MY APPROACH TO working on cars has been to focus on safety, reliability, comfort, and appearance in that order. Not every step has always been exactly in that order, but the first three BMWs have all had to pass rigorous German inspections to be registered. They also had to be reliable for daily driving.
There are two aspects to working on the car – routine preventative or scheduled maintenance and actual repairs. BMW has a maintenance and inspection schedule that looks at a variety of things at one, two, or three-year intervals. Over the next six months I’d like to do all of these just so I know where everything stands. Unexpected repair items are, uh, unexpected so not so easy to plan for. However, there are a variety of things BMW’s cars are known to need. I’ll work through all that as they pop up. As long as I can find a video and/or a tutorial online somewhere I can do it!
- Oil leak somewhere – I hope it’s the very typical oil filter housing gasket and not something painful. Time will tell.
- Left rear view mirror – adjusting switch doesn’t work (the right side does)
- Transmission fluid exchange
- Fuel filters – don’t flow well after a few years of use
- Power steering fluid – replace
- Steering wheel vibrates when braking – not sure why; brakes are fairly new. This is likely a suspension issue; when some of the ball joints/bushings are worn they can cause this problem.
As I identify more things to do I’ll list them above, too. As I get them fixed I’ll move them to the list below and link to the applicable page.
- Cabin and engine air filters
- Extra key – I only got one from the previous owner
- License Plate Frame – The license plate holder was falling off
- Oil change – so I know when it was last done. This will be done in conjunction with something else, not on its own
- Upper and lower front control arms – there are worn bushings in the old ones.
- Ball joints – worn rubber like above
- Alignment – to be done once the front suspension parts are finished
- Brake fluid flush – should be done every two years. Don’t believe it’s been done
- Transfer Case gear
- Ground straps
– a key to keeping things clean