Diesel fuel filter

Has anyone had theirs changed on their dime ? Waiting for every 3 rd maintenance visit seems excessive to me .

During my 2nd oil change i mention it to my SA that i had heard in the forums that there was a change in the schedule to 2nd visit vs 3rd, he checked and i got got a fuel filter change in my second oil change.

........ i was uncomfortable with waiting for my third oil change....... in my former Diesel it was once a year.

Ask them it may be worth your time.

Pedro

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It is every 3rd for the early 2009s but I believe every 2nd for all after that. I will see if I still have the documents that state it.

EDIT:
Found them but they are for the 335d and does not mention the X5. One of the documents is SIB000408 and on page 15 it states that the diesel fuel filter is every 2nd oil change on vehicles made as of 3/2009 production. It then says that the replacement interval thru 2/2009 production is every 3rd oil change. The other document is the warranty booklet I downloaded off of the BMW website and for my car. It states on page 9 "At every 3rd oil change: Replace diesel fuel filter." Interesting enough though on page 10 it states the fuel filter's maintenance schedule is as specific by the CBS(my car never told me that it needed one but when I came in for the 3rd oil change my key whispered that into the SA's ear).

I can't remember where on the website you download those warranty booklets. It was not behind any sort of login though, probably well worth searching out to find out intervals and gives you something to base an argument on if the dealer says otherwise.

Did it myself at 70,000 miles.... piece of cake. Took longer to remove underbody sheathing than changing the filter.

Originally Posted by dnaer

Did it myself at 70,000 miles.... piece of cake. Took longer to remove underbody sheathing than changing the filter.

So it never was done until 70k miles? I recall some people on here having clogged fuel filter issues prior to that many miles but that of course is going to depend entirely on quality of fuel.

Dealer changed it at 3rd service interval. I am on the do it yourself program now.

Originally Posted by dnaer

Dealer changed it at 3rd service interval. I am on the do it yourself program now.

Was there anything tricky about removing/re-installing the fuel heater element?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...15&hg=13&fg=10

@snipe: I have conflicting information on the interval. This document [attachment] says every 2nd oil change (marked page 9, pdf page 13). I found it on a thread discussing the above somewhere.

My service book named "Service and Warranty Information: 2011 1 series, 3 series, 5 series and Z4" says every 3rd oil change. In my book, it is on page 12.

So, my car is up for its 2nd oil change. I scheduled an appt and called SA to ask which is it. She looked it up and says 3rd oil change.

Maybe they changed the intervals? Seems they did it for oil changes in regards to time as well. The two documents I downloaded a long time ago though were very clear that it is every other change after a certain 09 build date. Since mine was always every third then wonder if now I am every fourth (kidding)

Forgot to say my car is a 2011 model with build date of November 2010. Sounds like 2009s and 20011s are every 3rd and 2010s are every 2nd (unless that has moved back to every 3rd too).

If i buy the filter and put it in myself, does the system have to be pressurized prior to starting?
Any BMW techs out there to answer this one? I will ask at shop tomorrow.

Supposed to bleed the air out of the system when you do it. I believe someone on here did a write up about it and then someone else critiqued the method they used. Ask the shop how much they would charge to do it out of pocket.

Since the HPFP is lubricated by fuel it's very important to properly bleed the fuel system after changing the filter. There's a couple ways (that I know of, but might be more) you can accomplish priming the system by activating the low pressure fuel pump to push fuel through the system. One is to use the Bavarian Tech tool to initiate the low pressure pump. The other that tlak77 told me about was to use the "start/stop" button, but NOT starting the car (key in, do not press on the brake pedal, and then hit the button). Might take several iterations of either step to pump enough fuel.

When I change fuel filters in my diesels I prefer to flush the filter (~gallon of fuel) before hooking the clean side of the filter back into the system in case there's any contaminates on the clean side from manufacturing/shipping/storage. After connecting the clean side then finish priming the system before starting the engine.

Got service done today but forgot ask about cost for filter change. I can always call in for that question. My car has 20,000 miles now so perhaps it is a bit early still. I hunted around on the net last night and about the cheapest i could find the filter was $42 +shipping. I did show the SA the conflicting information between the 2010 and 2011 warranty service booklets. Her reply was my build date was after the start of 2011 units so there was no place for me to argue from. They did 2 extra things i was no expecting. they changed the cabin air filter and topped off the brake fluid.

I had DEF fluid last topped off when the car had 8000 miles on it. I asked them to tell me how much it needed to top off this time after another 12k miles driven. Answer was 2.5 gallons.

They wanted to align my front end ($189) and rebalance one of the front tires ($79). I told them i was trying to squeeze about another 6,000 miles out of the tires and then I would possibly realign front end. But, my car has no pull in either direction. I think they are just trying to sell an alignment. they got the lady next to me in the waiting area to spring for it. SAs are likely trained to "soft sell" extra work to fatten the shop's revenue stream.

Every other oil change I think is the interval for the cabin filter.

You can be out of alignment and have no pull, at least one of my Mustangs and my F250 are examples of that. That balance charge is ridiculous and I wonder if they seriously checked the balance of all four tires and if they did then they should have balanced them all since it is not much more trouble at that point and charged you nothing for it since they "checked balance" for free. Personally I also think that alignment price is crazy.

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

They wanted to align my front end ($189).... SAs are likely trained to "soft sell" extra work to fatten the shop's revenue stream.

Your're exactly right, trying to sell easy, overpriced and probably uneeded services. If your car is not pulling and your tires are wearing evenly, you certainly do not need an alignment. In fact unless you change suspension parts, hit a bad pothole or a curb real hard, you should never need an alignment.

Thats how they get monies from u they try sell u issues which are not due!!! They tried the same issue but with brakes yeah right, i told the SA the car has less yhan 17k, give me break, i know about cars,he started laughing he knew what i was talking about!!

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Originally Posted by Axel61

Thats how they get monies from u they try sell u issues which are not due!!! They tried the same issue but with brakes yeah right, i told the SA the car has less yhan 17k, give me break, i know about cars,he started laughing he knew what i was talking about!!

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But brakes are covered by the maintenance plan so what was he trying to con you on that would have had a charge?

Someone should start a thread warning others about the sales tactics, I had my car for 2 days (used) and they tried to sell me an alignment. I also called BS and then complained to the manager, they told me it was a "revenue generator" for them.

I don't know if it's the dealers I am using or becauuse I am a club member but selling unneeded services has never been pulled on me. Actually the opposite happened. About a year ago I asked for an alignment and they asked me why I needed it. I had just rebuilit the entire front suspension of the car thus it really was required. (older BMW, not the D)

I actually am a believer in getting the cars that I actually drive aligned once a year. I do not always practice what I believe in though. I know for a fact(seen the results on an alignment check via a Hunter machine) my truck right now is out of alignment but it does not pull one bit. I also know for a fact(via visually looking at the tires) one of my Mustangs is out of alignment but it does not pull one bit. I also tend to get my tires rebalanced around every oil change on the cars that I actually drive but probably because it is free at Discount Tire where I get my tires installed. Interesting enough my BMW had a tire out of balance, because the weights fell off the thing and could not tell at all from driving it. But I do not pay near $190 for an alignment or $80 for a tire balancing, if it cost that much then I'd not do it as often and probably only would do it when I am out at my buddies personal shop that has all the equipment to do these things.

Correct that if your toe is in/out the car will not pull, will only wear tires. I check my tire wear when I check tire pressures. Actually for a BMW there is more alignment to be done in the rear than the front. I'm pretty good at feeling when a tire is out of balance so only get it when needed. I've even run into the problem where the tire may be balanced, but I still feel a vibration due to load force variation in the tire (tire construction).

My car has been driven carefully always going slow over bad spots and avoiding pot holes so far. I have equal pressure in both front tires and no pull. I got the one guys point about toe in/out. Car has too few miles to need this. Now, i did call Benson's, great front end shop in Clear Lake, Texas. They said they can align BMWs for $69. I will get new tires in another 6 -8k miles and go to Benson's.

One more thing, when i got the oil change yesterday, they lost the little door that covers the drain plug area of the engine. I called this morning and they ordered me a new one that i will have to go pick up on Tuesday. I just don't want to drive back to downtown. I did buy an extra quart of oil while waiting for service and the parts guy gave me one of those black oil pouches with the zipper for free.

Just had alignemnt for $89. Picked up some REO 960AS RFT as a replacment for my conti's. I run 32/35 psi