How to Change the Oil on a '96 318I

When I was 16 I got a part-time job working at a local oil change and lube shop. I knew how to change engine oil, or at least that's what I thought, because I had done it on mine. About a month into the job, things were going great -- up until this beautiful 318i came rolling into our oil change bay. I thought it was going to be another everyday oil change, but on this beauty that was made in 1996, things were a little different than what I was accustomed to.

Draining the Oil

  • Our shop didn't have a traditional basement-style pit, so I instructed the customer to set his parking brake, then I lifted the front end by the lift pad on the bottom of the radiator core support. After that, I placed jack stands under the subframe rails, right where the rear control arms mounted to them. I removed the drain bolt with a 17 mm wrench. Once the oil drained, I tightened the drain plug to 22 foot-pounds with a torque wrench.

Filter and Filling Business

  • I spent about 10 minutes looking for the oil filter, but I couldn't find it. Eventually I called a local BMW dealer and they told me that it was a cartridge type filter, and had to be replaced from the top of the engine. I looked, and sure enough I found it on the driver side of the engine, toward the front. I removed the lid with an oil filter wrench, and the filter came out of the housing with the lid. I removed the filter, and pressed a new one into the cap. I also changed the rubber O-ring on the housing and coated it with fresh engine oil. After I wiped out the housing with a shop rag, I installed the cap and tightened it until the base of the cap sat flush with the oil filter housing. I added 5 quarts of fresh 5W-30 oil to the engine.