markke

OK. I did the searches and read info and watched the video for the oil change on a 530.

I just got under my car (04.545i) and removed what appeared to be the plastic cover where the oil drain plug should be. The interior contents do not look anything like the picture posted for the 530 (naturally, different engines, right?).

Does anyone have pics of the drain plug location and drain plug that they can post here?

Thanks in advance.
Mark

markke

Found a PDF on this engine. The Gallery seems like an odd place to retrieve DIY based information. I suspect it's due to the file nature of PDFs fitting into a picture gallery? Maybe we can make a pointer from the DIY to the gallery?

Figures the 545i doesn't have as elegant of a setup as the 530...

Strange -- the oil filter drain plug seems like it's made of rubber/plastic. Must be my imagination....
Mark

luigi524td

Your oil drain plug will not be rubber / plastic. Start here to get an idea off what you should be looking for: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?mo...hg=11&fg=10

markke

Thanks, Luigi.
I think I got it resolved. The rubber/plastic I was referring to is the 'nut like' top structure of the oil filter housing. I see now that in the center of that area there is a drain plug for the filter housing.

Mark

Texas545i

I'm getting ready to change my oil for the first time and I've never seen a non-housed filter like this one. I've never owned a BMW, so I'm used to the typical American car oil filters. Is there anything specail I should know/do before I change the oil on my 05 545i? Is there a certain process or procedure that will save me some headache? I looked a the link in this thread and I never saw the filter. I'm assuming it goes on that long stick with the O-ring above it. Am I right?

BlueHorse

Hey, Mark,

Why do you need to touch the oil filter drain plug? I have a 2004 525i, and I am thinking to do oil change soon. I thought I just need to replace the filter, and unscrew the oil drain plug to let the old oil out. I don't quite understand what oil filter draing plug does and why we need to touch it. Maybe you are taking about oil drain plug at the underside of the car?

Rizbel

+1. Didn't bother with the oil filter drain.
After draining the oil through the drain plug, I just unscrewed the filter housing and changed filter. The filter drain plug is to drain oil in the filter housing prior to removal to avoid spill. Don't forget to change the copper washer on the drain plug. Replace the big rubber O-ring on the filter cover (plastic). The leftover smaller O-ring is for the filter cover drain plug(metal)

BlueHorse

I just bought an oil filter from Pepboys for my 2004 525i. I am surprised that instead of 3 o-rings in the picture here, the package only contains 1 o-ring - it is the largest one. The other two small o-rings in this picture are not in the package I bought.

Are both of the two small o-rings for the oil filter drain plug, or one of them is actually for the oil filter cap? Is this right that I only need to replace the large o-ring?

Thanks.

Rizbel

I'm not sure about the kit for the 525i, but the above is for the 545i. The big O-ring must be for the filter housing

Rizbel

It should be similar to this other Inline 6 engine.
Good luck .