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I changed my oil on my 2007 M6 Convertible

DIY: 
50K views 35 replies 24 participants last post by  shauna 
#1 ·
So last night I decided to change my own oil on my 2007 M6 and found it to be quite easy and straight forward. I went to my local dealership and bought 9 quarts of 10W60 oil and filter. Funny this was I bought a Oil filter from my local parts store but they didn't have the 10W60 oil, so I went to BMW. At BMW I bought a second filter because I wanted to see if the aftermarket filter was different in quality or design. I get home and I noticed that the two filters were completely different in size!

So I park the car on my driveway and put it on jackstands. I found the oilpan and the drain plug, which was simple enough but I couldn't find the oil filter cannister! I searched on the internet and couldn't find an answer. The posts were for the M5 and was saying it was right beside the oil pan, but it wasn't in my car. So I just looked underneath and followed the lines to an oil cooler. From there I dropped the front underskirt which was about 6 screws and 4 bolts. And there it was, the oil filter cannister is located on the passenger side, right beside the front passenger wheel, underneath the black plastic underskirt. I removed the oil cap, I drained the cannister oil by removing the 6mm hex drain plug, drained the oil from the oil pan from a similar 6mm drain plug.

This is the funny part. The filter I got from the BMW dealership was the wrong one! So basically, if I hadn't bought the other oil filter from my local parts shop, I would be screwed! So I changed the filter, ring seals and washers. Put everything back together underneath and the car back on the ground.

Filled it with the 9 quarts of oil, primed it and then ran the car.

I reset the computer by turning the ignition on but not starting the car, pressing the odometer reset button for 5-10 seconds which then displayed my service warnings, then pressed the reset button until it came to the oil reset. Press and hold for 5-10 more seconds until the display said "reset?" and pressed the reset button again which then resetted the oil service warning til the next service.

All done, total time 2 hours. Total cost: Oil filter $25, Oil: $150. BMW dealership quoted me $395 for an oil change plus tax. Next time, now that I know where the oil cannister is, should take less than 1 hour!!!

Hope this helps, I know pictures would have been nice, but maybe on the next oil change.
 
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#2 ·
Yeah..it's a pretty straight forward job. Did you drain oil from the second drain hole? Can't believe the dealer gave you the wrong filter.....:Thumbdown:
 
#3 ·
Second drain hole? I drained it from the oil pan and the oil filter cannister. Ran some new oil through until it came out the oil pan drain. As for the wrong filter... I know! And it took a while for them to get the parts. The 10W60 synthetic is not a common stocked item at my local auto parts store, so I had to get it from there. I guess I could look online and pre order it for the next oil change. It was really disapointed about giving me the wrong filter. If I didn't have the second one, I would have been leaving my car on jackstands until I got the right one....

I just posted this because I couldnt find a thread about changing the oil in a m6
 
#5 · (Edited)
Second drain hole? I drained it from the oil pan and the oil filter cannister.
Yes.....although I think there was only 2 drain holes on certain years? Not sure....anyway, mine has 2 drain holes and the filter kits I get from the dealer come with 2 drain plug crush washers/ o-rings, plus the little one for the filter housing.

Here is a pic under mine showing the second drain hole location.



And here is a pic of Clydes which has no second drain hole.



I've never drained from it.....not sure how much extra to add to compensate
 
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#4 · (Edited)
I met some lady the other day who has an 06 with 100k miles on it and she told me she takes her M6 to Jiffy Lube lol and gets the mobil 1 synthetic. I told her they only recommened the castrol, she said nobody ever told her that. her husband bought it for her brand new and its her daily driver. She said she has only done oil changes every 15kmiles and a few times jiffy lube "topped it off" lol and took it to bmw once for a microfiler and breaks at 80k miles and other than that not a single problem has ever gone wrong with it. That sure made me feel good lol, but then again i bet the car has never seen past 4k rpm.
 
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#7 ·
I pay $165 per change at a BMW specialist. Wouldn't dare changing my own though because if you strip the oil pan... whatever... all you savings are out the window and probably alot more.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Really? I think there are some people on this board that likes to "tinker" with their cars and would obviously know what the inherent risks associated with it. I would like to use this board to share my experience and to make it easier to people that would like to do an oil change.

It would be no different than saying anything in life is not worth doing if you can pay someone else to do it because of the risks. For example, I sometimes cook my own meals, I know what I am eating and I am paying only for the food there by saving on the cooking. I take the risk of cooking it but I could drop the frying pan on my foot, cut myself chopping something, burn myself while cooking or even worse I could burn the food and the entire house down. This would far exceed the cost of the food. But I would dare to cook myself a meal and save the time and money rather than spending more eating out everyday. Why would I dare? Because I enjoy the feeling of the accomplishment, the satisfaction of knowing that I can do it. You drive your car, thereby taking on the risk of damaging it or worse... Maybe it would be safer to hire a professional driver to drive it for you. I'm not trying to be a jerk about your comment, but I think it was unecessary and obvious.

I think, with respect, if you are confident enough to remove a bolt and replace it without stripping it or crossthreading it, you can do an oil change. If you doubt yourself, then go have a "professional" do it. If I have offended any one, please, my apologies.
 
#11 ·
And you can get the job done for under $100 if you buy your oil on line. I have got 10 liters and filter for around a 100 from Bavauto. I have also switched and am running Luqui Moly 10-60W.

BMW Parts and BMW Accessories | Bavarian Autosport

Another great shop is ECS Tuning.

Enjoy
 
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#12 ·
I don't think that money savings is the primary reason people do DIY oil changes. For me, its more about the satisfaction of doing it right and getting to know your machinery. I'm also lucky to have access to an "auto skills center" with proper lifts and recycling capability.

Off-topic: Just realized that the "TWS" on the Castrol bottle spell out Ten W Sixty! Weird, huh.
 
#14 ·
I'm also lucky to have access to an "auto skills center" with proper lifts and recycling capability.

Off-topic: Just realized that the "TWS" on the Castrol bottle spell out Ten W Sixty! Weird, huh.
These are probably the largest hurdles to me doing it myself. When I factor in the extra hassle factor to do it without the right equipment I get mighty discouraged. If we ever get a house with a bigger garage, I fancy I might invest in more equipment. Just no room to store anything at this time with all the kids' toys/bikes junking up my garage. :sad2:
 
#17 ·
I suspect it is just a branding change, but the part number is different.
Both are marked "Manufactured in the EU"

Getbmwparts sent me the new type, although my order used the old part number.

The BMW oil for the X5 diesel has a similar packaging change, although the part number did not change.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Edge is just the European brand name, my guess is now they are using it globally in the US to replace TWS (an old part number). It's just a cost cutting exercise so they now produce 1 label and 1 part number. Oil wise they are both 10 60 and identical. And BMW approved unlike other 10 60's

:blink:
 
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#19 ·
Just did the oil change myself following this direction. Everything went smooth, except that my oil filter housing was leaking slowly at spec torque. Had to give it another quarter turn to stop that.

And in my menu, when the "Reset?" prompt is shown, I have to keep the reset button pressed for 5 seconds in order to confirm it.

I didn't drain from the 2nd drain plug, since I didn't want to open up the underskirt. Nevertheless the car took 9qt of oil to read half qt from full. So I figure I did ok.

Thanks a lot for the instruction!
 
#21 · (Edited)
I will be changing my oil and filter soon. Last time I drained 7 ltrs out of it.Before draining, the oil gauge had the oil level, dead even. I will add 8.8 liters when I change the oil....is that the correct amount w/filter?
 
#22 · (Edited)
Sounds about right. I add 8L after oil and filter (have 2 drain plugs in my pan). After the quick read, it is usually just at minimum level. Add about 0.5L and check after driving and top off.
 
#24 ·
If you can not get the triangle to stay

i have been attempting this procedure for a few weeks with no luck. Following exactly, with the data showing in the window, when I hit and hold the trip reset button, the red triangle would flash up, but I would never get it to stay when I let go of the button, and there for could never get to the maintenance items to reset. So I tried everything I could think of...I finally got it today. Here is what I did. when the red triangle showed up, I hit and held down the "check" button, then released the trip reset button....then the maintenance icons showed up....the funny thing is that now when I try (since the above procedure), it comes up as it should WITHOUT the use of the "check" button.

Thought this might help someone esle save some time....I have spend hours and just tripped on this sequence and it worked.

I also found a way of getting the software/firmware to display on the same screen for what that is worth.
 
#26 ·
i have been attempting this procedure for a few weeks with no luck. Following exactly, with the data showing in the window, when I hit and hold the trip reset button, the red triangle would flash up, but I would never get it to stay when I let go of the button, and there for could never get to the maintenance items to reset. So I tried everything I could think of...I finally got it today. Here is what I did. when the red triangle showed up, I hit and held down the "check" button, then released the trip reset button....then the maintenance icons showed up....the funny thing is that now when I try (since the above procedure), it comes up as it should WITHOUT the use of the "check" button.

Thought this might help someone esle save some time....I have spend hours and just tripped on this sequence and it worked.

I also found a way of getting the software/firmware to display on the same screen for what that is worth.
It took me quite awhile to get the sequence to work when I first changed my oil, tranny, & rear diff oil! ...I'm not too far from doing my 2nd oil change, which will probably again take me a few tries before I finally get it to reset!
 
#27 ·
very simple process once know what you are doing. done it 2 weeks ago while it was raining lol. was not fun but saved a bit of cash. only had drain plugs in the oil filter and the pan, no 2nd drain plug. Mine is 07 EU spec. could not figure out how to reset the service so gave it to my mechanic to do it while he sorted out the aircon. Done it free of charge as well :)
 
#30 ·
dont think about it, just do it... its no more or less difficult than changing the oil in any other car... taking the under panel off is annoying but just bolt on, ur going to need a 25mm socket which is pretty big and you wont have in your normal ratchet/socket set so make sure to order it prior to doing the job, its to take off the housing on the oil filter... the one tip that is most important above all else, snuggly tighten drain plugs and oil filter housing DO NOT CRANK THEM as tight as possible, ull strip them, destroy them, and then good luck w fixing that issue...
 
#36 ·
So last night I decided to change my own oil on my 2007 M6 and found it to be quite easy and straight forward. I went to my local dealership and bought 9 quarts of 10W60 oil and filter. Funny this was I bought a Oil filter from my local parts store but they didn't have the 10W60 oil, so I went to BMW. At BMW I bought a second filter because I wanted to see if the aftermarket filter was different in quality or design. I get home and I noticed that the two filters were completely different in size!

So I park the car on my driveway and put it on jackstands. I found the oilpan and the drain plug, which was simple enough but I couldn't find the oil filter cannister! I searched on the internet and couldn't find an answer. The posts were for the M5 and was saying it was right beside the oil pan, but it wasn't in my car. So I just looked underneath and followed the lines to an oil cooler. From there I dropped the front underskirt which was about 6 screws and 4 bolts. And there it was, the oil filter cannister is located on the passenger side, right beside the front passenger wheel, underneath the black plastic underskirt. I removed the oil cap, I drained the cannister oil by removing the 6mm hex drain plug, drained the oil from the oil pan from a similar 6mm drain plug.

This is the funny part. The filter I got from the BMW dealership was the wrong one! So basically, if I hadn't bought the other oil filter from my local parts shop, I would be screwed! So I changed the filter, ring seals and washers. Put everything back together underneath and the car back on the ground.

Filled it with the 9 quarts of oil, primed it and then ran the car.

I reset the computer by turning the ignition on but not starting the car, pressing the odometer reset button for 5-10 seconds which then displayed my service warnings, then pressed the reset button until it came to the oil reset. Press and hold for 5-10 more seconds until the display said "reset?" and pressed the reset button again which then resetted the oil service warning til the next service.

All done, total time 2 hours. Total cost: Oil filter $25, Oil: $150. BMW dealership quoted me $395 for an oil change plus tax. Next time, now that I know where the oil cannister is, should take less than 1 hour!!!

Hope this helps, I know pictures would have been nice, but maybe on the next oil change.
I went to auto zone and asked for the 10w60 synthetic oil. The man at counter said, " No, we don't have it." As I was walking away, a man at the commercial side counter yelled to me, "yes we do!! its over here !!!" at there commercial vehicle counter tucked away behind counter!! Imagine that!!!
 
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