbon cleaning, just 4 or 5 cans of heavy duty carb cleaner, a pick, and some compressed air to blow the pieces out. Set of intake gaskts and tons of patience help too.
 
In my opinion, you've got it backwards on the BMW. DIY the transmission oil change and have a shop do the walnut blast. They'll need to change your oil afterwards anyway and shouldn't charge you much, if any, additional labor for the spark plugs.
 
The intake cleaning isn't hard. We used to use seafoam at the dealer before the walnut shell blaster came out. Just fill up the ports a bit (valves closed obviously) and use acid brushes, pipe cleaners, picks, etc. Suck it out with a vac-ula or even a skinny turkey baster. Maybe have a second go at it with carb cleaner for final touches, but the sea foam softens that stuff up real nice.
 
The reading of the BMW ATF thread has me more scared of the transmission fluid change. The walnut blasting seems straight forward and easier than even using carb cleaner and brushes. I have both a mityvac if I go the carb cleaner route and a shop vac for the blasting.

Thanks for the heads up on the spark plugs. I have not seen this anywhere, but will put it on the list to research. If I have if ripped down that far, I might as well do the plugs if they are even remotely close to being due.
 
What makes you think that a walnut blasting is necessary?

What dirt off you think will get worked through that didn't in the first 5 minutes of operation?

Is there any good reason why you couldn't do a drain and fill of the ATF, especially if you measure how much you took out?
 
Walnut blasting on DI only engines is common, especially if applying a tune is desired. As mentioned, waiting a few tanks is mainly to check delta in fuel economy. With the amounts of oil coating the insides of the system, some dirt could theoretically take time to work through, but would most likely just get stuck in place. The main benefit will be to be able to take a weekend off from touching a car for maintenance, unless washing counts.

I haven't researched the ATF job, but lack of a fill place and having to drop the pan makes it a little more involved than the Civic which has dipstick and drain plug.... I haven't ruled anything out right now, just ststed likelihoods. I am going to get prices from an independent dealer on all the BMW work. That way I can know how much I save if I DIY and also decide if it is worth the saving of time I have them do it.

The charge pipe probably took me 7x the time to do vs what is quoted in the book. Hesitancy to break expensive bits made me a little slower.

I started this thread to see if people had insight on things I might be overlooking and or good tips on what was mentioned. I have just gotten out of the safety critical and required to drive maintenance cycle, so I can now come up for air and plan a bit.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
What makes you think that a walnut blasting is necessary?

What dirt off you think will get worked through that didn't in the first 5 minutes of operation?

Is there any good reason why you couldn't do a drain and fill of the ATF, especially if you measure how much you took out?


+1

Walnut blasting is needed more on the N54 engines, not so much with the N55. How many miles do you have on it?
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
What makes you think that a walnut blasting is necessary?

What dirt off you think will get worked through that didn't in the first 5 minutes of operation?

Is there any good reason why you couldn't do a drain and fill of the ATF, especially if you measure how much you took out?


Walnut blasting will not be necessary with the N55 motors.

Even owners with 100k pull off the intake and it still looks clean. Valvetronic makes a huge difference.
 
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Thanks for the feedback. This also helps explain why no oil catch cans(after casual search) are available from the main BMW tuners.

The plugs are usually changed out at 60k. As none of the above is pressing, I will pencil in the OC for the next convenient time I have on the calendar. The ATF change still needs further investigation. The car runs great and gets relatively good fuel economy for the power, so no real issues pushing me to change things out past what has already been done and will be done within the month.

Current BMW OCI is coming up on 12 months, but not many miles... Last change 7/1/2016 @41,737. Currently @46850 or so. 5k miles and one year...I am not feeling so pressed to do it. Finishing this tank of gas and one more will probably take me to the end of next week and another 600 miles. If I use this on my commute, I can pile on about 400 miles a week. Right now, it is used for occasional errands during the month and I use it for up to a week of commuting each month. Given the exclusive TX history, it has been warm and usually driven for trips greater than 15 minutes one way. This past year was the exception, as my wife volunteers at the elementary school that is about 2 miles away so there have been some short trips.

We both got a nice little shower of BMW LL-01 from the induction system. The upcoming change will be the first non BMW oil, as I got a bunch of free oil when I bought the car and the low usage has never prompted intermediate changes outside of the annual. No measurable oil consumption in the past, with the reading maxxed out on the top line for the past few years. So much so, I would believe you if you told me that it was a JPG that the computer displays after revving the engine to make you think it is doing something useful. Does this tick down in increments or vary continually based on actually measurement like a real dipstick that it mimics?

Apologies for the stream of thought. I appreciate your remarks, help and calls to sanity.
 
@mightymousetech - It looks like the motor mount on the Civic should be changed out and I will do the torque strut mount along with it. Are any of the other mounts likely to also need replacement or is it limited to this one on the passenger side?
 
Originally Posted By: Coprolite
@mightymousetech - It looks like the motor mount on the Civic should be changed out and I will do the torque strut mount along with it. Are any of the other mounts likely to also need replacement or is it limited to this one on the passenger side?



Very unlikely to need anything else.
 
bump up the oil grade, consider tcw-3 in the fuel so you can focus on maintaining suspension parts if need be.
 
Bump up what oil grade and why? Neither use oil. All BMW-LL01 is basically the same functional grade.

Is there some suspension to worry about?
 
Originally Posted By: dblshock
bump up the oil grade, consider tcw-3 in the fuel so you can focus on maintaining suspension parts if need be.


Why would he do either of those things?
 
Originally Posted By: mightymousetech
Originally Posted By: dblshock
bump up the oil grade, consider tcw-3 in the fuel so you can focus on maintaining suspension parts if need be.

Why would he do either of those things?

Why indeed...
 
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