1st service completed, all without drama.
Not difficult at all, some basic tips below if anyone is considering DIY bearing in mind I'm a mechanical simpleton.
Get the car warm so the oil flows freely, get the front of the car up (jack, ramps) and supported on axle stands.
Under the car is a helpful access panel:
The sump plug is easy to find just inside this access panel - 17mm socket, have your oil catching thingy ready to go. Remove the filler cover at the top of the engine to let things drain easier (picture below shows re-fitted bolt, untightened)
Leave this draining while you do everything else required for the service.
Undo the oil filter housing - this is a different design to my E85 which needed a large socket, whereas I assume there is a dedicated much larger tool to unscrew the housing cover on the E89 - I used a oil filter wrench in the end with a rag over the cover to not damage it.
Remove the existing filter, replace with new and the 2 o-rings you will get with the filter (one large for the housing lid, one small for the end of the central metal stalky bit. Picture below shows both replaced). Lube both with a finger of fresh oil.
Clean up the filter area - I sucked up what remaining oil I could see in the housing.
Replace the filter by screwing in the housing cover - you will get to the 'end' of the screw thread (same as the coolant reservoir cover).
Replace the air filter. 4 metal clips to undo to release the housing, I removed the forward section of the air filter housing from the front of the air intake completely to remove/replace the filter element - it was then a pain to replace the section I removed, so I popped off the 2 bolts which hold the REAR of the filter housing to the car which gives another couple of inches of movement.
Replace the pollen/cabin filter. This is in the passenger footwell, underneath the glove box - remove the 3 screws nearest the cabin, the plastic trim them removes completely. The pollen filter is under there, held on by a simple plastic cover. Mine clearly not changed for a long time. Kick yourself for not doing it during the MMI installation, even though I had the new filter sitting in the garage.
Picture below shows the cover and the leaves that dropped out when the old filter was removed. I then removed probably double that quantity again just by reaching my hand up inside.
Oil was dripping from the sump maybe 1 drip every 20 seconds at this point, so cleaned up the area (making sure the old washer was off the car - can sometimes stick to the sump) and replace the sump bolt, generally best to use a new bolt and washer - there is a published torque value but I never use a torque wrench for sump bolts these days. Tight enough then a quarter turn hasn't seen me wrong so far.
Published capacity for the 30i is 6.5 litres. I put 6 full litres is, with a view to hoping this would be adequate and the car would alert me if not (no dipstick on these remember - doh).
Double check no oil coming from underneath, replace access panel cover, replace oil filler cap, remove jack stands, lower car and start. Car can sometimes take a couple of minutes to get an oil reading - in my case it gave me the 'full' thumbs up. I then did a 20 minute journey just to make sure everything is working as expected, re-checked the oil at the end, still showing 100%. Suppress irrational thoughts that my oil level sensor is faulty (as I've never, ever had anything OTHER than a 100% reading).
Reward with cup of tea, safe in the knowledge everything has been done correctly and at a fraction of the price of taking to a garage.
but I'm looking forward to it not smelling vaguely of oil after a hard run now the leaks have been resolved. I also get a good warm glow getting non essential, non routine service type stuff done.
Scotland 🏴
