E90 Maintenance

[NtandoN]

So I've hit the 200,000km mark on my E90 330i. Having owned it for 7 years of it's almost 11 year life, wear will kick in soon and I feel that I need to start with some preventative maintenance. I still enjoy the car and not looking to flog it for the moment (although these F30's are enticing :ignoring.

The only issue I've ever had with the car was a water pump failure, otherwise it's been sheer driving pleasure.

To start off, I will doing the following in the next few months:
-replace shocks
-replace any pipes showing ageing
-change gear oil
-cooling system flush
-suspension (will check everything)
-brake fluid flush
-power steering fluid?

That's all I can think of for the moment.
If anyone has advice of anything else to add to the list, please feel free to chirp in.

 

[akash]

From what i have a seen on this forum. If the Gearbox oil wasn't changed regularly you should leave the oil as is. Each person has their own explanation for this.

I've have the 323i E90 for 232 000kms now the only major issues i had were:

Water pump: 98 000kms MP replaced
Diff replaced 170 000kms
Radiator replaced 220 000kms

Other than that, i just continue with regular servicing.

I will be changing he front brake discs and pads next month.

 

[NtandoN]

Thanks for the feedback Akash. I do regular services and I've also just changed all the discs, brakes and a couple of other things a few weeks ago. I must say I am doing all this maintenance for my peace of mind. I know from reading up on the forum that the 6cyl engine is mostly "bullet proof" :rollsmile: but all the listed stuff I worry about. I can't recall that the gear oil has ever been changed :dunno:

 

[NtandoN]

Reviving an old thread but here goes...

So my E90 has clocked up 213000km and still going strong. However I didn't manage to do all the maintenance that I wanted to do last year. But now the DIY's have started.

Work that has been done in the last month:
1. Replaced heat exchange and oil filter housing gaskets (gasket leaking, found oil in coolant)
2. Replaced valve cover gasket (oil leaking into plug holes 2 and 3)
3. Replaced spark plugs
4. Replaced rear shocks
5. Replaced battery with OE

DIY currently ongoing:
1. Cooling system flush (This is a b*tch since oil ended up in the coolant. So been flushing this almost everyday for the last week and a half, and it still dirty )
2 Flushing engine using oil (While replacing valve cover gasket, observed some sludge in the engine. Cleaned what I could and put in cheap oil and new filter which will run for 500km. Will repeat this again for another 500km before putting in good quality oil, hopefully this will help)

To do list (1 & 3 to be done over the long weekend):
1. After cooling system flush is complete, thermostat and coolant will be replaced.

2. After engine flush is complete, oil and filter will be replaced. (Good deal on oil from S&I)

3. Tie rods

4. Front shocks
5. Bonnet shocks
6. Cleaning vanos units
7. Suspension bushes
8. Gearbox service
9. Diff service

The engine bay needed a good clean after all the oily work. So decided to do all the cars.

E90

My personal assistant posing for a pic after all the hard work.

BTW if anyone can assist with battery registration, I would be grateful. BMW wants R600 for this. Otherwise I will need to buy my own scan tool/cable soon.

Sorry for the bad photos and thanks for looking.

 

[///Avi]

Good luck bud! Great start

 

[Nobz330i]

Looks good.

 

[momo1]

So I've hit the 200,000km mark on my E90 330i. Having owned it for 7 years of it's almost 11 year life, wear will kick in soon and I feel that I need to start with some preventative maintenance. I still enjoy the car and not looking to flog it for the moment (although these F30's are enticing :ignoring.

The only issue I've ever had with the car was a water pump failure, otherwise it's been sheer driving pleasure.

To start off, I will doing the following in the next few months:
-replace shocks
-replace any pipes showing ageing
-change gear oil
-cooling system flush
-suspension (will check everything)
-brake fluid flush
-power steering fluid?

That's all I can think of for the moment.
If anyone has advice of anything else to add to the list, please feel free to chirp in.

As above I think you spot on with all you are going to do, I would also replace all filters and throw in some injector cleaner if you have not done so already.
BTW may I ask what is the cost of a water pump replacement and who carried out the work?

 

[tman]

Good on you for documenting your maintenance

Some input for my side:

I can highly recommend the Liqui Moly engine flush, pic attached.

If you are looking for a method to flush the powersteering fluid, I posed a DIY in a "320d maintenance" thread few weeks ago. It's a R200 DIY.
Lastly, also look at the Liqui Moly injector cleaner for petrol. Looks similar to this, and it's about R100.

Sent on the move via Tapatalk

 

[NtandoN]

As above I think you spot on with all you are going to do, I would also replace all filters and throw in some injector cleaner if you have not done so already.
BTW may I ask what is the cost of a water pump replacement and who carried out the work?

Thanks bud. I replaced all the filters a year ago and I checked them a few weeks ago, they are still good. Probably a good idea on the injector cleaner, will do so.

The water pump was done about 3 years ago and it cost about R7000. Had an mechanic in Soweto do it for me.

---

Good on you for documenting your maintenance

Some input for my side:

I can highly recommend the Liqui Moly engine flush, pic attached.

If you are looking for a method to flush the powersteering fluid, I posed a DIY in a "320d maintenance" thread few weeks ago. It's a R200 DIY.

Lastly, also look at the Liqui Moly injector cleaner for petrol. Looks similar to this, and it's about R100.

Sent on the move via Tapatalk

Thanks Tman.

I did quite a lot of research on engine flushes while looking for a product to use. I came out very confused on a product to use but I understood the consensus to be that running oil for shorter intervals is the best solution for engine flushing and keeping components clean. Apparently, some of these engine flushes can damage seals and also loosen sludge chunks that may clog oil pipes. Synthetic oil has detergents that clean the engine and I would prefer to use this. The problem is BMW's ridiculously high oil service intervals which can result in sludge build up. So I'm currently using new cheap oil for the next 500km with new filter and will do this twice. Then will run LL-01 oil and change every 7500km interval. Hopefully, this will alleviate the sludge.

Will look for that injector cleaner today :ty:

 

[NtandoN]

So this car was sold after 10 years of ownership. Didn't drive it much anymore and didn't have space for it.
I enjoyed it very much as my first BMW :blueCry:

 

[ecKARd]

Why no Fanatics sale thread?:nonono:

 

[NtandoN]

Why no Fanatics sale thread?:nonono:

Already had a buyer before I decided to sell :thumbsup: