My first oil change -- a success!

G

Gr8ful

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#1
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#1
Hello everyone!

Just want to share a little bit about my first successful oil change [hihi] First, I would like to thank Tom in large for providing me with the detailed instructions to change my car's oil: http://www.bmw325i.net/maint_oil_change.shtml it helped a lot and gave me more confidence. I'm not much of a car person (under the hood), I usually go have people work on everything because I'm too scared to mess with stuff or don't even know how.

Overall, the entire process went very smoothly. I don't have any jacks to lift the car and didn't feel like crawling underneath to drain the oil so I went and purchased an oil extractor for about $60 and it worked great! I didn't get a single drop of oil on my engine or the ground anywhere and it was hardly any work. Just a few pumps on the handle and I just sat back and watched all that oil get sucked into the extractor. It tells you exactly how much oil you take out so you know if you got it all or not. Replacing the oil filter was also very easy. Just a little elbow grease to turn it lose and voila. I used mobil 1 5w-30 supersyn with anti-wear technology and am impressed that I got the oil level exactly in the middle on the dipstick :) The car also seems to run better too...hehehe

Anyone who is thinking of changing their own oil, go for it! It's not hard and it costs a heck of a lot cheaper to do it yourself and if you are weary about your engine you can change it as often as you like. Thanks for everyone else too for having and keeping this board here!
 
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Section_8

Section_8

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#5
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Atlanta, GA
#5
Awesome gr8ful, oil changes are a breeze once you get in there and get some grease on the fingertips. :) Sounds like you didn't even have to do that - I'll have to check into a oil extractor! $60 you said?
 
M

membim

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#13
Thanks for the info, Lpquick.

I've heard that you should still drain the pan every 3 or 4 oil changes to get all of the small contaminants that the extractor can't get. Are you going to do this and/or have you heard anything similar??
 
Abdoman

Abdoman

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#14
I've heard that an extractor leaves all the contaminates at the bottom of the oil pan and not to use them - I heard that a long time ago - is it still valid??
 
lpquick

lpquick

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Prattville, AL
#15
Im not 100% sure, but a few recent tests I've read states the extractor removes more from the pan than a gravity drain due to the location of the drain not being the lowest point. What makes you think there will be anything left in the pan? That's why we all use oil filters and replace them during oil changes. Unless the filter gets bypassed, but that's a whole other problem.
 
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Abdoman

Abdoman

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#16
contaminates fall out of solution when the oil cools or stops circulating. There is a point in which the oil comes out of the engine and it has not been filtered.
 
E

EricB

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#17
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#17
if you run the engine before extracting the oil, any contaminates not filtered should be suspended in the oil and come out with the oil I would think.
 
P

pydo82

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#18
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berkeley, ca. & Cypress, ca.
#18
man, i need to get an oil change too. I have so many miles on my car. Got it this past august/september and already have over 8000 miles. I was thinking of trying to do it myself but I called weatherford bmw (in berkeley) and they said it would cost only 75 bucks. I think I'd rather take it to the dealer and save myself the trouble rather than chance a screw up just to save 15 bucks. Eventually I'd like to learn to do it myself anyhow.
 
Abdoman

Abdoman

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#19
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#19
if you run the engine before extracting the oil, any contaminates not filtered should be suspended in the oil and come out with the oil I would think.
Click to expand...
This is true, but metallic contaminates tend to stay in the oil pan, at least from what I have read.
 
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