Servicing 318iS

[ChrisiS]

Picking up my iS tomorrow, its due the 'big' inspection/service

Can anyone recommend any good specialists near Leicester or northampton that arent going to take the michael money wise?

Is it easy enough to do myself?- used to do all the servicing and small bits and bobs on my fiat uno and my discovery?
Im assuming Im looking at;

Oil/filter
Airfilter
Fuel Filter
Gear Oil
Diff Oil
Change coolant?

Anyone got anything else to add to the list- Plus is there any way of resetting the service indicator?

Chris

[Morat]

Check the brakes out, they're fine if well fettled but otherwise not great.
You can reset the service indicator yourself either with the special tool (ebay has em of course) or by temporarily shorting out two pins in the main diagnostic socket with a bit of wire which is pretty much what the reset tool does. The search should bring up loads of threads on it.
Best of luck!

[rab-doo]

I.ve done most of that and I'm a pencil pushing cack handed idiot!

Oil / Filter - 1 bolt and the Sump bung- Be careful not to thread the bung on it' sway back in.

Air Filter - 4/5 clips

Fuel Filter - 4 Jubilee clips (supposed to de presurise the fuel system first - do a search on here for that) I found it easier to unbolt the airbox and pull it out of the way by taking the pipe off at the throttle body.

Diff Oil - 2 bungs ( you might need a special tool - big (17mm) allen key

Coolant - Never done this as I had a head recon and water pump changed by a mate.

Gearbox - on my to do list, again 2 bungs with allen key fitting (big ones again) - I haven't fancied this cos of having to get right uner the car - makes me nervous! lol.

Tools needed are pretty standard although I would recommend a decent trolley jack and axle stands for safety. I wont even use the bm one for a wheel change!

I hate paying someone to do this sort of thing for me when it's really very simple. Just take your time and be methodical and take note of how stuff fits together.


also some good guides on here http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/

[ChrisiS]

Cool, all sounds pretty straightforward! I have a set of allen- key bits in my tool box so Ill see if any of mine fit (I have a feeling mine go up to 21mm)

I have a good set of ramps- only concern is they may be too steep to get the car onto!!!!

Does the owners manual give an indication of which fluids are needed? I.e Engine oil viscosity, and gear.diff oil spec?

Chris

[anisotropy]

Does the owners manual give an indication of which fluids are needed? I.e Engine oil viscosity, and gear.diff oil spec?

Chris

You can find that out easily enough by searching the forums here. Lots of people use 5w40 Silkolene Supersyn recommended by oil man (though a bit expensive). Can't remember gear and diff oil. Check if you have an lsd first (unlikely) by cleaning up the metal tag on one of the bolts on the back of the diff and looking for an 's'.
Servicing an Is is not difficult -no need to pay someone else -you can spend the money on good oil, filters etc.

One last thing -lots of 318is have the later kind of oil filter housing and if you have this one all the shops give you the wrong filter.
here's one all the shops seem to give you the filter for: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=11&fg=30

if you have this one:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=11&fg=30
then you usually have to ask for an e36 318i filter to get the right one.

saves you walking to halfords (i did)

[rab-doo]

As for diff and Gearbox oil I think the link I gave above also has spec and volume info. better check the detail but I think most people recommend ATF for gearbox (even though it's a manual) and IIRC 80-90W Hypoid Gear Oil for an open diff.