AVG JOE maintanance

[4Charlie]

Well I have been a home mechanic since my father showed me how to change oil on a old chevy as a child. But now i have a 2003 325I and it should be the same I hope. I have three kids on a military paycheck. Nevertheless I wish to do my own maintanace, before i say anymore yes i can do oil changes and brakes I have even done engine swap on my old honda civic. So i have so experience under the hood but this is a BMW so much car needs to be taken. So my question are what oil should i use. I use castol syntec. How would I reset the ecu for oil service, i have seen the (DYI) forum but I would like to have someones input who has done it. Before i take upon this endevor!

 

[olddude50]

suck-squash-bang-blow

Hi, 4Charlie. In the front of the car is this thingee. The thingee has holes in it. In the holes are these other thingees that move up and down. The up and down thingees go suck-squash-bang-blow. That's about it. You put gas in one place, it gets moved to another place where the thingee with holes is, the gas goes into the holes that have the up and down thingees in them, they go suck-squash-bang-blow, fumes come out and the car moves.

Not a lot of help.

4Charlie, I'm glad to see another home wrench here. I haven't done any maintainence on my 328IS yet, because I haven't had it long enough, but I intend to do just like you, and do some home wrenching, too. I personally think, because of the high cost of the cars and the image of "the ultimate driving machine" BMW has got a lot of the owners buffaloed that somehow BMWs are mythical beasts, that live on high plains in Barvaria, where they can only be tamed by virgins pure of heart. They are cars! Nice cars, solid cars, well built cars, but cars.

So I haven't done this either. But when the miles get to around 3000, I'm going to. The way I figure it, if I have a choice between changing the oil when I think it needs changing, or leaving the dirty stuff in, because I can't afford the $200 American dollars BMW wants for an oil change, I'm gonna change the oil, and deal with the fancy idiot light later.

So, I'll tell you what. When I change the oil, I'll post on how it when, and if you do it, you do the same, an we'll learn from one another. Between the two of us, maybe we can keep our mythical beast going suck-squash-bang-blow for a long time. What do you say?