DIY Oil Change for a 2005 X3

[chiwong1]

I would like to change my own oil on a 2005 X3. Does anyone have any advise or pictures? Thank you in advance for your help.

[motordavid]

See Link below, from Bimmerfest X3 board, post #1...
for some reason, I could not find a good DIY thread
here, for X3s. Lots of links for X5s, but not X3s in
my cursory dig.
Hope these help...
GL,mD

First Oil Change on 3.0i - Page 2 - bimmerfest - BMW Forums

[chiwong1]

That really helped. Now I just got to go out ant tackle it.

[motordavid]

You are welcome...on an X5, the drain plug is easily accessible underneath, by sliding in and under.
Dunno if the X3 has the same clearance.

If not, use solidly constructed ramps; do not trust your floor jack or
oem tire changing jack. Quality jack stands work well too, (on X5), but
be sure to center them perfectly on the jack lift points, if using jack stands
in lieu of ramps.

When you crack that drain plug, get ready to properly catch and contain
those 7-8 qts pouring out of drain hole.
Oil & filter is pretty easy DIY...
GL,md

[chiwong1]

I have good solid ramps that I will drive up for the DIY oil change. I just need to find where the oil drain plug is located.

[Goldstone]

Clearance is good, so you don't have to use your ramps.

You need to put your hand up through a rectangular cutout in an aluminum shield to confirm that you have found the right drain plug, and then put your socket up there. Quite easy once you find it, but people forget how long an inline 6 is, and expect it to be closer to the front.

It's quite far back, access it behind the front passenger-side wheel (for LHD models).

Don't forget to put a new washer on the drain plug (in the filter kit), and put some fresh oil over the new filter when reassembling the canister to minimize the time before the oil light goes out on first startup.

[chiwong1]

Thank you so much for the tip on the location of the drain plug. I have a manual transmission, should I change the oil in that too? Any takers on that one? My X3 has around 60K on it. Thanks again in advance.

[jwbekens]

Oil extraction is the optimal way to remove oil in the X3. You won't need ramps or a torque wrench for the drain plug. I tested the extractor in my R32 and after oil extraction I then removed the drain plug and only a few drops of oil remained. It's very effective.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...extractor.html

Gonna do another oil extraction this weekend.

[Court X3]

Originally Posted by chiwong1

Thank you so much for the tip on the location of the drain plug. I have a manual transmission, should I change the oil in that too? Any takers on that one? My X3 has around 60K on it. Thanks again in advance.

60k on a manual without an oil change? Yeah it's time to change it out. I'm OCD and do mine every year though(12-15k miles) on the AT. Manual is the same but sometime every couple.