2004 service interval questions

[spinixguy]

Greetings all. I recently purchased a 2004 x3 with 83000 miles on it.
I am getting ready to perform the normal used car maintenance of performing all recommended service up to its current mileage. This leads me to a few questions pertaining to the service interval system.

If I understand correctly, the system goes oil change, inspection 1, oil change, inspection 2. With 15k miles between each item.

If I want to go ahead and perform an inspection 2, do I just keep resetting the si until I see inspection 2, or can I change to inspection 2?

I also want to replace the coolant and the brake fluid. Do these have service intervals in the system or is it just remember to do it every 3 or 2 years respectively?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[JCL]

I am not positive, but I think you reset the distance to the next service (inspection or oil service) and then it toggles to the other. Perhaps you can reset both, but there is a minimum consumption trigger that you have to pass IIRC. Reset instructions are in the Articles and How To tabs above.

There is a clock symbol for the brake fluid (see your manual) in the same area as the maintenance display. You can toggle to see what month it is due. Some have reported that they have no such display; I think it may be turned on or off by market (Canada vs US, for example).

There is no alert for cooling system flush. I do mine at 4 years; 3 is good.

Recommend you use an OE filter, whatever oil you decide to use. Lots of good info here and on the related X5 board (same 3.0 engine).

Good luck.

Jeff

[spinixguy]

Thanks for the info Jeff. I picked up the OE oil kit from ecs tuning for the oil change. It came with a Mann filter. I am assuming these are good. It only came with the big gasket ring though. I thought you needed to also replace the two smaller ones. Is this not the case?

Also, I notice that there is a diagnostic test that is supposed to be run as part of inspection 2. Is this something I would be better off having the dealer do or can I do this myself with an obd cable and software.

[JCL]

There is nothing wrong with Mann or Mahle as suppliers, they both make filters for BMW. The problem is that when you buy their product directly, at best, you are getting something that physically fits. That's it. The rest is unknown. We don't have published specs on the OE filtering media in terms of micron rating, dirt capacity, or filter media life. So, with a generic filter, there is no performance guarantee. For those reasons, I won't use will-fit jobber parts for critical things like oil filters. It would be like buying Castrol oil, give that they are an OE supplier, and not worrying about what weight or API certification it had, just that it came in one quart bottles like the OE oil does. And you would get the cheapest Castrol oil because it was packaged in a kit.

If you want to use the Mann filter, it isn't a big risk, but I wouldn't leave it in as long as the OE one is capable of. That is the most likely performance difference.

Yes, you need all the o rings, plus an oil drain plug washer. Dealer usually provides them, at least they always did to me when I bought oil filters.

I never did my own diagnostic scan for Inspections 1 or 2, I used the dealer. Sorry, can't help there.

[spinixguy]

Thanks again Jeff. You bring up some good points and I will probably opt for BMW filters from here on.

[Qsilver7]

[JCL]

Or just refer to the Articles section as posted, linked here for convenience.

http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...-schedule.html