[AS335i]

Hey everyone, I'm new to F30s, just picked up my first one and I had a question about maintenance for f30s. I started with an e46 330i, moved to an e90 335i and now I'm on my current car: f30 330i.

Apologies for the wall of text, but I wanted to give some background, skip to the bottom for a TLDR. I had my e46 from 30k miles to 160k, and it was still running strong. I used Mike Miller's Lifetime Maintenance schedule, and was on top of servicing and replaced everything according to his guidelines. Outside of that scheduled maintenance, the car had 0 issues.

My e90 335 on the other hand was the complete opposite. I got it with 70k miles and it was apparent that the previous owner did not service it at all. Everything from the hpfp to the injectors to the coils all failed. It got to the point where I was spending 3-4k a year on repair costs, so I sold it and got a CPO f30.

I want to avoid my previous mistake, and keep up with my current 330i so that I can keep it as long at my e46 and have it stay reliable and running well. I've been looking around for a maintenance schedule for f30s, but there doesn't seem to be clear consensus. The BMW dealerships numbers for maintenance seem to be BS (lifelong ATF? 10k miles per oil change?). Is there a good breakdown of what I should be replacing, monitoring and servicing? It is currently at 24k miles

What I've compiled so far:

Oil every 7k miles
Cabin air filter every 20k miles (check earlier)
Engine air filter every 20k miles (check earlier)
Spark plugs every 60k miles
ATF pan+fluid every 75k miles (can do differential fluid too)
Brake fluid flush every 2 years
Coolant every 70k

TLDR: I have a 2017 330i with 24k miles, and am interested in what I should be servicing and replacing. Is there anything else I should add to make sure I'm upkeeping my f30? Is Mike Millers maintenance schedule still relevant for the f30? Any and all info is appreciated!

[thejeremyman9]

Add brake fluid flush every 2 years if you want to be preventative. You can also consider diff and t-case (if Xdrive) at the time of ATF. Also the ATF is not a 'flush', its pan+fluid (pan contains filter). There are kits for that.

Air filter 50k might be a bit long if you live in a dusty environment. Just check it more often than that.

Spark plug intervals will be shortened if you tune. 60k is normal recommendation for a stock car, a little sooner wouldn't hurt, especially if you DIY so labor is not a concern.

And if you are DIY, i would recommend doing a blackstone labs oil sample maybe every 25-30k miles or so. Nice data to have.

[chowser51]

I change my cabin and engine air filter every spring. It’s cheap and easy. Brake fluid every two years (again, cheap). Oil every 6 months (usually around 7.5k miles). I plan on doing 20k intervals on the plugs. Will do the coils at 80k. Running bm3 stage 1 on stock car.

Will probably past 70k next week. Coolant and thermostat were done around 62k.
Haven’t thought about the transmission yet.

[samgraveno]

Originally Posted by chowser51

I change my cabin and engine air filter every spring. It’s cheap and easy. Brake fluid every two years (again, cheap). Oil every 6 months (usually around 7.5k miles). I plan on doing 20k intervals on the plugs. Will do the coils at 80k. Running bm3 stage 1 on stock car.

Will probably past 70k next week. Coolant and thermostat were done around 62k.
Haven’t thought about the transmission yet.

My maintenance just ran out on my 17 330i so I will be attempting to do my own oil change, cabin and air filter in a few weeks. Watched a few YouTube videos and it seems pretty easy. How do you like bm3 stage 1? Thinking of trying it out since my warranty will be up in May.

[chowser51]

had the old 1.3 version for almost a year and 14k miles and it was great. v. 2.0 just came out for the b48-f-l engine and it's even better! if the snow clears out today then i plan on trying it some more and seeing if i can kill some tread off my pilot a/s 3+ tires.

[AS335i]

Originally Posted by thejeremyman9

Add brake fluid flush every 2 years if you want to be preventative. You can also consider diff and t-case (if Xdrive) at the time of ATF. Also the ATF is not a 'flush', its pan+fluid (pan contains filter). There are kits for that.

Air filter 50k might be a bit long if you live in a dusty environment. Just check it more often than that.

Spark plug intervals will be shortened if you tune. 60k is normal recommendation for a stock car, a little sooner wouldn't hurt, especially if you DIY so labor is not a concern.

And if you are DIY, i would recommend doing a blackstone labs oil sample maybe every 25-30k miles or so. Nice data to have.

Awesome, thanks for the info! So if I plan on tuning, I should look into doing spark plugs a lot earlier, and looking at coils as well. For the oil sample, would I just be sending it in to make sure there's no metal or anything weird in the oil?

Originally Posted by chowser51

I change my cabin and engine air filter every spring. It’s cheap and easy. Brake fluid every two years (again, cheap). Oil every 6 months (usually around 7.5k miles). I plan on doing 20k intervals on the plugs. Will do the coils at 80k. Running bm3 stage 1 on stock car.

Will probably past 70k next week. Coolant and thermostat were done around 62k.
Haven’t thought about the transmission yet.

Alright cool, so I'll make sure to change both my air filters more frequently. Do you think coils should be replaced at 80k without a tune? Or are you replacing them that early because your running bm3?

And for the coolant change and thermostat at 62k, was that preventative or was it due for new coolant/thermo?

Also how often do you change brake pads / rotors?

Thanks again for the information guys

[thejeremyman9]

Originally Posted by AS335i

Awesome, thanks for the info! So if I plan on tuning, I should look into doing spark plugs a lot earlier, and looking at coils as well. For the oil sample, would I just be sending it in to make sure there's no metal or anything weird in the oil?



Alright cool, so I'll make sure to change both my air filters more frequently. Do you think coils should be replaced at 80k without a tune? Or are you replacing them that early because your running bm3?

And for the coolant change and thermostat at 62k, was that preventative or was it due for new coolant/thermo?

Also how often do you change brake pads / rotors?

Thanks again for the information guys

Some people do coils as preventative but IMO just wait until you have a symptom or reason to...

Just look up BlackStone Labs if you want more info on the oil analysis. Its a good health check of the engine internals. Yes they check for metal, fuel, water, "dirt" species, etc.

Pads/rotors once you get down to wear indicators. You might be able to turn the rotors once to get 2 sets of pads per rotor set, up to you.

[chowser51]

I’m doing plugs at 20k because of the tune. Figured might as well change the coils at 80k when I do plugs again.

Rear brakes I did at 48k. Front brakes at 65k and flushed brake fluid at the same time.
When I do brakes, I wait for the pads to get to 4mm or less. I do pads, rotor and sensor wire. I don’t bother getting the rotors turned. Quicker for me to just replace.

Coolant and thermostat cuz a coolant hose broke.

Other than the tune my only other big change was a new amp since the standard hifi sucks.