I wanted to replace as much as possible in this service as I suspect that the previous owner did what was necessary to keep the engine turning over and nothing more.
So the list of items to be replaced:
- Engine Oil - Castrol Edge 5W/40 Fully Synthetic Oil
- Genuine BMW Oil Separator Filter (Oil breather filter, Crank case filter)
- UFI Oil Filter
- UFI Fuel Filter
- UFI Air Filter
- UFI Cabin Filter
- Airco-Breeze Aircon Sanitizer
Starting with the cabin filter, I took the housing apart which was really easy, just two quarter turns and its away.
Removing the filter revealed yet more dirt and grime, so I set about putting that right straight away. Not really sure what the little rubber bits are, possibly some sort of drain away points, but they were grimed up to the hilt. In the pictures you can see a cleaned up one next to how they came out of the car, vast improvement. I also spent some time cleaning up the covers and the cabin filter housing. The filter itself wasn't horrendous but I'm glad it's been changed.
Before and After
Comparisons
Next up was the air filter. After removing all of the engine plastics, it was fairly easy to access the air filter, just a couple of allen head bolts and you've got the intake ducting off. Inside I found a rather grubby looking filter, and the filter housing was quite dirty too, so I set to work cleaning that as well. Below you can see a comparison of the old and new filters, unfortunately I didn't get an after photo of the cleaned filter housing.
The oil filter got attention next, this was really easy to do. The old one was pretty gunked up but I imagine they do get like that pretty quickly by the nature of their use.
The oil separator filter type was up for debate, there is a Vortex type and a 'loo roll' type. The dealer I got the filter from informed me that the Vortex type was no longer available for my engine, so I went for the loo roll type. I've since learned it is still available, so I might swap to this at a later date, although the loo roll type is fine if changed regularly. Below is the new loo roll in place.
The last of the engine services was the fuel filter, unfortunately I didn't get any snaps of this, but there isn't much to see really. It was a simple case of pulling off the pipes connected; removing the old filter and replacing with the new one then reconnecting the tubes.
Inside the car, however, I had noticed a rather bad smell coming from the vents after the aircon had been in use. So I looked at some reviews and Airco-Breeze was recommended. I got some off of eBay and used the whole tin. It smells really great and lasts for about a month, but it has now gone back to smelling bad after the aircon has been used. I will try a different method when the summer comes next year.
All in all the car is now running really smooth, the new parts gave it a revitalising boost and the car is even nicer to drive. Chuffed.