they claim thoroughness. And someone on bimmerforums.com actually did an experiment. The leftover was less than a half full shot glass...in his e46 inline 6. The tubing goes down the dipstick hole to the bottom of the oil pan. I think it's worth it considering how cleanly it does the job. It will be another investment ... I don't know how much but I assume about $70 but I got three cars. I love doing oil changes especially when the filter can be taken out from the top.

 

Wanted to change it right after run-in, but life got in the way. Two weeks @ 50 mpd and here I am @ 2100.

Didn't notice any metal shavings, but oil did look dirty for 2100 miles on synthetic. I would recommend first change between break-in and 1500 (get your filter early so life doesn't set you back a coupla weeks ).

 

Surfblue says: Someone needs to explain to me how "metal shavings"
are "swirling about" in my 07 MCS with just over a thousand miles on it and the original from the factory oil and filter. The car DOES have a high grade OIL FILTER and new or old, any particles being carried by your hot oil are going to circulate into and stay in that filter. Explain away, please.

 

What is the size of the pump strainer on these MINIs?

Other than that there must be some reason small particles do not get pumped as I have seen them in many engines old and new. Must be eddies in the oil flow path putting them in no flow areas or something.

That said you are correct that they are not generally swirling around.

 

Surfblue says: Well then, that's a reason to run a magnetic oil sump plug. I run one in the K motor in my Grinnall Scorpion. I've written about it before. I see it work when I change the oil. Somebody give me the diameter/pitch for the R56 oil drain plug and I'll track one down. I just need this spec.

 

I'll be changing my oil maybe this comming Monday and I'll take a few pics to help out. That filter housing is a pain to see if you don't know where to look. I'll get the drain plug specs as well.

 

Love magnetic drain plugs and would love to hear where to find one. Don't kave the mcs yet, but want to line it up for the 1st change.

Good luck, surfblue and late..

 

http://www.magneticdrainplug.com/

According to this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=96454

The R56 takes a 14mm x 1.5 pitch plug.

 

L8Apex - thanks in advance for looking into the thread size and pitch of the drain plug. Hopefully you can verify 14mm x 1.5 pitch for the rest of us. I'd like to convert to an oil change valve -- makes things easy. I think they are about $20 on ebay. A little more here: http://www.fumotovalve.com/merchant.cfm?pid=368&step=4

 

Have you seen where the drain plug is? It is facing down on the bottom of the sump. So, your valve will stick straight down towards the road. Hit something and it could sheer off.

 

Hum, that's no good -- exposed plug. I'll need to think about that. Still would like to know the size of the bolt.

Maybe the thing to do is borrow the oil change procedure used on marine inboards. A right angle fitting with a nipple replaces the drain plug and a hose runs up into the engine compartment with a cap nut. The filter is accessible from the top. So with a pump, which I just happen to have, the entire service could be done from above.

 

Or, run a tube down the dipstick port as this does:
http://www.coopersport.com/usa/Maint...e-p-16288.html

This has gotten mixed reviews. Some say it works great. Others, not so much. The complaints (that I've read) have been:

Slow to drain unless oil is hot.
Tube gets soft and gooey if engine is hot.

 

Drain plug size is:- 14MM-1.5MM pitch.

 

Marine engines have run a hose down the dipstick port for years and many folks have debated about how much residual oil is in the system when the tube starts to draw air. Generally speaking, it isn't much.

The preferable place to drain the oil is the drain plug. I'll look for a 14MM x 1.5 pitch right angle nipple. It's not for everybody, but when you have a pump standing by, why not?

 

Ok, changed my oil, got messy, took pics and measurements. The drain plug is 14mm wide, 20mm long with 11mm of thread and 6 total threads. I calculated the ptich to be 1.8mm, if others are getting 1.5mm I might have mis-measured slightly. Also, the head is 22mm in diameter and uses a T-50 bit ( ).

 

Hopefully you mis-measured, as M14-1.5 is an international (ISO) standard for metric threads. 1.8 mm is not even listed in the book. I doubt if BMW would get away from the standard and design their own thread for that purpose, since it is only a drainplug. It would be very costly for them. Did you use a thread guage?. Anyhow thanks for the info.