Changing the oil in my previous Mercedes C240 would require 8.5 quarts of synthetic oil (0w40 Mobil1) at about $7 per quart, and a filter about $10... about $70 in parts alone.

Mercedes requires a 0w40, as they had found signs of oil starvation at tight tolerance areas... that was the reason that my mercedes certified local mechanic who worked for dealership told me.

Many local shops and even dealerships themselves would put in 5w30 or 5w40 or even 10w40 in the summer time... I always went out of my way to find 0w40 and put that in... but even I started to buy 5w30 mobil1 from costco in the last few oil changes (80k miles +).

Usually if a manufacturer very specifically asks for a certain grade of oil or a certain brand (which has got say MB or BMW approval rating printed on the bottle of that grade/type of oil), there is an underlying reason for it that they don't necessarily care to share with the rest of the world, be it a design flaw or simply a certain characteristic of the engine.

Honda transmissions for example demanded Honda specific transmission fluid. I took my old Honda 94 accord back when I was in Canada in 1998 to a quick lube place and had them change the transmission fluid with a generic one (same kind)... and had to take the car to the dealer and have them do another one in a couple of weeks after I got tired of the rough gear changes that showed up after the change with the generic brand. Once they put in the Honda brand transmission fluid in it, it started to run smoothly again.

Pay the few extra bucks and get the exact thing that the manufacturer asks for. It 'can' save a lot of aggravation in the long run. That is how I look at it.

My oil change on my '05 X5 4.8is is nowhere near a $100. A 8qts of mobil1 = $38.99 Costco + Mahle filter kit autohaus 7.95 for a whopping $47. (Disclaimer:I bought four cases on sale last year at Costco I bought 2 cases and my wife bought two cases plus the $9 rebates/case. I regularly utilized the free shipping on orders over $50 at Autohaus.

Here in Canada, the only place I can find Mobil1 0w40 charges $9.79 per quart. The oil filter at all the local stealers costs around $25. Therefore, I'm looking at a little over $100 for parts alone. Plus it's winter here right now and it's freezing cold so I'll probably having my mechanic perform the oil change in his heated garage and he charges $15 for labor.

My local stealer charges $126 so I guess the DIY oil change is not worth it for us Canadians. I would go the DIY route if Mobil1 0w40 was proven to be better than the OEM oil BMW uses but you guys say that there is no major difference.

^^ sometimes, not getting dirty and not having to deal with oil spills/clean up/recycling/etc. is a good enough reason to have an independent shop or even the dealership do the oil change.

I don't know what part of Canada you are from, but when I lived in Ottawa and/or Toronto, there was no way I would do an oil change of my own in the middle of friggin February, no matter how much money I saved! ;)

I don't get dirty
 

I use an oil extractor like this one...
http://toolmonger.com/2007/06/14/dea...oil-extractor/

yeah, I used topsider myself on my mercedes a few times too... but got tired of pumping the damn thing and found pulling the car on the ramp easier.

Topside fluid extractor is my next move for oil changes. Its too messy with the drain bolt method..

Make sure you get one thats large enough to hold all the oil from the X. That one extracts only too (which is probably fine) it doesn't dispense.

I have the Mityvac.

I've got a couple of Mityvacs myself - boat, automotive, etc. To use the Mityvac, you still need to put the tube down to extract, then remove tube, the *wipe clean tube*, and either take the oil and walk it over to a oil station to dump & or dump the oil into a oil container that you can seal a cap/lid on it. For the amount of work involved, I prefer to just do the bolt method myself on the X.


Drop bolt, let oil drain into pan.
While it's draining, remove oil filter, clean inside and under cap, and then put on new filter.

Wait a extra minute or 2, depending if the oil is all drained out.
Put new crush washer and bolt on. fill up oil filter with 1qt of oil or as much as you can before it gets to the spillover point. Pour another 7.5 qts in.

The paper towel, wipe the top of the oil pan clean and put cap on.
OC done. It goes by real quick IMO, if not less fuss and mess with the damm tube IMO.

I used to not even open the oil cap on my Mercedes... just pour the 8.5 quarts of oil through the oil filter opening (it was wider, and quicker to pour through, than the cap).

When you say 'as much as you can before it gets to the spillover point'... do you mean on the filter itself, or are you talking about the oil filter opening (before you even put the filter in there) doesn't allow more than perhaps 1 qt of oil from going into the engine?