Maintenance Questions
 

2001 X5 4.4i, 8 cylinder, 33k miles --- I don't put a lot of miles on it --- off warranty now and have decided to do as much myself as I can and avoid the high dealer charges.

1. Engine air filter element is an Inspection 2 item - has never been replaced as far as I can tell. Any idea what the expected mileage is when this filter is typically replaced?

2. Can't find any references to any traditional lube requirements. Correct to assume that a 'lube' is history and all critical joints and linkages are sealed and permanently lubed?

Thanks - great info on this forum for DIY.

your manuel should have info on it ?

There is nothing specific to miles in the "Service and Warranty" book (on the engine air filter) - just noted as the first item in Inspection 2.

No referernces, as well, to traditional "lube" although there is lots of discussion about greasing hinges, etc.

air filter should be changed on service maint Intervals 15k,30k..
your a little ways from and the inspection 2 service worries.

The maintenance manual does mentioned something about the air filter being replaced at inspection 2, but that is ludicrous since inspection 2 normally doesn't show up until 50k-60k or so. Mine looked pretty bad at the 15k marker, so I replaced it there. Since you own the car, just replace it if it looks dirty...why do you have to follow BMW's recommendation to the t?

This air filter thing is an interesting one. This may be tough to believe, but you can change your air filter too often. Air filters are designed to balance dust capture effiiciency and life. What does that mean? Well, a clean air filter lets more dirt through the element than a dirty one. Changing an element before it is really needed lets more dirt through the intake.

The trick is balancing the life of the element vs. intake restriction vs. dirt capacity. An intake restriction guage is the only accurate way to measure if an element is beyond its service life. Unfortunately BMW does not include one in the filter housing. (Believe it or not, our former 2002 Yukon actually had a restriction guage and in 60K miles it never moved showing the element had significant service life left)

I would change the element at the Service II interval whenever the message comes up in the display since we don't have a guage.

Just my .02

Not much more to say on Air filters, I change them when they are dirty, sometime 5k sometimes 25k. Depends on where I have been.

Lube is a thing of the past, I have not seen a Zerk Fitting in 10 years ( on a car ). I actually have a bunch in my tool box, I have almost thrown them out a dozen times.

Zerks are part of my life - I have a 1984 truck (4x4) that I maintain - it has 14 zerks and they are my friends. Didn't see a single one on the X5 so I figured they really were history.

Still need one bit of clarification regarding engine air filter and Inspection 2 - at what approximate mileage should Inspection 2 happen?

(ooops - just noticed; dlk answered my question - Inspection 2 at about 50-60k miles)

closer to 60K than 50K.

Here's an alternative BMW maintenance schedule written by Mike Miller, one of the technical contributors to Roundel magazine.