Your Oil Change Routine?

[SW530]

It seems that the older I get the more convenience matters. Most of my cars are low, my trucks are high. So when I have a car with an oil filter accessible under the hood I like to use the Mighty Vac fluid extractor to suck the oil out which doesn't take more than 90 seconds when the oil is warm. Replacing the filter is more work. The five minute oil change is within reach if I hurry and that includes pouring the old oil into the old 5 liter container thanks to the built in spout formed in the lip. I probably tend to change my oil more often because of the convenience and I'm convinced I get more of the old oil out of the car using this method. Any else use this method?

[TiesTorN]

I bet there are lots of debris in your oil sump. you can't suck those out like that, it needs to be drained from under the car.

[haolibird]

SW530,
I have used the pump on the 540 exclusively.
As the 530 is new to me, are you confirming that the vac gets all the oil out?

I know it does on the 540, as I have removed the pan post pump.
Also, the plug sits in the highest position in the pan.
So to answer TiesTorN, I get more debris out by pumping, due to silly design.


Thanks for the info.
Hb

[SW530]

I bet there are lots of debris in your oil sump. you can't suck those out like that, it needs to be drained from under the car.

I was concerned about that.. even though the borescope down the T/C cover revealed an exceptionally clean engine. So after draining the oil I put about a gallon of kerosene I had on hand, let it sit a bit, and then drained it via the plug. No debris. Not as reliable a test as Haolibird's removing of the pan, and the design failure of the pan caught my attention as well. I recognize there could be in the future, especially if the T/C guides starts to come apart. So I'll drain it via the plug every 5-6th time.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I’ve been using the big Mityvac forever on my oil changes. But I stagger this practice by putting the car on the lift every other oil change to address Ties concern about debris. The vacuum sucks out all the oil on the i6just as it does on my 540, the dipstick tube is right at the deepest point on the pans.

[SW530]

are you confirming that the vac gets all the oil out?
Hb

Sorry, my E34 530i was totaled a few years ago and I kept the same name when I bought my 540i.. so my only experience is in the 540i's. Hopefully someone else will join the conversation who has experience with the 530i's and the vacs.

[StephenVA]

Frequently with devotion.

[sleuth255]

I jack it up (18 pumps on the floor jack), toss a jack stand in, move the jack to the other side, level the car, drain the oil. Takes 5 min. While I'm under I check for other leaks and do a quick front end inspection.

[Nfs021]

I always do oil changes the old fashioned way. I use it as a good reason to check underneath for any other possible issues or damage. I also at least once a year remove the lower pan to check for guide pieces. Overkill, yes. But considering my car is at 128k miles and S62 engines/parts are becoming harder to come by (and more expensive). It's a small piece of mind.

[DrCharles]

I drive it onto my four-post lift, raise the lift, drain the oil into my Harbor Fart oil-change dolly, basically a 5-gal. can on casters with a BFF (Big Funnel), lower the car and do the rest from above.

I'm also suspicious of the vacuum through the dipstick approach, even though it probably does work...

[Mike WW]

5 minutes? More like 50 minutes if I'm lucky. Straighten up the garage so I can pull it in. Jack it up etc. Pull the splash pan, get the drain pan out and drain it. Climb out and clean up the plug, put the new seal on and change the filter. Go back down, put the plug in and scoot around a while on the creeper looking at this and that, wiggling stuff to make sure everything seems ok, wipe off extra dirty stuff, look for leaks. Fill it up with oil, yep a 5L jug and a bit more. Lower it down, start it up, shut it off and check oil level. Back it out, go for drive to make sure I'm not leaking. Walk back into the garage, spread sawdust down to soak up what I've spilled, walk outside and drain the oil pan into my 5 gallon jug. Wipe the spillage off it, tilt the pan against the fence to get the little bit left to drain into the corner. Get the shovel out and dig up the bit of dirt where I spilled a bit of oil transferring into the 5G jug, dump the dirt into the trash can. Sweep up the sawdust and throw it away. Dribble a little paint thinner out on the floor and wipe it up along with the remains of the oil the sawdust didn't soak up. Sit in my chair and have a beer. Get up and record mileage, and maybe do a tread depth check on the tires. Put tools away and wash up. There's more, but that's most of it.

If I had a hoist of a pit like the oil change places, yeah, 5 or 10 minutes, work standing up, spill little to nothing, piece of cake. But I don't, and I don't take an impact to the plug either which kills a few extra seconds but doesn't strip anything which comes out faster in the long run anyway.

5 minutes with a floor jack in the garage? In my dreams maybe.

[JimLev]

Sleuth was probably talking about 5 min to just jack it up and put it on jack stands.

I do mine every 7500 miles since new.
Loosen the oil filter cap first.
Jack it up, slide a big piece of cardboard under the car to drain the oil into the 16 qt holder.
I need to do it at 5K now as the oil pan gasket is leaking, what’s new.
Probably takes me an hour start to finish.

[sleuth255]

yeah, jacking process takes 5 min. I putz around with it for an hour or so too. I generally follow the oil change indicator and change when I have one yellow light remaining. Exceptions are before a long road trip or if the oil fails the "sniff test" for fuel contamination. Thanks to BMWs "awesome" ccv design, its burned a qt. every 1000 miles pretty much since day one too so the existing oil is getting regularly refreshed between oil changes.

[philly98540]

I have been using the Topsider oil sucker thing for about 15 years now. So much easier than jacking the car up and gets more of the oil out than doing the drain plug. Safer, easier, better, and faster works for me. If I had a lift, I'd likely drain it out though. I change every 7500 miles with M1 0W-40.

[Dave Sal]

Another MityVac user here. Been doing it that way for probably 15 years. I change my oil every 5k miles or one year, whichever comes first. It's usually one year as I usually drive around 4500 miles a year.

[BimmerBreaker]

I bet there are lots of debris in your oil sump. you can't suck those out like that, it needs to be drained from under the car.

If the oil is sucked out when it is hot, any debris/gunk/dirt is suspended in the oil. It'll come out with the oil.

Anything "stuck" to the bottom of the pan when it's hot won't come out from draining from below either

[TiesTorN]

Thanks to BMWs "awesome" ccv design, its burned a qt. every 1000 miles pretty much since day one too so the existing oil is getting regularly refreshed between oil changes.

are u sure you don't have another problem? my 540i never burned any significant oil between oil changes. maybe half a quart at the most between changes. (approx. 10k miles)

I change my oil every 5k miles or one year, whichever comes first.

both are myth.

[Mike WW]

yeah, jacking process takes 5 min. I putz around with it for an hour or so too. I generally follow the oil change indicator and change when I have one yellow light remaining. Exceptions are before a long road trip or if the oil fails the "sniff test" for fuel contamination. Thanks to BMWs "awesome" ccv design, its burned a qt. every 1000 miles pretty much since day one too so the existing oil is getting regularly refreshed between oil changes.

IMO the warning lights are way too long.

The M54 oil consumption is due to the low tension rings, not the CCV. My 00 528it, same CCV didn't use a drop when I sold it at 254K. I've put over 400K on M52/M52tu and never had to add oil. Just M54.

[SW530]

A surprising number (to me) of you use the extraction method.. glad to hear it. I've actually thought about buying one of those filter relocation kits for all my regular use cars.. Though, I do enjoy the relaxing ritual of changing oil followed by a good cleaning and vacuuming. Its just nice to have the options. I'm also surprised no one is changing at 3500ish.. you're all int he 5000-7500 range. When I bought mine I was told it was passed down through past owners that the number was 3500 and having looked up and chatted with several of the owners they all confirmed this. So I change the oil at 3500ish, maybe this history through its 178k accounts for how well it runs and how clean the engine is inside..

[Ed CT]

I do the drain thing at about 5000 mile intervals using Castrol Edge 5-40, and like to check on everything that can be seen with the splash pan off. Not averse to the suction method, but, maybe it would be just one more thing to clutter up my garage.

OIL CHANGE INTERVALS: Just for fun, I've been tracking the oil change warning lights for the past few years. Currently, the Yellow/Red light is on and at 15884 miles and 3 years since last reset. The Yellow came on at 10874 mile interval. Way too long IMO.

[Jason5driver]

I change the oil at every 5k miles .
It used to be 7500 miles , but the oil and usage was not too hot at that mileage interval .
I think I spend more time jacking up the car , mostly because it is so low , and requires the side to be jacked up first in order to jack up from the front center jacking point .
I typically put the front up on ramps , and then drain the oil out of the pan .
I am pretty crazy , so I take forever cleaning everything when the car is up , or when the hood is open .
I like to make it look new ... lol .

I usually pull the plugs , and inspect them , check for any valve cover leakage , etc . ...
Then I will spray some Sea Foam spray into the spark plug ports / top of the pistons , and let is soak a bit ...
I clean up the plugs and put them back in ...
Then , I usually do some sort of engine flush first , by adding it to the oil , letting it idle for 15 minutes , then draining the oil ...
Drain the oil and pull the filter , put in new filter and oil ( usually Castrol 5w-40 because it's cheap and at Walmart , and is LL-01 ) .

The M54 uses oil because the M54 only has 2 piston rings ( low tension ) , versus the 3 piston rings for the M52 / tu (better design imo) ...

[sleuth255]

IMO the warning lights are way too long.

The M54 oil consumption is due to the low tension rings, not the CCV. My 00 528it, same CCV didn't use a drop when I sold it at 254K. I've put over 400K on M52/M52tu and never had to add oil. Just M54.

The warning lights vary based on driving. My car never went 10K between changes and its been driven around town mostly. Whether or not the lights or accurate is debatable. My car has 203K miles on the original engine currently with no internal engine issues/changes in oil consumption and me the sole owner since 2003. So I would consider this to be empirical data that supports the accuracy of the oil change reminder system.

Agree on oil use. 1K per quart consumption is probably M54 oil ring design fault rather than CCV actually. The CCV delete method corrects the problem but that's probably due to the change to crankcase pressure that the method introduces.

[E39 Newbie]

Lots of late model Mercedes don't have drain plugs and you have to use the vacuum method. If I didn't have access to a lift I'd probably use the vacuum method, too.

I change mine when the mileage counter thing gets into the red. So, that's what, about 7000 miles? I use Mann filters and Liqui-Moly Leichtlauf. I experienced a noticeable reduction in oil consumption after switching to better oil. First it was Motul, then LM. The E39 (180K) uses almost nothing between changes, down from about a liter between changes. The E46 (205K and seriously neglected) uses about a liter between changes, about half of what it was using.

[jp5Touring]

Every 5k I change it old school way. I don't find it a big deal to get under a car.
Never thought about buying a oil vacuum.
Also good friend has a nice pole barn and a lift if I need one.

[ross1]

I drain from the bottom. This provides a good opportunity to have a look around for the next new oil leak, etc.
I have an extractor but its used for other duties.
Jacking is a non issue as I have a lift and until the herd is thinned a bit more one car is "parked" six feet up every night anyway.
The issue of complete evacuation is probably a moot point as unless you intend to let it drain overnight there is still a not insignificant amount of old oil remaining in the engine regardless of the method chosen to drain it. Sludge shouldn't be present anyway and if so neither way will remove it.
Perhaps I'll perform an experiment by letting the car sit overnight and use the extractor then pop the plug out to see what remains.