E70 X5 36k Maintenance DIY

$150 for the oil change. Hmm, ok, about $80 over the parts cost. Not that bad.
$431 for spark plugs change. This is a bit pricey for a job that uses less than $60 in parts and around 1 hour of labor.
$1,056 for front brakes. Ok, now it's ridiculous, considering it's a job that uses $300 in parts and for sure less than 2 hours of labor.

What we're talking about here is BMW of Mountain View quoting me for maintenance of the X5.

Of course before the 4 year / 50k miles all-included warranty expired, I just took the car to the dealer, got a loaner car, picked it up when it was done and moved on. No, it's not that simple now. When my '09 BMW X5 told me service was due, I went to the dealer to ask about what specific items I needed to do, and how much it would cost. Upon seeing it, I decided in 2 seconds that I would do it myself. And change other stuff that they omitted, too. Why they didn't include various air filters in the required work, beats me, because it's been a while.

So here's the list of the maintenance work I'm doing to it:

Change spark plugs
Change oil and oil filter
Replace air filter
Replace cabin filters
Replace recirculated air cabin filter

This is the age of each of the parts I'm changing:

Spark plugs: 36k / 5yr (as far as I know)
Oil / oil filter: 14k / 1yr 4mo
Air filter: 14k / 1yr 4mo
Cabin filters: 10k / 1yr
Recirc air filter: unknown

I'm not doing the brakes just now because the pads look like they have plenty material left, and the car's computer says I still have like 1500 miles left.

Let's take a look at the parts and their cost. I also bought required tools that I didn't already have. I'll still consider them as the cost of the maintenance to see how this all-in total compares to the dealership job. We're competing against $1,637 plus basically no time from me and no downtime (they provide a loaner car).

Here's the list of parts:

Spark plugs ($56)
BMW Spark Plugs Platinum Iridium Plug Set Bosch OEM 158253 / FR7NP P332 (6pcs)
Amazon.com

Oil ($36.95 each, need two: $72.90)
Liqui Moly Synthetic 5L 5W30
Bavarian Autosport (part #3756)

Oil Filter ($12.95)
Genuine BMW 2009 X5 Oil Filter (plus o-ring and washers)
Bavarian Autosport (part #11 42 7 566 327)

Air filter ($17.95)
MANN 2009 X5 xDrive30i
Bavarian Autosport (part #C36145)

Cabin filters ($25.95)
Interior Cabin Air Microfilters - Activated Charcoal - Pair - MANN 2009 X5 xDrive30i
Bavarian Autosport (part #CUK2941-2)

Recirc air cabin filter ($31.95)
Interior Cabin Air Microfilter - For Recirculated Air 2009 X5 xDrive30i - Genuine BMW
Bavarian Autosport (part #64 31 6 945 596)

Replacement brake kit - front ($232.46)
Meyle brake rotors, hold-down bolts, Pagid Red pads, front sensor wire, anti-squeal compound.
Bavarian Autosport (part #RBK E70 F)

Total in parts: $450.16


Update:
Oil change - done!
Spark plugs - done!
Air filter - done!
Recirc cabin air filter - done!
Cabin filters - done!
Front brakes - got the parts, on hold for now.

Recirc Filter

First thing that arrived, the recirculated cabin air filter. It goes inside the cabin by the passenger footwell. A 10 minute job.

But first a comparison pic showing the old vs the new filter. It looks like it was due for replacement!

First remove the lower plastic trim piece from the passenger footwell.

I always wonder why they make these pieces so complex. Whatever.

Then a bit of soft plastic ducting and off comes the old piece, in goes the new one. Voilà!

 Spark Plugs

This is a more interesting job. At least you're inside the engine compartment, needs some real tools and you get to see the actual engine that normally sits hidden by so many boring plastic covers.

First remove the air intake duct that feeds into the airbox. It's held down by two plastic fasteners. In my case, one... the other one is MIA.

Then remove the whole airbox by first undoing the clamp that holds the air outlet and the airflow sensor, then lift up from a few fasteners on the bottom. No tools required for those.

The factory airbox removed.

Here you can see the four simple fasteners.  Intake manifold on the right, engine valve cover on the left.

Remove the left engine cover after undoing four screws.

This is an inline six, so all coils are nicely lined up. You can see the first three here in the foreground, while the other three are to the back, a bit harder to reach.

An ignition coil. To remove, lift the pivoting lock you see here on the left, then pull. You can use a screwdriver inserted in the pivoting lock itself for leverage, those things are pretty tough.

You can see the first spark plug on the lower right. Nice and clean, no visible problems here.

Another angle of the exposed spark plug #1. You can see a bit of #4 and #5 to the left of that cilider-shaped thing in the middle of the block, right by the oil filler cap.

An advantage of the coil-on-plug system, that all cars have nowadays, is that you don't need those thick wires since the coils receive standard voltage (those orange/white wires, note the disconnected one on the lower right).

Old vs new plug. To remove the plugs, you need a spark plug socket and a suitable extension.

A close up on the tips. You can see the old one was pretty worn out. The new ones come pre-gapped so no adjustment needed.

To put the new ones in, reverse the steps. The three plugs to the rear are much harder to reach. You'll need a combination of extensions to get just the right amount of clearance. You'll also need to remove some plastic wire guides towards the back of the block to reach the last one. All in all, not very hard. Probably a 1 hour job for an inexperienced weekend mechanic like myself.

Air Filter

This is a 5 minute job, you already saw the airbox that, you don't even need to take out to change the filter. Just undo the metal fasteners around the box and presto.

The new filter, beside the new oil that I changed at the same time.

The airbox just before removing the cover.

The cover removed.

In goes the new filter.

Oil Change

To change the oil, I placed the car up on ramps to get better access to the drain plug and fit the pan underneath to receive the old oil.

The car on ramps and the pan.

The oil pan with the drain plug removed. Don't forget to take out the oil filler cap and have the engine warmed up so the oil drains faster.

Oops my pan is a bit too small. It almost overflowed and was difficult to remove from under the car without spilling any oil. Gonna need a bigger one next time. Also this cheapo one is a pain to empty into the containers for recycling.

Now to replace the oil filter. It's on the top of the engine for most inline 6 BMWs. The kit comes with the filter, the top o-ring and the small bottom o-ring. You also get a new copper crush washer for the drain plug.

Remember to moisten the orings with a little bit of oil so they are not damaged when you screw the cap back in.

Torque wrench for applying the spec torque when replacing the oil filter cap. I also got the oil filter wrench adaptor, it's a 16-side one I think for a Volvo but fits the BMW as well.

That's it, remember to replace the drain plug before you start filling in the new oil! The engine takes around 6.9 quarts of oil, so you need to get two 5-quart bottles and keep the rest for the next change.

This is a 30 minute job if you're slow like me.

This car doesn't have a dipstick, so you have to rely on the stupid oil level meter in the car's computer. There's a static rough measurement that you get with the car off, and another more accurate reading that only works while the engine is running and takes around 5 minutes to get the reading. So needlessly complicated.

Cabin Air Filters

These were the last to arrive. There are two of them and they go together right in front of the winshield, on the back of the engine compartment. Just some covers to remove with plastic fasteners. A 10 minute job.

They don't look that bad, apart from the occasional leaf caught in them.

Quite a big enclosure where the filters go. I still can't figure out how it fits right below the front part of the passenger side of the windshield. But it's not difficult to take out or replace.

This is the plastic cover that goes on top of the filters enclosure. The cut out on the left is where the gas strut holding up the hood goes.

That's it for this part of the maintenance. Only the front brakes left, and I'm doing more than what the dealer prescribed, at a fraction of the cost. DIY mechanics FTW!

I'll replace the rotors and pads once the counter on the car's computer reaches zero. As of mid May, I've still got somewhere around 600 miles to go. With that said, I may even wait longer since the pads don't look that worn out. The counter on the car just does an average calculation I guess, and there is actually a sensor on the front left inside pad so you definitely know when the pad's gone. I'll make another post with that work.

Also, I wanted to get more practice on the brake procedure and I actually did, but that's part of another story when I write about the new temporary replacement for the 300ZX. Till then.