Note to self..... Prepare for mess...

[lip277]

When you are removing the filter.... The filter is supposed to lift out with the filter housing cover. When it does NOT - It makes a mess.

Yuck.....



Never had that happen before.
I was changing the oil in the '01 E38 the other night.
VERY cold out (~25F) but engine warm after a long drive.
I was pulling the oil out via the vacuum line when I went to do the filter.
Unscrewed the cover - But the filter stayed in the bottom of the housing (did not lift with the cover coming off)... No way to know in advance.... As the oil was not allowed to drain out of the housing before the cover came off.... Ugh....

Now I have a mess of oil all over the place and need to pull the lover covers off from under the front of the car (under engine) as they had collected all sorts of oil.

Oh well....

Just a note to all you other DIY'ers....

[John V]

Must be a different setup from my old E36. The filter always stayed in the housing. Never had an issue with it making a mess, though.

[JST]

Must be a different setup from my old E36. The filter always stayed in the housing. Never had an issue with it making a mess, though.

+1--that's been my experience with all of my E46s and my E36, too, as well as the Mini. Now that I think about it, I've never changed the oil on an E90, probably because the lack of a dipstick means that I can't use the vacuum pump.

[lip277]

Interesting - I thought all 'recent' BMW's behaved that way.

Good to know.

On a side note... I replaced the battery on the same car today.
Early 2001 build. Original battery still there.

~8 1/2 years on an E38 battery. Not too bad.
I replaced not because of outright failure (in fact the green eye is still 'green') but because I received the dreaded "Trans Failsafe Mode" message yesterday....
I had the same thing happen to the '95 back in 2003 - it had its original battery too (Ummm.... a bit over 8 years old too. I see a trend.) I had a few odd issues with the car that (per the consensus on the E38 forums) indicated a weak battery. Replaced battery - no issues.

I hope it is the same here on the '01.

:)

[John V]

My E36's battery started to fade two years after I bought it (so... 2005), and when I checked the date code on it, it was from 10/1994. That must be some sort of record... eleven years on a battery?

I'm still puzzled as to why your oil filter issue would make a huge mess. ?