OIL CHANGE

C

CYCLONE2

Member
Well my warranty period is over and from now on I'll be changing my own oil. I've always changed my own oil in my cars, motorcycles, trucks, lawn mowers and etc. etc. I've never even seen the underside of the Z so are there any surprises I'll need to look out for? I'm assuming to get the car up high enough to be able to get under it. After that take out the drain plug. I'm assuming there's only one. My motorcycle has two. Next take off oil filter. Install new oil filter, install drain plug, and fill up the oil.
So, is a BMW filter recommended or are there other brands as good or better? I see they call for Castrol synthetic. Is it a good idea to stay with that or are there other oils that would be a good choice? Stay with synthetic? Any computer things that need to get reprogrammed? Does the filter require a special wrench?
I'm sure the brand of oil gets much debate. I know discussions of oil to be used in a motorcycle brings many different opinions. Thanks in advance for any tips. :)
 
the filter doesnt require a special wrench, imo. just some elbow grease! as for staying with the oil brands... ive heard lots of good things about royal purple. using bmw's own oil doesn't hurt either and also using castrol syntec is good, as well. it's really up to you and what your driving demands.

i alternate between royal purple, bmw's own, and castrol syntec. depending on my mood.


and btw.. there is a big shield underneath the car.. don't be surprised. you'll know where to go
 
i have been told that the OEM oil is not the same as "normal" Castrol Syntec. OEM oil is the "long life" Castrol oil.

no surprises. with the filter being so easily accessible, I say it's easier to do that most other cars.

currently have Amsoil in my Z4, but wouldn't hesitate to go with Royal Purple or OEM either.

good luck!
 
I'll be off to buy some LLO4 rated Castrol Edge 5W30 for mine this week for the service. 8L then I have 1.5L spare for top-ups etc till the next service :)

Brmmmm!
 
So 6.5l roughly for a 3.0l? Think i might do an oil change, i don't like these 15k mile service intervals?!
 
I think the Castrol site said 6.5L yeah.

15k interval is fine unless you are doing autocross/track days etc, or very very hard road use... remember, it's based on mpg, so if you are averaging ~ 29mpg the engine can't be being used that hard to require shorter intervals with these very good oils.
If you are averaging 23mpg say, then your interval is likely more like 12k miles anyway, and over that 15k miles my car would probably use about 1.5L of top-up oil anyway, so 20% ish of the oil would be fairly new at any given time anyway.

More important, I would say, would be getting a good oil when you do the change, and warming the engine up before really using the revs/power.

Dave
 
E85 said:
i have been told that the OEM oil is not the same as "normal" Castrol Syntec. OEM oil is the "long life" Castrol oil.

no surprises. with the filter being so easily accessible, I say it's easier to do that most other cars.

currently have Amsoil in my Z4, but wouldn't hesitate to go with Royal Purple or OEM either.

good luck!
Click to expand...

Castro Syntech is a brand name for their synthetic/conventional oil mix. DO NOT USE IT! BMW oil they sell at the dealer is made by Castrol and is 100% synthetic. Use this or Mobil1 and you'll be fine.

I love that the filter is on the top of the engine. Easy access... Never heard of anyone else making the filter besides BMW's supplier.. and they give you a new o-ring for the filter cover and metal washer for the drain plug too.
 
Anyone have experience with castrol Edge?? I rev the ass outta my car and I think that she would deserve better liquids as a compensation... :P
 
I just purchased an oil filter from autozone made by K&N... ill post pictures on here when i pick it up tomorrow. It was special order... :|
 
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