Timm's BMW E63 and E64 N62/N62TU Engine Oil and Filter Change
It’s pretty easy - and while we’re at it we will change the air filter too
It’s time for an oil change on the 650i - this car was meant to have been serviced when I bought it, so 8-months and 5000 miles or so later
it is time to break out the oil catcher and lovely fresh oil. You need an oil catcher that can hold 10 litres or so
Right up on the ramps again - an old picture because in real life it is pouring down with rain and just above freezing
Here’s the tools you need:
•
8mm socket to remove the under-engine cover
•
8mm Allen-key wrench bit for the sump drain plug
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T40 Torx for the cannister drain plug
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24mm socket for the oil cannister
Under the car we go then - make sure the car is in Park and the handbrake firmly applied. It is also well worth saying that if you are getting
under a two-Ton car make sure you have decent ramps - mine are the Rhino-Ramp type rated at 3 Tons, any less and it isn’t worth the risk.
There is a small cover below the filter cannister and sump - this is held on by three 8mm self-tapping bolts
Under the cover is the cannister that holds the filter and the engine sump, both of which has a drain plug. As we are working from the front
of the car the first drain plug to take out is the cannister one as it is furthest back. So, get your oil catcher ready:
The drain plug is slightly different to usual, instead of a copper seal there is an o-ring half way up the plug which seals on the bore of the
cannister. You don’t want to fill up your wrench with oil so loosen the drain plug until it feels loose enough to turn by hand and then remove
the wrench and then turn the socket by hand:
Above you can just see the o-ring coming in to view - the o-ring should come with your new filter along with a new copper seal. Get the oil
draining out and then move on to the sump drain-plug - again loosen until finger-tight and then remove by hand - the oil will come out at
quite a rate so double check your oil tray is in the right position:
While you are waiting for the oil to drain fit a new o-ring on the cannister plug and a new copper ring on the sump plug.
Once the oil has drained refit the sump drain plug, a good heave on a 6” wrench is all it needs. Now refit the cannister drain-plug. This
needs hardly any torque at all as it seals on the bore - just a nip-up with a short wrench.
Break out the 24mm socket and unscrew the cannister. The cannister is another part that has an axial seal and shouldn’t be too tightly
fitted - but as usual someone has put around 100 Newton-Metres of force fitting it so it needed a good heave to turn it:
Now, just like the cannisters on the M60/M62 engines, the filters should be clipped in place and come out with the cannister - nope, the
same 100NM bloke failed to clip it in place and as the cannister comes out there’s the filter still in place, Great.
Marvellous. Anyway, tip the remaining oil in the oil tray, new o-ring on the cannister and clip the new filter in place for goodness sake.
Bung a bit of engine oil on the new o-ring for lubrication and screw it back in with the 24mm socket - it should merrily squeak into place
and come to a stop with a feeble turn on the socket wrench - it won’t come loose with an o-ring that size. Refit the cover, again this
doesn’t need to be done up that tightly, they are only bent-metal fastenings they fit into.
Time for new oil, today I am using Castrol Edge Titanium FST, if you want to use exactly what BMW recommends then buy the oil from
BMW, for this engine you can use Longlife-01, Longlife-01 FE or Longlife-04. More info here. Simply bung 8-Litres in via a large funnel:
And that’s about it, refit the oil cap - decant the old oil back into the containers and take them up the dump - a quick check using the OBC
to ensure that you have a full load
While we are doing standard servicing we might as well change the engine air-filter. This is pretty straight-forward. Undo the clips all
around the filter cover and carefully lift up just enough to get the filter out and the new one in:
Spend a bit of time carefully fitting the edge of the filter carefully into the recess as the cover will not fit easily
otherwise. Clip all five clamps back in place, some of them clip upwards, some downwards - done!
I’ve searched for the correct parts and added links here
All done, Time for a Cup Of Tea
