I managed to get a new oil filter (OEM) for my 320D virtually free – so I thought I’d throw my hand at doing the oil change myself.

I’m not a mechanic, but I have done other work before (e.g. swirl flaps, new radiator e.t.c) much harder than an oil change.

But 6L of Castrol edge 0w30 is close on £55 (£37 for 4l). And I’d need a 36mm socket (another fiver).

And somewhere like national tyres will do the whole change, including filters for £45.

And you can sit and drink coffee whilst they do it for you.

Am I missing something here?

Depends on your car I guess. I always do it myself, but then a filter costs a fiver, and 5l of 10w40 at Tesco was £12 last time I did it.

I wouldn’t imagine they are using the same quality oil they would use a cheaper ‘equivilant’

you need to find a better oil supplier – it only has to meet BM spec

you are deluded if you think national will fill it with edge 0w30 for that price

National Tyres and the like will use the cheapest parts and oil possible. No doubt when the do the work it will also be as quick as possible so will they have completely drained the oil before putting the new stuff in. Then you’ll get the phone call to let you know that something is dangerous and must be changed.
Doing it your self you know it has been done right with the correct spec filters and oil. Shoddy dealer services is why I started doing my own services. I’ve never had a car that’s broken down since and saved a small fortune too.

Last time I did diy it cost the same as the local cheapo place. But this was deemed worth it after I discovered how.little they actually do.

They quoted castrol 5w30 when I asked them the last time I popped in.

So properbikeco – how about a suggestion rather than just being rude?

I had this dilemma with our 320d a while back and decided to let the garage do it.
Don’t quote me on these figures but to do it myself was going to cost around £100 and the garage charged £120. Factor in my time and the mess / disposal of old oil it just wasn’t worth it. The garage is a very good bmw specialist and used the correct spec oil.
I used to do all my own oil changes but its not worth the hassle for the sake of £20.

They suck the old oil out through the dipstick tube. Saver lots of labour as many cars will need undertrays etc removing to get at the sump plug. You can often get at the filter from the top.

They quoted castrol 5w30 when I asked them the last time I popped in.

5W30 is usually a semi synthetic whilst 0w30 are fully synthetic. BMW spec the oil to increase service intervals and improve fuel economy.

I hated doing oil changes as no matter what you do they always get onto you.
I do like the ability to change the oil with known quality stuff and during the evening or on a day off so i don’t have to loose the car and a hand full of money.
I fitted these to both car and camper. http://www.quickvalve.co.uk/
hopefully it’ll change the way i do oil as I can tap it off without mess. Finger crossed.

I enjoy a leasurely oil change between every service. Car definately likes it. You will use better oil than they will.

I do it most of the time, as others have said you get to use your own choice of oil. I warm the engine first drain for about 20 mins to ensure that the last drop comes out.
I then pour a little amount of new into the engine and wait untill it comes out of the sump before re filling.

I doubt that the fast fit establishments go that trouble, they take the time to check for worn disks and pads !!!

Where are you getting that price for the oil? When I did mine, Halfrauds prices made it seem hardly worth it, oil from the motor factors down the road was a huge amount cheaper. Can’t remember exactly how much, but far less than the cheapest oil change I could get for proper branded fully synthetic oil.

Eurocarparts 4L of Edge fully synthetic 0w30 is £36.99 – I can’t find it anywhere cheaper?

oi continuity – rude!!! me!!!

in your handbook you will find the BM oil spec your car needs

simply find a supply of this (try ecp) and buy it

don’t get hung up on castrol edge – all oils shear down and if it meets the spec it will do fine for the year or so it will be in your engine

halfords usually has oil deals every few months and is good value too – again if it meets the spec it will be fine

Try micksgarage.com for castrol oil.. Bought 12l for about £65 using a voucher code last time I bought some

If you want the STW of oils then you need to use Millers Oils, all my cars have ran Millers oils in engine/gearbox.

Even just browsing http://www.eurocarparts.com/0w30-engine-oil

Nothing comes in at much below £32 for 4l.

The cheapest 5w30 that is LL04 certified is £28

Most garages, in my experience, will simply never warm the engine up and drain all the old oil out properly. They just can’t be assed, or haven’t got the time.

For this reason, I would always change the oil myself, if I could. Trouble is, to do this without it being a total PITA, you need an inspection pit, or hydraulic ramp.

I like the idea of sucking the old oil out the dipstick hole though – how do you do that?

The last place I went to appeared to have simply filled the engine up with the list specified quantity of oil – without letting all the old stuff come out.

Net result – murky ‘new’ oil – but also completely overfilled engine.. 😕

Funnily enough tesco is cheaper than anywhere else – £9/l.

As an ‘ex mechanic’ I do my own. About £25 or less for 5ltrs of Quantum 5w-30, £5 for a filter. Car on the drive, jack up the opposite side to the sump plug, drain & have a cuppa/read paper/fettle MTB etc etc etc.

Funnily enough tesco is cheaper than anywhere else – £9/l.

Try Costco if you have a card / know someone with one. From memory, 4L Mobil 1 is about £24 (inc vat), Edge is about £30 and you can get twin packs (8L) of GTX Magnatec for about £35, both the semi and fully synthetic flavours…

I guess it depends on “Why?”

Does BMW recommend an intermediate oil change?
Is it a one-off because you’ve got a free filter or will you keep doing it?
If it’s a regular oil change then it’s worth buying another socket and DIY

Is the car due for servicing, in which case who will do the rest of the service?
If a garage will do the service then I’d ask them to use my filter as part of the service and not bother with doing the oil myself (the garage probably buy oil in 200 litre drums)
If you intend doing the service then crack on

HTH

My local van specialist is barely more than the cost of the parts for a basic oil & filters service and he genuinely loves T5s, the oddball! Means he does a proper job.
Last time he also replaced my wobbly wiper switch for a new one for the cost of parts, and re gassed my air con for an extra £20, so I reckon it’s worth paying him. Plus nowadays I can afford to pay someone, and I can’t be arsed. I spent too many years rolling around under air cooled VWs and Landrovers…

Not convinced by the sucking-it-out-through-the-dipstick-hole method; the sump plug will be the lowest point in the engine, but there’s no guarantee a flexi tube will get to the same spot. So a strong chance of loads of old oil being carried over to mix with the fresh. I’m on my second 320D, and have always done the oil+filter by parking one side on the curb and reaching under from the front. Easy enough job, and a box of nitrile gloves makes it clean enough.

Always worth it.

You get to check all the other stuff at the same time. Buy a dipstick drainer like this:

Note that some people will argue that you can’t get all the oil out – ignore them.

No mess no fuss. Change the oil every 10k or less an it’s win, win and some more win.

No need for a ‘genuine’ filter either, just a quality one – Mann, Purflux etc.

Hth
Marko

Note that some people will argue that you can’t get all the oil out – ignore them.

– and if you know how much is going in you can check how much has come out.

Read The Engine Oil Bible to understand why you are wasting your money if you buy a fancy branded oil. Then you’ll also understand why regularity of oil changes is far more important than the name on the can, especially with diesels.

Not convinced by the sucking-it-out-through-the-dipstick-hole method; the sump plug will be the lowest point in the engine

Not in my car, the sump plug is recessed in the sump meaning there is about 10 mm oil in the bottom of the sump that will not drain out, Manufacturer recommends using a suction device for this.

£45?!! I’d be surprised if on the really cheap deals at those national places they actually change the oil- especially on diesels (where the oil goes black v.quickly again) and just give an oily rag wipe round the areas that you’d suspiciously visually check.

You could think to yourself ‘ah yes its a cheap deal as they’ll get a captive customer in to check for brakes/pads/tyres’.

Its still suspiciously very cheap.

Things like oil and coolant I’d take it to a very trusted place I’d used before or do it myself. I’m getting my car done atthe Subaru garage (£120) to keep the history but in 6months intervals I’ll change it myself.

Same with bikes- unless I know the bloke I don’t feel comfortable.

320d is one of the easier cars I have owned to change oil and filter. Little flap in undertray to open to get to drain plug. And cartridge filter to drop in the top so no mess at all. 5 minute job. I tried sucking it out through the dipstick tube once. It took about an hour and when I checked by tasking out the drain plug there was well over a litre left in there!

However, of all the things that can go wrong with your car, most of them are not caused by lack of oil lubricity. Big ends and the like don’t really fail do they? Most cars going to the scrappy I’d wager have mechanically sound engines. Unless they’ve been run dry at some point.

I suppose turbo failure?

I have one of these

Excellent thing, though it likes warm oil, much quicker to suck up.
I set it off then go round check the tyres, remove the old filter and other servicey things while it does its business.

I needed to take the sump plug out last time I did an oil change and there was very little oil left in there, just a dribble.

Also bought the vagcom interface so I can link the laptop up and reset the SRI. That was £150 or so, but I figured that a garage charges £100+, parts cost about £50 so it’ll be 3 services and its paid for itself. Plus all the other diagnostics/changes you can make with it…

For those that are planning to do their own oil changes, or do so, how do you get round the service interval programmed into the ecu?

I change my van oil myself. Don’t even have to jack it up. 😀

Blimy Molgrips, just think about all the stuff the oil touches as it flows round the engine, not just the big-ends. Camshaft and followers, cylinder bores and rings, turbo, seals etc. It’s a coolant as well, and runs through small galleries and filters, gathering up all the soot and shit the engine produces. Probably the most critical component in the engine.

Oh, and there’s often (not always) a way to reset the service indicator, pressing the trip computer reset for a few seconds while turning on the ignition is how to do it on a Peugeot.

Yes, there are lots of things the oil does – but I reckon that these days those things aren’t usually the things that go wrong. Except turbos I suppose.

Re the service indicator – I have VCDS.

Lots of the DPF heartache we hear about is partly due to not using the correct low ash oil, along with turbo woes.
No way I’d trust some cheapo place to be using the right oil.

do mine my self.

was 40 quid last time for filters and fluids, as sabove i rarely use fancy oil , usually what evers up to spec and meets the criteria from the manufacturer. – although i do change every 8k My Dirty diesel stays quieter with regular changes. How ever i do pony up for good filters having seen what a colapsed filter does…….. baring in mind that branded filters colapse too so no way im trusting a 50 p cheapo filter to be A the right filtration thats stated on it and B not to colapse.

its good to know whats up and under your car as you can spot developing problems .

a jiffy lube doesnt care if your wheel bearings on its way out or your CV boot is torn , it just wants the easy money – pads/disks/exhausts

but then my regular servicing and keeping on top of the maintainance is probably why my 100000 mile old french car just sailed through another MOT on first present and doesnt give me big bills.

– Ok i did change a Nearside wheelbearing/ Drive shaft seal / TRE and ARB drop link the week before but better than the expense of submitting a car with obvious and easy to fix defects. – the above cost me 60 quid and a saturday morning.

Mine takes 229.3 MB spec, with 0w40 Mobil 1 being preferred apparently. 7.5L of the stuff. Not a cheap grade to buy and not a convenient quantity either! Better to take advantage of bulk buying power of the local specialist at the volume I reckon.