A joy to work on... really!

I spent a little time today doing some Maintenance, PM's ect today. I basically did Inspection II including the rear brakes. In general the car is unbelievably easy to work on.. I have done several brakejobs in my life but this was by far the easiest.. 2 allen bolts, and remove the clip.. I mean come on.. How the heck can the dealer ask $800 for a brakejob??

I have done the coolant resevour twice, and even that job took minimal time..

The oil changes have been going well, since the dealer refused to change my oil that one time (claimed that they wanted to replace the oilpan because of my plug)... I use Wix filters, mobil 1 sythetic fluids, and the oil pretty much comes out as clean as it goes in..

115k miles on the car now with 20k miles of ownership and loving every minute..

Just felt like letting everyone know that even though people try to scare people away from BMW's and especially V8s (claiming they are a pain), these engines are solid, and the cars are very user friendly if you plan on doing moderate DIY.

I agree. So far its been surprisingly easy to work on the car. Ive done the fuel filter, spark plugs, cabin filters and r&r the center console trim plate among a few other things. With the help of this forum and the instructions on E38.Org, its been pleasurable. Next up is the front wheel bearings. Ill be getting them delivered on Wednesday. The job looks real easy to do. After that, the right rear window regulator needs to be replaced. I looked on E38.Org for that job also. It looks a little involved, but not impossible.

Every time I complete a task on the car I know I just kept myself from getting ripped off and I actually enjoyed doing the work. Its a win win for me.

I'm doing my timing chain guides. So long as you have the correct tools, its pretty good. Everything fits, and you can't really put anything in the wrong spot e.g. you can't put the wrong sensors on etc.

I agree with you on oil change by dealer. They offered me a free one and destroyed my oil plug by cross threading it. They paid for a new pan, gasket and plug. Found out later that pan threads we OK so now I have a spare oil pan. The "mechanic" probably over torqued the plug. His loss my gain. LOL