I'm sick of the dealer ripping me off each time I change my oil so I am going to do it my self and have them reset the guage.My questions are:Can I use another brand oil other than the $7.65 per bottle bmw oil? And which other antifreeze can I use other than the $18.00 per bottle bmw brand? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Oil Change & Coolant Flush
- Thread starter Evermay
- Start date
Ha. I was of the same mind as you when I went out of warranty. Do a search on oil and you'll find a bunch of threads on everything about oil changes. I use Mobil 1 5w-30.
I flushed my radiator twice (every 60,000 miles) with Prestone sythetic long life. I heard of people using GM dexcool, but I shied away from that given some people's advice. I've never heard anything bad said about Prestone. It is recommended for my 3 series and has worked great.
I flushed my radiator twice (every 60,000 miles) with Prestone sythetic long life. I heard of people using GM dexcool, but I shied away from that given some people's advice. I've never heard anything bad said about Prestone. It is recommended for my 3 series and has worked great.
I do my own
Doing an oil change on a E46 is the easiest change you will every have to do if you go buy an on extractor (best thing I every bought). I bought one for $60.00, you suck the oil out in about 10 minutes, replace the oil filter which is on top of the engine, fill back up with oil (I use Castrol only because my engine says) and I'm on my way. The could do the change in a tux!
Good Luck
Doing an oil change on a E46 is the easiest change you will every have to do if you go buy an on extractor (best thing I every bought). I bought one for $60.00, you suck the oil out in about 10 minutes, replace the oil filter which is on top of the engine, fill back up with oil (I use Castrol only because my engine says) and I'm on my way. The could do the change in a tux!
Good Luck
Holy cow! The dealer charges you $7.65 for the BMW oil? I'm only gonna use the BMW cuz dealers here charge less for the BMW oil ($4) than Mobile 1 costs.
DIY instructions here:
http://www.bmw325i.net/maint_oil_extractor.shtml
DIY instructions here:
http://www.bmw325i.net/maint_oil_extractor.shtml
Set of Rhino Ramps from Auto Parts Store: $49.99
7 quarts of Castrol Syntec 5w30: $29.00
Purolator (Mann) Filter Kit for your 3-series: $11.49
Changing your oil the old fashioned way: Priceless
I never used an oil extractor simply because I know of no shop ever that does this. My feeling is they can't all be wrong.
My local independent European shop only uses BMW coolant in BMWs, and he says in all his years, the BMW coolant is the best. He also uses Mann filters. He builds and races BMWs.
7 quarts of Castrol Syntec 5w30: $29.00
Purolator (Mann) Filter Kit for your 3-series: $11.49
Changing your oil the old fashioned way: Priceless
I never used an oil extractor simply because I know of no shop ever that does this. My feeling is they can't all be wrong.
My local independent European shop only uses BMW coolant in BMWs, and he says in all his years, the BMW coolant is the best. He also uses Mann filters. He builds and races BMWs.