Now THAT was a satisfying weekend!

Voodoomelon

I spent all the free time I had over the weekend performing a BMW Inspection ll service myself, with no mechanical experience. I got a price from a dealer and the quote was in the region of €1200, no thanks!
I browse 7 series forums most days and religiously read www.e38.org, so i've been preparing for this weekend for months! The only mechanical know-how I have is my general interest in how everything works and fixing anything thats broken, so i thought i'd give it a shot!

I live in Louth so I rang Kells BMW and Portadown BMW and priced the following:

1x E38 Oil Filter
7x litres Castrol Edge 0w30
2x bonnet microfilters
1x engine air filter
6x NGK plugs
2x AC filters
1x fuel filter
1x windscreen cowl (on order)
2x windscreen wipers

That lot was €98 cheaper up North than down here, so there was no contest. 90 minutes later and I was up and back.
I also got these separately:

1x litre DOT4 brake fluid
5x litres coolant
5x litres distilled water

Friday: Drained oil and replaced with 6.5 litres of Castrol, also replace oil filter, filter gasket and crush washer. Replaced air filter and replaced bonnet microfilters. Also replaced wipers and hooked up my pc to read any codes, all was good.

Saturday: Removed all spark plugs and replaced with x6 NGKs. All torqued to spec. Removed part of undercarriage to get access to the fuel filter, only to realise I took off the wrong side. Eventually got round to it, clamped off the fuel supply and swapped it out. While under there I inspected all the brake lines, checked transmission for leaks, rear axle for leaks, checked the mounting of the exhaust, checked for suspension wear and any obvious damage to undercarriage components.

Sunday: This was a messy day, coolant draining, flushing and replacement. Pain in the ass draining the coolant from the engine block, as the plug is impossible to get at. Once the plug is out it spills EVERYWHERE, I had a big bucket underneath and caught 90% of it but I was absolutely sodden crawling under the car from then on. Got all the coolant out in the end, from the radiator and block and flushed it all out. Filled her up again with approx 4.5 litres coolant and the same in distilled water, properly bleeding the system as I went, with the internal cabin temperature maxed out.
Also did a brake fluid swap with a nice kit from Halfords, very easy to do.

Did a full test drive, checked the battery output, checked all my bulbs, lubricated door hinges and softclose boot, checked serpentine belt and overall body work.

The only thing I didn't change that would have put the price up a bit was the brakes, as the front discs were done about 15 months ago and all pads have about 50% left, so there was no point.

That lot cost me less than €450 including petrol to pick up the parts. I was SO chuffed to have saved so much. And you might say "well, you wouldn't have paid €1200 anyway" and that may well be true, however no indy would have done all the above mentioned items, and i'm sure I left some stuff out.

All in all about 6 hours work and a €750 saving, with all OEM parts, i'm well chuffed! She's purring like a kitten. :cool:

Yakult

Nothing better than the satisfication of doing it all yourself! Plus you learn so much from doing it, fair play!

Gonzales

Bully for you.

Gumbo

excellent, fair play man.
i would imagine you kept all the BMW receipts, just to show that the actual inspection was carried out, with not having the dealer stamp in all.

i know AC Cars were doing inspections on M3's for about half the dealer price, but the experience of doing it yourself is worth it imo.

Berty

Ah ha. What about if you realised during the work you needed around 15 different tools and had to buy these. The price would suddenly go up.

Fair play to you doing it yourself. Recessionary times and all.

niceirishfella

Good on your Sir!
Can I drop over my BM for a once over? lol

JMcCR

It's a good feelin alright!

I had a wishbone Saturday myself, replaced both lower wishbones in my 156 and roll bar drop links. Amazing the difference in the ride now. Big smile!! Guess she needed them.... after 160,000 miles!

Parts were €160 but from a dealer I imagine the whole job would have been about €500 including parts.

the merchant

I did an oil and filter change on my 525d - the car drives and sounds better, I'm sure of it.

niceirishfella

niceirishfella wrote: »

Good on your Sir!
Can I drop over my BM for a once over? lol

i'd drop mine over aswell if ya had a spare weekend and wanted to make some extra money for yourself

Nonoperational

JMcCR wrote: »

It's a good feelin alright!

I had a wishbone Saturday myself, replaced both lower wishbones in my 156 and roll bar drop links. Amazing the difference in the ride now. Big smile!! Guess she needed them.... after 160,000 miles!

Parts were €160 but from a dealer I imagine the whole job would have been about €500 including parts.

You got two bottom wishbones and rear links for 160 from a dealer? Thats unreal!

sogood

Well done and its amazing how easily your confidence builds once you start doing the jobs yourself. I have a 1990 e32 and part of the pleasure of owning it is in the maintenance, keeping it right and knowing whats been done has been done properly. Maybe a pic wouldn't go astray?

bonham23

had a similar weekend my self..replaced the front control arms and bushes on my E46. Need to do one of the rear trailing arm bushes too but i'm a bit worried about how im going to press the replacement in !!!

meesa

I always serviced and repaired all my older cars and really enjoyed the experience especially knowing how much the dealers charge for what really is a simple task.
But I recently went out and bought a 2008 civic and will have to bring it to a Honda main dealer as it`s due it`s first service soon....gutted that I cant do it myself as it would probably invalidate the warranty.
Well done to you though.

JHMEG

Voodoomelon wrote: »

7x litres Castrol Edge 0w30

About that oil... is there a BMW-branded 0w30, and if so how does it compare on price?

Also, I would have thought the Castrol stuff would be cheaper from a motorfactors than from a main dealer?

Voodoomelon

Thanks all, still chuffed here! It really is a piece of cake servicing a car however I do fully appreciate what qualified mechanics do and don't want to trivialise their work. Servicing is the easy part, diagnosing and fixing problems is the real skill.

Good point about the tools, however I have most of the items I need now, except for some suspension tools which i'll probably end up buying at some stage.

Here's a pic or two sogood:



Gonna head out now and check up on the coolant.

Voodoomelon

JHMEG wrote: »

About that oil... is there a BMW-branded 0w30, and if so how does it compare on price?

Also, I would have thought the Castrol stuff would be cheaper from a motorfactors than from a main dealer?

The oil is Castrol SLX from the dealer, its the oil BMW use for all their cars (the brand that is). If you were to buy it in a factors, its rebranded as Castrol EDGE.
Price in Halfords was 19.99 a litre, in BMW Portadown it was ₤9.99 a litre. They had 12% off if you bought it in single litres.

Nforce

Well done:cool:. I too have always done my own maintenance on my cars despite having no formal training. I've been doing it for 21 years now without issue,so I must be doing something right:D.

bonham23

good point about having the right tools...did you have a socket big enough to open the oil filter housing.. i remember that catching me out once and causing me a trip to the local tool shop to pay above the odds for the socket in question!!!.thankfully lidl have come along since then with good quality sockets for the home mechanic.

eringobragh

Fair play, I myself was new to the whole service thing 2 years ago then armed with a Haynes manual I decided to give it a lash, very handy!!

Since then I've change alternators, drive belts, catalytic converyer, exhaust backbox, carkit, radio, other electric gadgets and I've always got pleasure from the end result.

JMcCR

gpf101 wrote: »

You got two bottom wishbones and rear links for 160 from a dealer? Thats unreal!

No, I got the parts elsewhere!

JMcCR

Just browsing through the thread and there's a good point about the tools. Some of these are expensive and you'd only use them rarely. Would be an idea to have a sticky for "Tools wanted on Loan". If I needed to use a press or other tool (calliper rewind / fancy ball joint splitter etc) maybe a boardsie local to me could help out!

Mr. Presentable

How did you dispose of the old oils etc?

BTW, kudos to you for the job. Next time do a step by step with pics so we can all follow your lead!

Voodoomelon

bonham23 wrote: »

did you have a socket big enough to open the oil filter housing.. i remember that catching me out once and causing me a trip to the local tool shop to pay above the odds for the socket in question!!!.thankfully lidl have come along since then with good quality sockets for the home mechanic.

Funny you mentioned that, I had awful trouble with it last year when I did my first oil change, it just would not budge. I took it down the road to my dads mechanic and it even took him a while to get it off with the proper socket and a massive extension. A pair of vice grips did the trick for me this time as it wasn't as tight.

eringobragh wrote: »

Since then I've change alternators, drive belts, catalytic converyer, exhaust backbox, carkit, radio, other electric gadgets and I've always got pleasure from the end result.

You're doing well! I haven't done much in the way of other stuff really yet. I've replaced a parking sensor, an ABS sensor, removed both headlamps for a full cleaning and a few little mods, thats about it.

nipplenuts wrote: »

How did you dispose of the old oils etc?

BTW, kudos to you for the job. Next time do a step by step with pics so we can all follow your lead!

Still have the oil and coolant sitting here in 10 litre mayonnaise buckets! Will be taking them to the recycling centre later on.

sogood

bonham23 wrote: »

had a similar weekend my self..replaced the front control arms and bushes on my E46. Need to do one of the rear trailing arm bushes too but i'm a bit worried about how im going to press the replacement in !!!

If its the same bush that Im thinking of, you can "draw/press" it in by using a pair of large washers and a nut and bolt. Lube the bush first, put it in position and pass the large bolt through the large washer and pass it through the centre of the bush, then place the other large washer over the opposite threaded end of the bolt, followed by the nut, and tighten slowly, thus pulling the bush into place. Understand?

bonham23

sogood wrote: »

If its the same bush that Im thinking of, you can "draw/press" it in by using a pair of large washers and a nut and bolt. Lube the bush first, put it in position and pass the large bolt through the large washer and pass it through the centre of the bush, then place the other large washer over the opposite threaded end of the bolt, followed by the nut, and tighten slowly, thus pulling the bush into place. Understand?

yeah i get what you are saying and i've seen home made tools for the job on the net.. i'm just concerned about spending hours hacking the the bush out and then having difficulty getting the new one back in. The front was easy as i just replaced everything.

Anan1

That's a nice clean engine bay.

Voodoomelon

Sure is, it's even cleaner now. And it stays clean, there's virtually no where in the engine bay where dirt or mud can get in. Whats the purpose of the soft blanket that lines the underside of the bonnet, is it to retain engine heat as long as possible?

bonham23

`possibly i'd say it could be to dampen engine noise too.

eringobragh

Voodoomelon wrote: »

You're doing well! I haven't done much in the way of other stuff really yet. I've replaced a parking sensor, an ABS sensor, removed both headlamps for a full cleaning and a few little mods, thats about it.
.

Your not doing too bad yourself lad! What did you use for the brake fluid I've to do that when I return from my travels!

Voodoomelon

I used Halfords Low Viscosity DOT4, its up to spec and good value.