Bavarian-Board.co.uk - BMW Owners Discussion Forum Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home > Technical & Model Specific Forums > BMW 5 Series
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - E60 (545i) Oil Service.  How to do it yourself
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Register Register  Login Login

Forum LockedE60 (545i) Oil Service. How to do it yourself

 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
Message
Andrew Rolland View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar
Go away rain

Joined: 19-August-2004
Location: Scotland
Status: Offline
Points: 6579
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Andrew Rolland Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: E60 (545i) Oil Service. How to do it yourself
    Posted: 11-June-2012 at 22:04
E60 (545i) Oil Service. 

 

Tools you will need

 

Means to support the car so that it is level but high enough for you to access underneath it.

Small and medium flat blade screwdrivers

6mm Allen key for oil filter housing drain plug

8mm Allen key for engine sump drain plug

24mm socket for oil filter housing

Torque wrench to measure between 10Nm and 35NmNo. 2 Pozidrive screwdriver for access hatch

8 litres of your chosen flavour of engine oil

A container big enough to catch 8 litres of used engine oil

Loads of pairs of disposable gloves and wipes.

And as usual my dad to help.

 

Unlike the 6 pot engines the V8 has its oil filter tucked far away underneath the engine at the rear.  It is only just in front of the bellhousing on the centre line of the engine.  The oil filter is located onto the rear of the oil pump and the sump pan which is kidney shaped curls around the oil filter housing.

 

I drove my car up onto wooden ramps which were placed on the sloping pavement in front of my driveway.  This allows the car to remain level (to allow the sump to drain) and provided enough access to crawl underneath.  I had driven the car for about 15 mins to make sure the oil was up to temperature and more likely to flow out easier and with hopefully any sludge.

 

 

Oil service please!

 

 

New parts laid out on boot floor.  The BMW oil filter comes with a replacement sump copper O ring, a new rubber O ring for the oil filter housing drain plug and the large new rubber O ring for the oil filter housing to oil pump seal.  I bought a new sump plug also.

 

The oil filter is a cylinder of concertinaed paper sandwiched between two plastic discs.  More on this later!

 

The oil filter housing and sump drain plug are accessed via small hatch in the rear engine belly tray.  Slacken off the pozidrive screw and unclip to two forward clips.  The hatch will now hang down vertically exposing the filter and sump drain plug.

 

 

Access hatch

 

 

Oil filter housing showing central drain plug (6mm Allen key)

 

Undo and remove the oil filter housing drain plug and be prepared to catch about 1 litre of engine oil.  Using a 24mm socket undo and remove the oil filter housing, this now exposed the oil filter left stuck to the underside of the oil pump.

 

Oil filter was pulled off from the oil pump which left stuck around the spigot of the oil pump feed the top plastic disc that was on to the top of the oil filter.

 
Edit following the next oil service!  Grip the paper oil filter element and twist anti-clockwise, i.e. unscrew the filter.  The paper element sits over the oil pump/filter feed pipe which is screwed into the oil pump.  Unscrewing the oil pump/filter feed pipe with the paper element still on it was so much easier this time!

 

Oh dear or words very similar. 

 

I had to now remove the top of the old oil filter which was stuck around the oil pump/filter feed pump spigot.  Swallowed a brave pill and after 15 mins of burning my fingers on the rather hot oil pump, prising and levering the disc was removed.  What made life easier was to unscrew the oil pump/filter feed pipe. (part #2)

 

 

You can now see the old oil filter, old O rings and the top black disc that had separated from the filter and was left on the oil pump.  Be warned this common size of oil drain pan is not big enough to catch all 8 litres of sump oil.

 

 

 

Looking up to the oil pump where the oil filter sits.  The central threads are for the oil pump/filter feed pipe. You can read that the manufacture date of the oil pump was April 2004 which ties in nicely with the cars build date.

 

Using the 8mm Allen key I removed the sump plug and caught about 7 litres of used engine oil.

 

The oil filter housing was cleaned up, new O rings were lubricated with new engine oil and fitted to both the oil filter housing and the oil filter housings drain plug.  A new sump plug and sealing washer were also lubricated with new engine oil and then torqued to 35Nm.  The oil filter housing drain plug was torqued by hand (10Nm) and then the new filter was clipped into the inside of the oil filter housing and then the oil filter housing containing the new filter was fitted to the oil pump.  Torque to 25Nm.

 

Pour in 8 litres of your chosen engine oil.  I used Castrol Edge FST 5W-30 which meets BMW longlife 04 spec.  Should be longlife 01 but that oil spec is being done away with and BMW will pour Castrol Edge FST 5W-30 into the sumps of all BMW engines except M models so that was good enough for me.

 

After checking the oil level, start the engine.  I was expecting the oil pressure warning light/message to appear as I had read that from TIS but all was well on start up.  Engine sounded smooth and quiet.  Ran engine for 5 minutes and checked for leaks and then checked oil level. All good.

 

After cleaning hands and tools I reset the iDrive and filled out my service book.

 

 

Result.

 

BMW charged me in July 2010, £202 for an oil service.  Their oil prices are significantly higher as they only sell oil per litre and not in 4 litre bottles.

 

Oil filter incl seals from BMW £18.90.  Oil from EuroCar Parts £77.12. (2 x 4 litres at £38.56 per 4 litres)  So done for less than £100 and saved over £100.

 

Result again.

 

I would guess that the newer E60 540i and 550i will be similar.

 

Andrew

 

Edited 28.04.14 to make clear how the remove the oil filter paper element without leaving a bit of the filter stuck to the oil pump!  See post below from 27.04.14!


Edited by Andrew Rolland - 28-April-2014 at 13:24
Be exclusive and drive a Petrol 5 Series!

Current
'13 62 F10 535i MSport Auto

Previous
'04 04 E60 545i SE Auto
'03 53 E60 545i SE Auto (Stolen)
'98 S E39 523i SE Auto
Back to Top
Sponsored Links


Back to Top
UweM3 View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 11-February-2003
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 5445
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote UweM3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-June-2012 at 13:45
nice write up. How do you reset the Service Indicator?

Only thing you will miss is the stamp in the service booklet.
E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg.....
Back to Top
Andrew Rolland View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar
Go away rain

Joined: 19-August-2004
Location: Scotland
Status: Offline
Points: 6579
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Andrew Rolland Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-June-2012 at 19:50
Thanks
 
See here for iDrive reset instructions.
 
I'm not bothered about a dealer stamp in my service book.  As I have bought a genuine oil filter from BMW I get a BMW invoice, which I then write the invoice number into the service book space.  So any future owner will have all the receipts/invoices and will be able to cross reference the number I've written in the service book with the relevant receipt/invoice. All parts I've fitted so far have a corresponding BMW receipt/invoice except the front brake pads, but these are OEM Textar from ECP so no great worries about quality.
 
Mine is now 8 years old so when the time ever does come to trade her in, having a fully stamped service book will not make a huge difference in trade in price in my mind, plus I have logged proof of the parts I've fitted in the service book and if anyone did an interent search on here they would find my posts on here as a service record.   Plus I reckon I will have saved more cash doing it myself than any difference in trade in price that I might get.
 
Besides a V8 petrol powered beast has a trade in value of approx. £0.47 at the moment as the world is unfortunatley obsessed with emmisions so DIY records of servicing will make hee haw difference.
 
Andrew
Be exclusive and drive a Petrol 5 Series!

Current
'13 62 F10 535i MSport Auto

Previous
'04 04 E60 545i SE Auto
'03 53 E60 545i SE Auto (Stolen)
'98 S E39 523i SE Auto
Back to Top
UweM3 View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar

Joined: 11-February-2003
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 5445
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote UweM3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-June-2012 at 10:18
Andrew, fully agree with you.

I would rather buy a car from somebody I can see that the car has been serviced, than a book full of meaningless stamps
E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg.....
Back to Top
Andrew Rolland View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
Avatar
Go away rain

Joined: 19-August-2004
Location: Scotland
Status: Offline
Points: 6579
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Andrew Rolland Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-April-2014 at 16:25
Right, 11,142 miles and virtually 2 years later it is time for another oil change. Oil service for this E60 is 2 years or 19,000 miles which ever comes first, mileage is based on condition, driving style including consumption and engine temperatures. I'm doing much less miles these days, so engine wants oil changing at much lower miles.

Driving the car two days ago it said 160 miles to oil service, drove the car (towing 500kg trailer) at a steady 40-50mph yesterday and the oil service increased to 350 miles to go!

The oil filter again stayed stuck to the oil pump spigot but what I did this time was grip the paper filter and unscrewed it. What this did was to grip the oil pump pick up pipe (part #2) and unscrew the oil pump pick up pipe from the oil pump with the oil filter stuck to it. Basically I unscrewed the old filter from the oil pump then in the comfort out from under the car, separated the oil filter from the oil pump pick up pipe.

The new filter clicks into the black oil filter housing and is screwed into place, this pushes the oil filter up and around the oil pump pick up pipe.

Poured 8 litres of Castrol Edge FST 5W-40 into the sump. That's two full bottles, glug, gone.

Oil filter was genuine BMW (Hengst) bought as part of a value service pack including the cabin pollen filters and the oil was bought from Costco £29.99 for 4 litres, about the cheapest anywhere.

As usual my dad helped me again, labour free. Cost of oil £59.98 for 8 litres filter is about ~£19 from BMW which includes sump plug copper sealing ring and two rubber O rings for the filter housing.
Be exclusive and drive a Petrol 5 Series!

Current
'13 62 F10 535i MSport Auto

Previous
'04 04 E60 545i SE Auto
'03 53 E60 545i SE Auto (Stolen)
'98 S E39 523i SE Auto
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.188 seconds.