Category Archives: BMW Service Center Bay Area

When Should You Change Your Oil? Maybe Sooner Than You Think!

Posted on by

How often should you change your oil? When is it really necessary? Well BMW has, since the ‘80’s, provided their drivers with an “Oil” and a “Service” indicator. The “Oil” part is pretty self-explanatory, and the “Service” part generally includes an oil change, so anytime that indicator is on, the “system” thinks you need an oil change.

These indicators look at other factors aside from just mileage. The earlier units looked at gallons of fuel used over time as another way to gauge how the car was being used and, therefore, estimate mileage. More sophisticated, modern systems look at things like Idle Time and how hard the vehicle has been driven to determine the interval. Factory intervals may be as much as 15k miles.

With modern, synthetic oils, the oil remains stable for much longer than most people think. 15-20k down the road, most modern synthetics will still test well in the lab. Where we have seen issues is in the filtration. Even the factory filters typically look pretty bad at 7-8k, and by 15k they are scary looking. With recent warranties, you’ll get your 100k miles out of a BMW, even with the extended intervals. The problem starts when the second owner (maybe you) gets the car with the sludge buildup already in place. Couple that with any service that may have been done somewhere other than a dealer or a quality garage like EDGE Motorworks, and you may have a recipe for disaster.

EDGE recommends that you change your oil every 7500 miles or so. This effectively splits the indicator interval in half for most drivers. We have found that this method keeps the valvetrain and oil pan/baffles clear of the nasty buildup you see in the pics. So, if you value your investment, when you see the indicator reach the halfway mark, make an appointment for an oil change. Five years down the road, you’ll be glad you did!

Filed under: BMW Oil Change, Mini Cooper Oil Change, Oil Change Interval, How many miles between oil changes?

EDGE Recycles an X5 3.0

Posted on by

Some time ago, Tony and Sarah acquired a 2002 X5 3.0 that had some “miscellaneous” issues. After initial inspection, the X needed all of the normal things: brakes, CVs, valve cover gasket, etc. The customer then noted that the truck had been sitting for 3 years after a “severe overheat.” A block check revealed that the headgasket had indeed been compromised and, after removing the valve cover, we confirmed that several of the headbolts had lost tension.

This issue is unfortunately common with the aluminum block/aluminum head M54 engines. Cooling systems fail and even a minor overheat can cause the head bolts to pull the threads out of the aluminum block. Generally, this means tossing out the old engine and replacing it with a remanufactured engine. This route is not exactly cost-effective for a consumer. In this case, the customer bailed out and sold the X5 at a very reasonable price to Tony and Sarah.

We have, on two other occasions, repaired these aluminum blocks using pinned, thread inserts installed into the block. This requires a special jig and some expensive inserts, but its worth the time if it saves the expense of a new engine.

This weekend, Sarah flexed her muscles and tore the head off of the X5 to see just how bad things were in there.  The red dye you see is used to check for cracks, and fortunately, this M54 does not appear to have any at the moment. The head is warped a bit, so we’ll send it over to the machine shop to true it up. Check out that head bolt! That’s engine block on the threads of the bolt!

Stay tuned for more updates and a hopefully successful outcome!

Why would you align a Brand-New car? Here’s Why.

Posted on by

EDGE Motorworks, partnering with Left Coast Diesel, purchased a new R&D vehicle, an X5 35d. These vehicles offer great performance, longevity and mileage and promote a move toward greener vehicles in BMWs line.

With 20″ wheels and FAT (315-rear, 275-Front) tires, the X likes to track on just about any groove in the road. As an experiment, we decided to put it on our state-of-the-art Hunter Laser Alignment rack. The results were surprising:

The rear alignment was particularly bad with .14degrees of difference in toe and half a degree in camber. The front had a toe difference of .14 degrees, side-to-side. After we adjusted everything, we were disappointed to find that the X had POSITIVE camber on the left and normal camber on the right. Unfortunately, there is no camber adjustment in the double wishbone front suspension without using different length arms from BMW. We’ll address that with the dealer at our first service.

Bottom line: Even a factory fresh vehicle may have a marginal alignment. With the cost of tires–especially run-flats, a good, possibly “custom” alignment could add thousands of miles to your tires and save you money.

x5 Alignment

25 Hours of Thunderhill

Posted on by

25hrs Finish
Team EDGE Motorworks/APEX Race Parts had an epic finish to the 25 Hour of Thunderhill. Our E36 M3 was leading most of the race in our class, after replacing the engine that had just blown in just over two hours, at 8am on Sunday morning was back on the track and finished fourth just out of the podium position, 18 seconds behind the 3rd place BimmerWorld car. Frankenstein who had a transmission swap, contact that caused a control arm and a wheel change finished in second place behind the Team AMG Miata. Congratulations to all of the teams who competed and those who survived the 25 Hour of Thunderhill.