Friday, November 4, 2016

First Dealer Service

Took the car in for it's first "free" oil change at about 10,600 miles.  We used Rick Hendrick BMW in Charleston and they did a nice job.  They fixed the leaking differential seal and put new oil into the differential.  They confirmed on the F15 there is no drain plug for the differential.  So to change it, you either remove the rear cover or you use a fluid extractor.  I come from the old school and I like to change fluids on a regular basis.  You can see the part number for the correct fluid below... FYI cars with Dynamic Handling Package (DHP) have a different differential but both use the same fluid.

They used 0W-30 for motor oil.  We have been using 5W-30 with excellent results: no oil is burned by this car.  But, the manual for the 2016 does say that 0W-30 is the preferred oil, so we'll try it I guess.  I am going to continue to change the oil every 5,000 miles so we will alternate free / me until the free service runs out.

The car used three 2.5 gallon containers of AdBlue.  Not sure what the exact tank volumes are for the active and passive tanks, but that's a lot of AdBlue!

One of the techs did manage to scratch the intake plenum in the engine bay.  We mentioned it to the service advisor and he agreed to replace it without question.

We asked about diesel fuel contamination and the service manager reported they rarely if ever see it.  Much more common is people putting gasoline into their diesels.  We asked how common the leaking differential is and he didn't think it was very common on the F15 but they did see it often on the E70 X5s.

Details of the oil change.  Note the AdBlue Diesel Exhaust Fluid.  Part number is for a 2.5 gallon jug.  Also note the -951 oil part number, that's 0W-30 LL12.

Parts reacquired to fix the leaking differential.  Some hardware is one-use-only.  The differential did have to come off the car for the fix but the rear subframe did not.  They did do an alignment on the car once the new eccentric bolts were installed.  Part number for F15 X5 differential oil is shown there too, you need 2 liters for a change.