1200 mile service - pictures and notes

[JoeFromPA]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

Hi all,

Having my 1200 mile service done at Ottos BMW in West Chester, PA and they gave me about 30 minutes in the shop with my car and tech to take pictures, ask questions, etc.

My tech was excellent and a long-term M technician. He DID NOT know the plugs were replacement, but when he went to get the "kit" for the service it included new plugs - so I don't think he would have missed it or anything.

The oil drain plug is readily accessible, nothing to remove, and the rear diff drain plugs are 14mm allens. Super easy to access and service, and the rear diff is the standard fill until overflow then plug it up.

The engine oil was visibly quite fresh. No real signs of it being dirty, which...frankly...it was cleaner than any new engine oil I've ever changed, so I was surprised at how little combustion byproduct I could see in it. Good for BMW for obviously creating a clean running engine with little blow by and good air/oil filtration.

The rear diff oil was filthy. Even though the plugs were clean, the oil itself was complete slimy metallic particles. The tech was actually surprised because the drain plugs looked perfectly clean, but when he stuck a gloved finger up in there it came out slimy looking.

Some interesting stuff:

- The underside is filled with "easter eggs" labelled "///M" everywhere. Panels, suspension arms, pretty cool.

- The front underbody panel has an integrated jacking point in the center front of the car. It's welded on and obviously welded on by hand, not a super clean weld. It's actually kinda cool to see this.

- Without taking the felt underbody piece off, I could not see where the trans fluid was kept since the 6MT is a dry sump. I plan on changing it at 15k-30k miles.

Anyway, here's some pics. Enjoy!







Rear diff plugs below:







Joe

P.s. I was impressed by the tech here and he offered for me to request him again, which I will. He also let the oils drain a nice long time till they were simply dripping, which I appreciated.

[TheRealOrosie]

[Money2536]

Thanks for the write-up. I'm heading in to have mine done and Dinan ECU installed on the 30th.

[Lynchmob6]

Nice...thanks for sharing!

[stressdoc]

Cool.

[JoeFromPA]

By the way, in the rear I believe there are 4 jacking points: The jack pads and there is a place where the aluminum bracing meets the subframe that is behind the tire and slightly towards the center of the car. I would not jack up on this diff, given how finned it is and how tall and slanted the fins are.

In the front there are 3 easy to spot jacking points: The jack pads on the sides, and that welded center protusion on the integral aluminum belly pan. Disclaimer: The tech and I agreed that protrusion has no point but to be a jacking point, as it's a welded on jack-pad looking protrusion, but can't confirm this with 100% certainty. I'd certainly use it if I needed to though.

[RickMonet]

Did the Tech have any comment on changing the tranny fluid at 15K miles?

[khanyam4]

Is the rear diff change part of the free 1200 mile service or something you requested as extra joefrompa?

[GoKuA]

Thanks for the info! Mine is at the dealer getting the 1200 break-in service now. Can't wait to get it back this afternoon and really drive the M for the very first time!

[JoeFromPA]

Rear diff is standard and man did it need it. Dirty dirty diff. I haven't heard any diff chatter though since maybe ~600 miles, so I wonder if maybe the diff really does break-in.

Tech commented that BMW always before recommended manual trans fluid change at 1200 miles, so he was surprised by the change, but also had alot of faith in it and felt that they did it for a reason. No offense meant to the tech, but he didn't know about it before I came in that day since this was his first f80/f82 break in service. He was super knowledgeable about past motors, was surprised they retired the s65 as he said "We never had a single problem with that engine. Not one problem [at the dealership where he worked, which is a large volume dealership]"

The guy knows the history of these cars in terms of service, common failure items, etc....but he's not spending hours on the forum every day scouring every rumor. Good for him

[myzmak]

my god. those photos make the "find all the ///M logos on this car" threads so completely off the mark it isn't even funny.

[JoeFromPA]

The underside is covered in M symbols but it's actually impressive how much is labelled f80 vs f30. So you don't have to worry about identifying potentially cheaper parts from f30

[m3rxn]

nice

[///M///]

Great I'll just follow your lead and use the same tech

Thanks.

[JoeFromPA]

Tech was Matt. Great guy, really appreciated his time and approachability. I left the bay when I felt like I was done, not because he seemed to be trying to move on.

[Diver]

Dirty differential oil, hmmmm...

[Doctor///M]

Thanks for sharing!

[G80indy]

Originally Posted by Diver

Dirty differential oil, hmmmm...

Proves there's a good reason to change it out from break in

[E92LNGCGY]

Thanks for sharing. I dropped my car off yesterday for this same service. Didn't realize there were so many "M" logos underneath as well.

[Wei718]

Originally Posted by JoeFromPA

By the way, in the rear I believe there are 4 jacking points: The jack pads and there is a place where the aluminum bracing meets the subframe that is behind the tire and slightly towards the center of the car. I would not jack up on this diff, given how finned it is and how tall and slanted the fins are.

In the front there are 3 easy to spot jacking points: The jack pads on the sides, and that welded center protusion on the integral aluminum belly pan. Disclaimer: The tech and I agreed that protrusion has no point but to be a jacking point, as it's a welded on jack-pad looking protrusion, but can't confirm this with 100% certainty. I'd certainly use it if I needed to though.

I'm still trying to figure out where to raise up the whole rear end using a floor jack. When I had my E92 M3 I jack it up from the frame right behind the differential but on this car there's no way to fit the floor jack on that same location. If you find out how to raise the whole rear end please share.

[RingMeister01]

Originally Posted by Money2536

Thanks for the write-up. I'm heading in to have mine done and Dinan ECU installed on the 30th.

[bimmerbuff]

Awesome that they let you go in to the shop with the tech.