Do I need to get car on 4 jackstands for oil change?

Hi,
I searched around but most results just discussed how to do the actual oil change. My question specifically is can I just jack the front and do the oil change or is it a must it has to be jacked front and rear? Will old oil still remain if I do it with just the front raised?

Wally1552 wrote

Hi,
I searched around but most results just discussed how to do the actual oil change. My question specifically is can I just jack the front and do the oil change or is it a must it has to be jacked front and rear? Will old oil still remain if I do it with just the front raised?

fill a cup with water. Poke a hole in the bottom center. Then tilt the cup, can you drain all the water?

EJT86 wrote

fill a cup with water. Poke a hole in the bottom center. Then tilt the cup, can you drain all the water?

How big is the hole?

EJT86 wrote

fill a cup with water. Poke a hole in the bottom center. Then tilt the cup, can you drain all the water?

And wheres the hole?

its ok to have a slight tilt. to combat this, i backed my car into the driveway (slight downward slope) and drove forward up on race ramps. the car wasn't perfectly level, but as level as it was going to get for convenience's sake.

if you aren't siphoning all of the oil out of the filter housing, you should be more concerned with that rather than the nominal amount of oil left in the pans from not being exactly level.

If you can't get it on four jackstands, I would actually lower the car back onto the wheels for a little bit to help it drain. Just make sure the oil drain pan will clear.

Halid wrote

How big is the hole?

As big as you can dream it

Halid wrote

EJT86 wrote

fill a cup with water. Poke a hole in the bottom center. Then tilt the cup, can you drain all the water?

How big is the hole?

Like mentioned in the cup analogy... bottom center

Plenty of people do oil changes on ramps. I personally use a quickjack so the car is level

I feel more comfortable having the car level for peace of mind. Want to make sure I don't have to worry about the amount of oil I put in afterwards. So many issues with the oil sensor and getting an accurate reading.

Level is definitely best. Maybe jack up to undo bolts and drain most, then lower to drain rest. If lowering would hit drain pan, jack up rear and put a plank or two under rear wheels and then do same for front to give you more height while staying level.

It's definitely not mandatory, however it is preferential.

Assuming you only have two jack stands (which I do), the best method I've found is:
1) Slip a jack under the center jack point to put the front half on jack stands.
2) Drain the oil until it's starting to drip.
3) Use your jack under one of the rear jack points to raise and level the car. The chassis is stiff enough that jacking it from one side will level it in the air, however feel free to jack the opposite side as well using the jack point.

For what it's worth, when only the front is raised during an oil change on these cars, I've found that leveling it results in a minuscule amount of additional oil being drained (best guess is 1/4 - 1/2 of a quart).

Speaking of, what's a good rear central jacking point?

I have always used ramps.

just make sure you drain both drain plugs and you should be fine with either fllat or car angled up on ramps/ jack stands.

the car uses over 8 qts i think if there a little left over old oil everything is still going to be fine..

It makes almost no difference. There's tons of oil through the system, and the oil cooler. Particularly given that you're probably running short interval changes anyway. I would not worry about it.

It matters when you're doing the diff or tranny, but that's because you're filling to a hole.

I just drive my M3 up on a set of RaceRamps. You are never going to get all of the oil out no matter if you have it level, do yoga, or stand on your head.

I've done about a dozen oil changes with ramps on the front wheels with E9X M3's. Every time we put back 8.5 liters in, the engine registers the oil level is halfway. Don't sweat it, use ramps.

SohoE93 wrote

I've done about a dozen oil changes with ramps on the front wheels with E9X M3's. Every time we put back 8.5 liters in, the engine registers the oil level is halfway. Don't sweat it, use ramps.

yup. every single time.

lol

Jack up one side, usually left

Jackstand

Go under car

remove plugs

remove self

remove jackstand

Lower car until just touching top of oil drain pan

Let drain while you do filter

Jack back up

jackstand

Go under to Install plugs

remove self

Remove jackstand

Lower car

I get enough out to need 9qt to refill, every time. At this point I've done 15 of them like this.

Richbot wrote

lol

Jack up one side, usually left

Jackstand

Go under car

remove plugs

remove self

remove jackstand

Lower car until just touching top of oil drain pan

Let drain while you do filter

Jack back up

jackstand

Go under to Install plugs

remove self

Remove jackstand

Lower car

I get enough out to need 9qt to refill, every time. At this point I've done 15 of them like this.

or you can put it up on 4 stands

let drain for 3hr

vaccum out oil from filter housing

fill 8.5L

drive and get a low oil warning

add .5L

drive and still get low oil warning

add .5L

drive and get oil at halfway mark...


I dont think i will be letting the car drain for that long anymore, what a PITA. Also holy crap it took alotta oil to register past the halfway mark.

Richbot wrote

lol

Jack up one side, usually left

Jackstand

Go under car

remove plugs

remove self

remove jackstand

Lower car until just touching top of oil drain pan

Let drain while you do filter

Jack back up

jackstand

Go under to Install plugs

remove self

Remove jackstand

Lower car

I get enough out to need 9qt to refill, every time. At this point I've done 15 of them like this.

I tried this but forgot to “remove self” which caused a wrinkle

EJT86 wrote

I tried this but forgot to “remove self” which caused a wrinkle

drivetolive wrote

It's definitely not mandatory, however it is preferential.

Assuming you only have two jack stands (which I do), the best method I've found is:
1) Slip a jack under the center jack point to put the front half on jack stands.
2) Drain the oil until it's starting to drip.
3) Use your jack under one of the rear jack points to raise and level the car. The chassis is stiff enough that jacking it from one side will level it in the air, however feel free to jack the opposite side as well using the jack point.

For what it's worth, when only the front is raised during an oil change on these cars, I've found that leveling it results in a minuscule amount of additional oil being drained (best guess is 1/4 - 1/2 of a quart).

Speaking of, what's a good rear central jacking point?

Rear jacking point is rear differential housing (#3 in photo), the dark steel part. DO NOT jack up using the silverfish aluminum finned heat sink. Having trouble uploading photo. Here is link to jackpoints: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=0BA0A0165DE9C6DFDD3FFBB897D0091982F5C054&thid=OIP.HrYY7PC4zamkcCgdhDVcQwHaLH&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi1055.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs503%2Fdelirium330%2FZHP%25202015%2FE92%2520M3%2520Jack%2520Points_zpsrhzo2tc4.jpg&exph=396&expw=264&q=e92+m3+jack+points&selectedindex=25&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6

As far as oil changes, presumably the sumps were designed for dealer oil changes on a level rack so I try to get as close to that as possible using the center jack points, then the four side points(#2 in photo) with jack stands. Changing oil in similar fashion to SFCM3---time consuming.

On a side note, I was at the dealer yesterday (BMW Store in Cincinnati) and they told me BMW is no longer recommending the Castrol 12064 Edge SuperCar 10W-60 oil anymore. Anyone know anything about this?