Current Mileage: 54,828 miles
Today I knocked off an oil change and replacing the oil level sensor. I wanted to do a brake fluid flush, but it was just too damn hot out (92F today). First thing I did was to put the car up on jack stands. Next step was to open up the hood and remove the oil filler cap. I crawled under the car and removed the front plastic splash guard (7 philips head screws that stay connected to the splash guard). I noticed that the splash guard was wet with something around its drain hole:
I removed the splash guard and inspected the underside of the motor and noticed two hoses had signs of wetness. Are these power steering hoses? They're located just inboard of the front sway bar.
Moving on, I removed the metal reinforcement plate (8x 16mm hex bolts). Mine had little rubber protector grommets over the four bolt holes closest to the front that needed to be removed. Once the plate was out the way, I removed the drain plug (17mm hex bolt) and let the oil drain out. I inspected the drain plug (a magnetic part from Turner Motorsport) and noticed there was a little nugget of stuff stuck to the magnetized end. In hindsight I should have taken a photo. As the oil was draining I removed oil filter housing cap (36mm hex). I removed the old oil filter, replaced and lubed the two small green o-rings on the cap (11427549573, BMW), put in a new filter and a new housing o-ring from MANN kit (MAN-HU9254X). I tightened it back down to 18 ft-lbs.
I released the wiring harness from the oil level sensor and then removed the three nuts holding it in place (10mm hex nuts):
I had bought the gasket for the oil level sensor as RealOEM showed that they were separate pieces, but it seems the BMW unit I purchased comes with a gasket already installed:
I installed the new oil level sensor (12617508003, BMW). I could not find the torque specs anywhere online or in the Bentley manual, so I tightened it down to "it won't fall off" ft-lbs of torque. I reattached the wiring harness and reinstalled the drain plug with the new crush washer from the oil filter kit, tightening it down to 18 ft-lbs. I reinstalled the metal reinforcement plate and splash guard. I filled the car up with 6 quarts of Mobil 1 0W-40, turned the car on for about a minute to circulate the oil, then checked the oil level, topping it off to about 6.5 quarts.
DIY guides I referenced:
- Oil change: http://www.bmw330ci.net/maintenance/oil.php
- Oil level sensor replacement: http://www.bokchoys.com/differential...vel_sensor.htm
Two things in hindsight:
- If you are replacing the oil level sensor, save yourself $80-100 and buy the Hella unit. The Hella unit is exactly the same as the BMW unit, it just has the BMW logo ground down (BP can attest to that).
- If my yellow oil light (low oil) issue is fixed by this repair, I won't know if it was due to switching oil (the car has had BMW 5W-30 its entire life) or a new sensor. Whoops.
Next step is to do a brake fluid flush tomorrow, and then an interior swap/sound deadening procedure with a write up. The latter probably won't get done until next week as I'm going out of town this weekend.
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Z4M FCAB's , 
Originally Posted by MtechJon
Man I wish it was 92 here so I can do some work on the car. It was 112 yesterday! 
