[jsouth]

Originally Posted by ram.matthew

I did my oil change this morning which only took 20 minutes or so. With the oil filter mounted on top of the engine, I thought it was an easier oil change than on most cars which came as a big surprise to me.

Totally agree. I have been doing my own maintenance for 40 years and this car is by far the easiest one in which I have ever changed the oil.

Originally Posted by ram.matthew

I've never replaced a top mounted oil filter but that too was pretty intuitive. Once you've unscrewed the filter unit, the filter comes out with a small amount of force. Removing the two seals is easy with the help of a flat head. The parts of the unit that the seals sit upon seem pretty durable but I was cautious not to cause damage. Seating the new seals was simple enough as well. The only confusion I had was in installing the new filter. It goes down with a little bit of force. Initially I didn't have it fully seated and quickly learned to push with a little more force. Reinstallation is easy too, using the same 25 Nm as the drain plug.

Easy there, big fella! Drain plug torque is 7Nm (5.16 ft-lbs), not 25 Nm like the filter housing. I have in the past used a 1/4" torque wrench on the drain plug (62 inch-lbs = 5.16 ft-lbs) but don't find it necessary anymore.

Originally Posted by ram.matthew

Only thing to note with the oil filter is when you're removing it, have paper towels handy as there's a decent amount of oil that will drip down and the alternator is directly below it.

I lift the filter and let it drain into the housing quite a while before removing it to minimize drips. I put a towel over the alternator in advance to catch drips.

Originally Posted by ram.matthew

I bought Castrol 0W-something (can't recall, 30 or 40) Euro spec with specific mention of BMW LL-01 on the back. None of the Penzoil or Mobil 1 products had BMW spec noted although Audi, Mercedes, etc. we included on their bottles. I did realized this morning that the car takes 5 LITERS and US sells quarts. 5 liters converts to 5.28 quarts. Since 5 quarts would be underfilling by roughly 5%, I figure I would fill up with 5 quarts and run the analyzer to see if more is needed.

Many of the German brands which meet the LL-01 spec come in 5L containers. I look for them specifically, since it is so easy then to dump the entire container in and know that the correct amount is in the engine. I have used LiquiMoly and Ravenol, in addition to Castrol. All 5W-30.