[ash335]

Nulon website...

0w40... Group 6 base ?PAO/ester
These kind of mistakes don't exude confidence in the product!

[bradsm87]

Originally Posted by DR-JEKL

0W40 is my choice as basically my opinion is you want the thinnest oil to provide good startup protection during daily driving and can handle high temps during stop start traffic or spirited driving to resist oil shear and when you're pushing out more HP than standard as the N54 runs quite hot compared to most engines out there..

The nulon 0W40 is E85 compatiable and LL01 approved I wouldnt hesitate to spend a few extra bucks and buy that over the castrol (I'm cynical that nulon are selling a group IV ester oil for $65 though brad??? )

Group IV is PAO. Ester (Group V) is a small part of the blend. Heaps of white papers etc. show that blending a small amount of Ester base in with the PAO base gives you very close to the best of both worlds.

Ok I told a lie. $67 on special. Nulon have always been great value and clearly have tighter margins than the big boys.

[DR-JEKL]

Originally Posted by bradsm87

Group IV is PAO. Ester (Group V) is a small part of the blend. Heaps of white papers etc. show that blending a small amount of Ester base in with the PAO base gives you very close to the best of both worlds.

Ok I told a lie. $67 on special. Nulon have always been great value and clearly have tighter margins than the big boys.

Oh OK I had assumed it was a group IV TBH. Oh right I thought you meant the RRP was $65 by memory their 5W30 euro blend was almost $70 hence why I didnt believe their 0W40 would be that cheap as most 0W40's are around the $90 for 5L!

[ash335]

Quick FYI... Castrol 0w40 is on sale at supercheap auto...
1L for 17.99 and 5L for 76.45 (about 10 bucks off)
The 5w30 is 15 bucks off too...
Not a huge drop... but a sale none the less!

[Socket]

Originally Posted by ash5584

Quick FYI... Castrol 0w40 is on sale at supercheap auto...
1L for 17.99 and 5L for 76.45 (about 10 bucks off)
The 5w30 is 15 bucks off too...
Not a huge drop... but a sale none the less!

Oooo I should have picked up some of this when I was there today

[ash335]

Originally Posted by Socket

Oooo I should have picked up some of this when I was there today

Lucky you didn't.. Autobarn has it down to 65 now!!

[ash335]

So... lots of toys arrived from FCP Euro today.
Unfortunately too late for me to do anything except change the air filter, lol. Must say, the engine sounds different with the K&N drop in filter... sounds nicer. Old filter had a quite a few insects in it lol.
Weekend will attempt the Insp 2 service.


Funny thing happened earlier. Had the alignment done on the car. Local place.

Comes back with the report saying the guy has put M3 specs on the car to make it feel better...
At the top it says
'BMW 2008 3ER REIHR (E90) Limousine M3 18" Rad'
To which I ask... are you sure its meant to be 'Limousine'... reply, 'yeh, thats all correct'.
Anyway... quick google search, pull up the actual spec sheet for my 'E92' non-limo... show him and he says that its very similar... it clearly isnt.
Anyway, long story short, I had to go to their alignment computer and find the correct specs for the car...
I just hope their attention to detail doesn't reflect their ability to align the car.

To make matters worse... got in the car to find out my avg mpg was up by 0.2 after 2 'quick' test drives.... need a dashcam

[Socket]

Originally Posted by ash5584

So... lots of toys arrived from FCP Euro today.
Unfortunately too late for me to do anything except change the air filter, lol. Must say, the engine sounds different with the K&N drop in filter... sounds nicer. Old filter had a quite a few insects in it lol.
Weekend will attempt the Insp 2 service.


Funny thing happened earlier. Had the alignment done on the car. Local place.

Comes back with the report saying the guy has put M3 specs on the car to make it feel better...
At the top it says
'BMW 2008 3ER REIHR (E90) Limousine M3 18" Rad'
To which I ask... are you sure its meant to be 'Limousine'... reply, 'yeh, thats all correct'.
Anyway... quick google search, pull up the actual spec sheet for my 'E92' non-limo... show him and he says that its very similar... it clearly isnt.
Anyway, long story short, I had to go to their alignment computer and find the correct specs for the car...
I just hope their attention to detail doesn't reflect their ability to align the car.

To make matters worse... got in the car to find out my avg mpg was up by 0.2 after 2 'quick' test drives.... need a dashcam

what the??? lol I'd take it elsewhere

[ash335]

Originally Posted by Socket

what the??? lol I'd take it elsewhere

Where did you get yours done socket?

[vtl]

Originally Posted by ash5584

Where did you get yours done socket?

Traction Tyres Rowville. Took my car there as well and did a good job adjusting the front camber.

I had pulled the alignment pins in my strut towers and got them to max out the front camber after installing M3 control arms. Will use them again when I get my Bilstein B12 + Dinan camber plates installed.

[totti84]

Originally Posted by vtl

Traction Tyres Rowville. Took my car there as well and did a good job adjusting the front camber.

I had pulled the alignment pins in my strut towers and got them to max out the front camber after installing M3 control arms. Will use them again when I get my Bilstein B12 + Dinan camber plates installed.

What's the max front camber you got from front pulled pins and M3 arms Vince?

[vtl]

Originally Posted by totti84

What's the max front camber you got from front pulled pins and M3 arms Vince?

On stock height suspension, only got -1 degree out of them. One side was maxed out and the other was left in the middle to achieve this. Hopefully the Dinan plates will get me closer to -1.7-2 degrees

[bradsm87]

Originally Posted by vtl

On stock height suspension, only got -1 degree out of them. One side was maxed out and the other was left in the middle to achieve this.

Interesting. Same with me. The car has no known accident history and no evidence otherwise whatsoever. I thought maybe the crossmember was off-centre but that's keyed to the chassis and held in one spot.

My driver side is maxed and the passenger side is centred. Is yours the same?

[vtl]

Originally Posted by bradsm87

Interesting. Same with me. The car has no known accident history and no evidence otherwise whatsoever. I thought maybe the crossmember was off-centre but that's keyed to the chassis and held in one spot.

My driver side is maxed and the passenger side is centred. Is yours the same?

Opposite for me

RHS is centred, LHS is maxed. Ultimately the adjustment is only useful for evening out each side. Will be interesting to see what I will get after the suspension upgrades are installed.

[ash335]

So, a quick update... wall of text to follow... you were warned...

Decided to do the oil service, microfilter, sparks and coils today. Nice weather... ended up spending about 4 hours (faffing around mainly as it was my first time doing anything mechanical!).

Thought i'd post a few pics and discuss a few 'noob traps' I fell into... hopefully help someone else starting out!

1. Jacking car up

I made a ramp out of mdf, managed to get the jack under the car to the front central jack point... but at this point the lever arm hits the underbody before it has a chance to lift anything (its the kinchrome 1300kg one)... ended up having to insert the arm upside down... to get any movement. Not a good jack for this car and this use.
I used hockey pucks as jack point adapters (as per a youtube video I found)... problem was they seemed to deform quite significantly under load... the central jack point was especially significant, being a flat surface, and with the movement of the jack arc... it looked really unsafe to me, like it could explode out at any moment! Ended up removing the puck and going metal to metal.
To make matters worse... the highest point on the jack, was not high enough to use anything but the base point on the jack stands...
I guess for an oil change its fine... but FMIC install time... I'm going to need a better solutions.

2. Oil change

Oil looked pretty dark (though I'm told that is to be expected).
1st pic shows some debris on the inside after the drain, is this normal? ie. a sign of long oil change interval?

Anyway, replaced the oil sump bolt with a magnetic 'performance' (lol) one from FCP Euro. Topped up with 0w40 Castrol Edge. Changed the filter and gaskets with BMW OEM parts.

The first trap...
As you are all aware, the oil sump plug is at an angle towards the driver side. Anyway, a conspiracy of errors resulted in my central jack being in the way of the perfect spot to place the oil drain pan, but a cursory eye check had me thinking that 'it should be fine'... 5 min later i'm guessing about 1.5L oil onto my driveway. Caught about 4.5L in the drain, but once the flow reduced and the fluid angle returned to 90deg down it just missed the pan!
No matter how i positioned the central jack I couldnt fit the drain pain in an optimal location... how do you guys do this?
Do you remove the central jack and have the car only on the jack stands?

3. Microfilter

Easy peasy... no traps.

4. Spark plugs & Coils

Thanks to vtl walking me through the process in Feb it was easy getting all the covers off!

Second trap...

So I got the spark plug socket from FCP Euro... 'guaranteed' to fit the car.
Anyway... pulled the new spark plug out of the package, to make sure everything works... tried to fit the plug in the socket... no dice. Just felt like the plug was too big for the socket.
Hmmm... opened up another spark plug... still no fit.
Checked online for part number (maybe they gave me the wrong plug?)... nope.. correct.
Next thought... They must have given me the wrong spark plug socket.
So at this point I was getting ready to send a email back to FCP demanding they send me the proper socket, as I had obviously been given the wrong one!
Lucky I didn't...
So it turns out on the inside of the socket is a small rubber gasket, I assume to protect the plug during the tightening process, and it was this device that seemed to be causing the problem.
So with a little more 'gentle' force, the plug slips through and snugs in there... requires a bit of force to remove... didnt think too much about this...
Sorted... (kinda)

Ok... coil 1 out, spark plug one out!
New spark plug torqued to 23Nm... perfecto!

The third trap...
Attempted to remove the socket... and my extension comes out sans socket.

Try a few times with different angles... no dice!
Quick google suggests the use of masking tape on the extension to socket connection... 'surely not!'
Anyway... so I remove the sparkplug and inspect...
Lightbulb... grease!
Popped some dielectric grease (ordered with parts) onto that rubber gasket...
Spark plug slips in and out much easier!
Spark plug inserted... torqued... moment of truth... socket comes out!

Nos 2,3 and 4 no dramas.
Number 5 is the most difficult one due to access... ended up needing to use a combination of extensions/universals to get this one out. Seems to need a lot more force to loosen from tight, and then a lot more turning to come out ?overtorqued...
You can see the pic of the plugs. I did notice that No 5 was a little darker than the others.
All the holes looked pretty clean before taking the plug out... but then after removing the plug... it looked like there was a little debris down the bottom.
Not having anything (or knowing how) to remove this... I just left as is.
Is this a sign of the valve cover gasket needing replacement?
If not... how does one clean this??

Fired her up... no codes!

Just checking other things while I was there... noted that the coolant level indicator (engine bay) was a little on the low side. No signs of a significant leak that I could see.
Where do you get coolant from? Dealership only?

Went for a drive... wasn't expecting much... but WOW! a significant improvement . Idle rock solid from start at 600rpm (previously would jump to 1k rpm, then slowly drop to 600. Felt more powerful (I'm sure the magnetic sump plug was adding at least a few hp)... though I might be a little biased after spending a few hours working on her!
Filled up with some BP Ult... popped in some Liquimoly Fuel System Cleaner/Conditioner.

[vtl]

Spark plug socket - The rubber thingy is used to keep the spark plug from falling out of the socket as you insert it into the engine. I use locking socket extensions so I don't have to use masking tape to pull the socket off the spark plug once its torqued:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/151290519...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

For an oil change I just jack up the front of the car via the front jacking point and slide some high ramps under the wheels. I then remove the jack and put the drain pan underneath the oil drain.

[Socket]

Nice work Ash... better look into getting low profile jack, just slide it in under the jack points and pump the handle. Has a nice rubber pad so jack pucks are not required. I would invest in a solid set of jack stands to rest the car on to do any work which might involve you getting under it

Spark plugs should not have given you so much trouble but glad you got there in the end.

Great to see you doing your own work, it is pretty simple once you do it once or twice, soon you'll be replacing body panels and stuff

[Flex68]

Lol I bought that same magnetic drain plug from fcp euro and that plug socket . I removed the rubber completely having the same issue as I have a rubber spark plug tool to remove and install and makes it so much easier then I just torque it with the socket . Coolant I actually order mine through clickable which is a Melb based website for Bmw parts . They sell febi coolant quite cheap , cheaper than the dealer

[ash335]

Oops.. looks like I forgot to attach the images...

Coolant I actually order mine through clickable which is a Melb based website for Bmw parts . They sell febi coolant quite cheap , cheaper than the dealer

Thanks flex, great link. They seem to have a few things.. not a massive selection though.

better look into getting low profile jack

Yes... I was hoping I would get away with the kinchrome, but alas... a low profile jack is necessary.

For an oil change I just jack up the front of the car via the front jacking point and slide some high ramps under the wheels. I then remove the jack and put the drain pan underneath the oil drain.

Just out of interest... why not just drive up the ramps?

With the images below...
1. Are those deposits normal after draining the oil... last change was at 90k (1.5 years ago), and im at 104k at the moment.
2. Spark hole looks clean... but..
3. After removing... gritty deposit there... ?valve cover gasket leak? or normal? how to clean?
4. Spark plug 5 looks a little darker... this was the difficult one to remove. cause?
5. Old oil

[vtl]

Originally Posted by ash5584

Just out of interest... why not just drive up the ramps?

Theyre old steel ramps that pretty much no modern car would be able to drive up on. They're way too steep. But they're great for doing oil changes as I hate using jack stands.

[Flex68]

Originally Posted by vtl

Theyre old steel ramps that pretty much no modern car would be able to drive up on. They're way too steep. But they're great for doing oil changes as I hate using jack stands.

Did you mean u Judy jack one side up ? Cause that's what I do then I lower it to fully drain lol

[vtl]

Originally Posted by Flex68

Did you mean u Judy jack one side up ? Cause that's what I do then I lower it to fully drain lol

Yeah I just jack the front of the car up. I might try jacking the car up evenly next oil change and see if that makes much of a difference.