1st post; and sludge DIY

[Persian]

Hey guys, I am an engineering student living in Canada. I "inherited" mum's X recently ( she purchased Z4 ///M ... ). For a few months I have been lurking your site, learning car maint. on mum's X (haha, great car to learn on? :P).

My folks stopped taking the car to the dealer after it made the 120k mark. At that point on they took it to a family friend who did the oil changes.

Well, after noticing that mum's Inline 6 engine was sounding more and more like a Mustang, I decided to take a look at the car myself. So I took it to my workplace, a garage where I do account management and customer service work.

So I popped the hood, opened the oil cap, and surprise surprise, there is a STALAGMITE of solidified sludge under it, no, I am not kidding. At this point all the mechanics in the shop start praising the germans for making such durable motors.

Anyhow, I threw in about .5 L of synthetic 5w30 and dumped 1 quart of flush in (I forget the brand, but it is a blue small bottle with a cartoonish oildrop guy on it). I proceeded to take the car for drive (most people say let it idle, but screw that).

I came back, gave the mechs a few coffees etc (here in Canada we call it 'timmies'). I then proceeded to open the filter and put the car up and drain the oil on it as pointed out: http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...w-x5-3-0i.html. The oil filter was a wreck, it was completely bent out of shape with particles all over but no metal shreds! This is when we found out that the oil that was put in wasn't even synthetic, it was regular 5w30 possibly mixed with SOME synthetic 5w30, go figure why they didn't charge mum. Mechanics were still praising the germans :-)


Anyhow, I put in about 7.6 L of 5w30 syntec castrol (the best oil, as far as Mitchell5 OnDemand and BMW are concerned) and drove the car. The engine ran better, and better RPM response.

About 2,000 kM later I repeated the same service, now the engine runs almost like new, and I put the x5 beside an x3 with the exact same engine and yr. they sound nearly identical, given that the x3 had 170k on it and was maintained at BMW.

Notes:

- DO NOT use MAHLE brand filters, they are advertised as OEM, but are not. Buy Mann and buy from pelicanparts.

- BMW engines "should use" 2 quarts (bottles in my case) of engine flush agent. Use just 1, do it twice. The guy I work for told me this is due to the chemical potency of the flushing agent. On a smaller engine use just 1/2 quart.

- If your mechanic tells you that he has some pressurizing machine for engine flushes, do not use it.

- Sludge is also caused by delayed oil changes. Sometimes really bad sludge will trigger the car to use bypass valves in order to keep the engine lubricated.

I just wanted to contribute..... well..... something to you guys. I really like this website.

YEAR: 2003
MAKE: BMW
Manu.: CA, USA
Model: 3.0i Fully loaded
Previous problems: just one, ABS sensor front left.

Coming soon: Stablizer linkage guide, as I have a broken one

greets to any persian bmw owners on here

[LeMansX5]

Welcome aboard! Nice write-up.