Oil Filter Change

Tierfreund

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I believe it came in some, but not all E23, E24 and E28. Maybe late E12 as well

Trouble is, it was a temporary design. They went from the early design as seen on the E3/E9 to the new canister design with the slimer canister and the new filter type with a top bolt.

But a little later the cars got oil coolers and to attach those they changed the oil filter head again and went back to a lower bolt design, albeit with the slimmer canister and sometimes a drain screw as well. That design is an uprovement over the original top bolt design as well and preferable if you want to run an oil cooler but not quite as practical as the intermediary design which allows doing the whole filter change, more or less drip free (no hole in the bottom of the canister) from top.

The top bolt filter assembly is simple to spot on ebay though as it is the onlY M30 filter with: a top bolt
:)

here´s one:
http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-E23-E24-E28-...826807105?pt=DE_Autoteile&hash=item3cba7d3b41

If you do find one and switch to it: let me save you some time:

Put the long bolt into the head before you mount it on the block. It doesn´t pass the intake manifold when you try to insert it after you´ve mounted the assembly!. Not a problem once installed as the bolt never has to come out again, enough to loosen it and take out the canister.


The perfect filter design is of course the later E34/E32 design, where the whole filter goes in from the top (as on practically every BMW since). But unfortunately that doesn´t work with the oil passages on our earlier M30 blocks.
 

deQuincey

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Should I put anything on the new gasket between the oil filter housing and block when replacing it? Lube? Oil?

hi, sorry for this late answer, i was in a trip

do not put anything on the gasket, you dont need it, the gasket will do its work, the only issue is if you find difficult to install the gasketin the almost vertical wall of the engine block, in that case there is a product to position gaskets that you can use (the one i use is from loctite)

anyway in this case you dont need even that product, because you can guarantee the position of the gasket easily if you maintain the gasket in the filter support with the four bolts, then you will not need anything
 

DaveG

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I keep lookling longingly at that top load filter adapter siting on the shelf and thinking a couple strategic cuts on the mill and it would fit ...... It only interferes with the M/Cyl on my car by less then 1/2 inch and changing the angle it bolts to the block wouldn't be too hard and would make it clear............ One of these days......
DaveG
 

kys911t

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Thanks I have all my original parts and will attempt this, this weekend. I already surveyed and loosened the bolts that mount the housing to the block. I was a bit afraid that I might shear the bolts. They were tight but they loosened up OK. Got too dark so I'm going to get into it tomorrow. Will let you know how this goes. It actually seems very simple and straight forward.
 

deQuincey

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Thanks I have all my original parts and will attempt this, this weekend. I already surveyed and loosened the bolts that mount the housing to the block. I was a bit afraid that I might shear the bolts. They were tight but they loosened up OK. Got too dark so I'm going to get into it tomorrow. Will let you know how this goes. It actually seems very simple and straight forward.


congratulations on the bolts, yes i had the same fear, but they went ok, if possible change them to new bolts (i did this with stainless steel bolts), if not now, measure them and buy them for the next time

i do not have a detailed pictorial this time, but hope this will help

(be aware that i did a peculiar installation of the oil-temp sensor in the original filter support, so you will see this odd thing there also)

good luck !


161020101225.jpg


161020101226.jpg

these are two rubber caps i prepared for avoiding dirty and pieces entering the engine while i was cleaning out the old gasket (can you see the old gasket there, glued to the engine block?)
161020101230.jpg

surface cleaned and finished, and a test of the easyness of the introduction of the bolts (check the length, they are different)
171020101231.jpg


171020101239.jpg


171020101232.jpg


171020101236.jpg

171020101233.jpg


171020101238.jpg
 

Tierfreund

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I keep lookling longingly at that top load filter adapter siting on the shelf and thinking a couple strategic cuts on the mill and it would fit ...... It only interferes with the M/Cyl on my car by less then 1/2 inch and changing the angle it bolts to the block wouldn't be too hard and would make it clear............ One of these days......
DaveG

That alone will not do, as far as I know. There´s a difference in the oil routing between the Block and the top load filter assembly (old block, new filter) that means no filtratation will occur. Please verify before going that route.
 

kys911t

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OK just finished. Followed all of deQuincey's suggestions. Thanks very much. When all said and done. This really is quite simple. Everything is rather easy. The most difficult part of all of this is the gasket. As deQuincey say's it now baked on! At first glance it does not look like there is even one there. But after careful inspection and a bit of probing it was in fact now part of the block. It must have taken me over an an hour just trying to scrape the thing off. If the next time I change the filter this is not baked on, this change would definately be a snap to do. The only thing else to look out for is that the gasket between the canister and Filter housing needs to be carefully watched when your putting the canister on. It's a bit loose. Maybe just on the one I got but make sure it does not get pinched as you tighten the bolt. Otherwise a piece of cake to do. Thanks again deQuincey!
 

ckrop

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Oil filter

So what is the story on a spin on conversion? Are they available and do they work properly?
 

deQuincey

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OK just finished. Followed all of deQuincey's suggestions. Thanks very much. When all said and done. This really is quite simple. Everything is rather easy. The most difficult part of all of this is the gasket. As deQuincey say's it now baked on! At first glance it does not look like there is even one there. But after careful inspection and a bit of probing it was in fact now part of the block. It must have taken me over an an hour just trying to scrape the thing off. If the next time I change the filter this is not baked on, this change would definately be a snap to do. The only thing else to look out for is that the gasket between the canister and Filter housing needs to be carefully watched when your putting the canister on. It's a bit loose. Maybe just on the one I got but make sure it does not get pinched as you tighten the bolt. Otherwise a piece of cake to do. Thanks again deQuincey!

you re welcome !
regards
 

Cornishman

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So De Q, I am asking for a few of your secrets
How did you clean up the manifold so well?
I tried to do mine this weekend and did not get it anything like as clean as yours.

Also, is there a trick to spill less oil on the engine when you remove the manifold? Whilst I did not spill a great deal of oil using the De Q method, I did spill a similar amount when I change the filter the normal way by unscrewing the canister only.

Lastly, I see that you painted the canister red, it looks great. Is it any special colour? Did you do several coats of primer to flatten back prior to putting the top red coat on?

Thanks as ever.
 

deQuincey

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So De Q, I am asking for a few of your secrets
How did you clean up the manifold so well?
I tried to do mine this weekend and did not get it anything like as clean as yours.

Also, is there a trick to spill less oil on the engine when you remove the manifold? Whilst I did not spill a great deal of oil using the De Q method, I did spill a similar amount when I change the filter the normal way by unscrewing the canister only.

Lastly, I see that you painted the canister red, it looks great. Is it any special colour? Did you do several coats of primer to flatten back prior to putting the top red coat on?

Thanks as ever.

clean the support, when i come to engine parts like this, with internal holes and complex shapes i avoid sand blasting, debris will easily go inside
i used masking tape to close the delicate internal areas, and used steel wool and autosol ( a similar polishing paste will do)

oil spill, even by removing The thing from the support there is an oil spill, but i minimize it by using a plastic bag, once the bolts had been a little bit loosed i put the plastic bag around the canister and up to the support

i recall it is hell rot from bmw motorrads, primer, plus two layers, all in spray cans, PU paint bi component with catalizer included in the spray can, it is harder and lasts longer than conventional sprays, it is expensive though

regards
 

Peter Coomaraswamy

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i have done the oil and filter change just a week ago
my system is the old one (bolt in the bottom of the cannister)
no doubt that the right method is to unscrew the four bolts of the oil filter support bracket, forget about other possibilities
you just undo the four bolts, and then you will see that you will need a rubber hammer to bump it a little to remove it( the gasket acts like and adhesive)
then you will only need to pull it up throug the hole between the battery and air filter, and thats all
it will leak only a litte oil but very minimal (the oil that is in the top of the support reservoir)

the great advantage is that you will have all in your hands to check, clean, andreplace the washer, gaskets,...

you will also assemble everything in the correct orderand torque the bolt in a painless way while you assure that the rubber gasket is inits place

then when you finish this you go to the car and with four bolts, you are done !

ps. take special care to check if the plate number 13, is there, is absolutely a must, otherwise you will be not filtering any oil at all

regards
This is the only way to do it easily! Get a couple extra gaskets, besides the mess of dropping it out the bottom you stand a 50/50 chance of kerfuffling the O ring and then you get to do the entire thing over again. I know this, ugh
 

Bert Poliakoff

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filter parts (2).jpg Complete filter unit.jpg If enough people are interested, like 5 , I will do another run of spin on adapters. I can do them for the 4" bottom bolted cans, the 3,5" bottom bolted can as well as the 3.5 " bottom bolted cans with an oil cooler assembly as they are the same and I can also do them for the 3.5" top bolted cans. These are made to accept any filter for a 460" Ford big block
 
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