long term maintenance questions
#1
04-24-2007, 07:03 PM
long term maintenance questions
Hello all -
My wife has a 2005 i and I have a 2006 I touring edition. We both love them. Her's is getting close to 40k miles, mine is 30k. The maintenance schedule in the owners manual looks awfully short.
When should I replace the fuel filter? The transmission fluid? The coolant? The brake fluid?
I'd like to keep both cars for at least 200k miles.
Thanks for any information you can provide.
Marc
My wife has a 2005 i and I have a 2006 I touring edition. We both love them. Her's is getting close to 40k miles, mine is 30k. The maintenance schedule in the owners manual looks awfully short.
When should I replace the fuel filter? The transmission fluid? The coolant? The brake fluid?
I'd like to keep both cars for at least 200k miles.
Thanks for any information you can provide.
Marc
#2
04-25-2007, 11:04 PM
RE: long term maintenance questions
I have a 2007 m3, and you are correct, for USA/Canada, it does not talk about maintenance for several of the items you mentioned. I noticed they are listed in the table for Mexico, which is quirky.
My table does list Coolant ... your coolant type should be listed on the radiator cap, or near the cap .... if FL 22 type coolant, replace at 10 years/120K Miles ... if other type coolant (or type not listed), replace at4 years/60K Miles. You can get the coolant tested to see how much cold it can take before it freezes (eg. up to -35F). If you don't get a number that is at least -30F, I would take that as an indicator the coolant needs to be done now. Of course, now that it is April, you have a lot of time to get this addressed (next winter is a long way away now) - unless you live where summer will be very, very hot, in which case I'd get it done before summer arrives.
Personal comments as follows:
Fuel Filter - For 70s and older cars,a new fuel filterwasan annual thing, but like everything else, the maintenance intervals have expanded over the years. Idid a coupleon line searches for the part, and didn't have any luck finding a listing for a fuel filter for the m3. One site said, "Not Serviced" I do not know what the means ... is it possible the filter is not in need of regular replacement? I don't know.
Brake fluid should last a good long time ... at least 60K miles, as long as it looks clean and clear (not dark colored or opague), maybe even a lot longer.
Transmission fluid .... depends if you've got an automatic or manual. Manual fluid tends to last longer. For an automatic, a tranny fluid change is often done as part of the 30K maintenance (maybe yours was done at this point?). I would certainly suggestdoing fluidmaintenance on an automatic once every four years at minimum.
Auto transmission fluidmaintenance has some options. 1) You can do a simple drain and fill. About 1/3, up to 1/2, of the fluid will NOT drain, as it is in the torque converter. Replacing1/2 to 2/3 ofthe fluid is of tremendous benefit, though, and the cost should befairly low; 2) You can do a flush, where all the fluid is pushedout, and replaced, little more expensive, I like the idea of getting all new fluid; 3) Most extensive is to drain all the fluid,remove the auto transmission drain pan, completely clean the pan, filter, removing any metal particles from the magnetic plugs, put the pan back on, and replace all fluid, probably would cost a couple hundred bucks at minimum. Gearheads would recommend this, but it seems quite extreme to me.
My table does list Coolant ... your coolant type should be listed on the radiator cap, or near the cap .... if FL 22 type coolant, replace at 10 years/120K Miles ... if other type coolant (or type not listed), replace at4 years/60K Miles. You can get the coolant tested to see how much cold it can take before it freezes (eg. up to -35F). If you don't get a number that is at least -30F, I would take that as an indicator the coolant needs to be done now. Of course, now that it is April, you have a lot of time to get this addressed (next winter is a long way away now) - unless you live where summer will be very, very hot, in which case I'd get it done before summer arrives.
Personal comments as follows:
Fuel Filter - For 70s and older cars,a new fuel filterwasan annual thing, but like everything else, the maintenance intervals have expanded over the years. Idid a coupleon line searches for the part, and didn't have any luck finding a listing for a fuel filter for the m3. One site said, "Not Serviced" I do not know what the means ... is it possible the filter is not in need of regular replacement? I don't know.
Brake fluid should last a good long time ... at least 60K miles, as long as it looks clean and clear (not dark colored or opague), maybe even a lot longer.
Transmission fluid .... depends if you've got an automatic or manual. Manual fluid tends to last longer. For an automatic, a tranny fluid change is often done as part of the 30K maintenance (maybe yours was done at this point?). I would certainly suggestdoing fluidmaintenance on an automatic once every four years at minimum.
Auto transmission fluidmaintenance has some options. 1) You can do a simple drain and fill. About 1/3, up to 1/2, of the fluid will NOT drain, as it is in the torque converter. Replacing1/2 to 2/3 ofthe fluid is of tremendous benefit, though, and the cost should befairly low; 2) You can do a flush, where all the fluid is pushedout, and replaced, little more expensive, I like the idea of getting all new fluid; 3) Most extensive is to drain all the fluid,remove the auto transmission drain pan, completely clean the pan, filter, removing any metal particles from the magnetic plugs, put the pan back on, and replace all fluid, probably would cost a couple hundred bucks at minimum. Gearheads would recommend this, but it seems quite extreme to me.
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