Bro, is that a supra

[Flexray]

No, it's actually a BMW. Let's do a oil change on a 2023 Toyota supra or better known as a Z4.

I don't mind the actual physical act of changing oil. But, due to some shop management practices, conflicts happen. Oil changes are not actually about changing oil. It is the first step in proper vehicle maintenance. An automobile is a complex machine that requires regular maintenance and repair. An oil change and inspection is about having a qualified person inspecting the vehicle to find safety concerns, broken, leaking, worn out components before they cause bigger problems or a breakdown. If you don't properly maintain a vehicle, it turns into a pile of unreliable shit.

Many shops have a fixed price for oil changes. This is stupid. This makes the profit on the job variable. Parts and labor are variable but finial price is fixed. Making up numbers, if a first year apprentice does an oil change on a 2005 Honda civic, the profit could be like $50. If a highly paid Journeyman does one on a 2018 BMW X5, the profit could be like $5. It is not uncommon to loose money on a oil change. Shop owners are so concerned about what their competition is charging for this super low profit service, they have to beat the other guy and be cheaper, even though the shop is booked 3 weeks out with other profitable work. It is a race to the bottom. For some reason, professional shops try to fight quick lube places for customers who have no interest in properly maintaining their vehicle. Because it is a low profit job, the heat is on to get it done as fast as possible and recommend as much work as possible. The technician will get in shit for taking too long to do the job. And will also get in shit for missing or not recommending things when they rush through the job. There is no winning.

I find the car in the parking lot. I start the engine, check for warning lights and messages. I hit the wipers and washers to check their operation. I go for about a 5 minute test drive. I'm looking for any type of noises, vibrations, drivability problems. I get the vehicle into my bay, I do walk around inspection and note any body damage. This is ass covering for the shop because people are lying cunts. I find the vehicle in the shop management software and go through the service history. I want to know what we have or haven't done. If we replaced the cabin air filter like 8000km ago, I'm not going to check it. This job needed to be done like yesterday. We have done the first oil change on this car, and I'm about to do it's second, I'm not going to find much wrong with this car. And if I do, it will be under warranty.

I plug the scan tool into the vehicle and ID it. I check the condition based service data. I reset the oil change and inspection categories. The front and rear brakes say not calculated. This is probably from the vehicle not coming out of transport mode properly during the pre delivery inspection at the dealer. I'm not going to go into this, the clock is ticking and things don't get done for free. I note it on the work order.


I remove the trunk floor panel and test the battery. It
tests good.


This is the B58 engine, the one that everyone has such a huge boner over. Using an extremely over priced flashlight, I inspect the top half of the engine and all of the engine bay. I check the level and condition of both cooling systems and the brake fluid level. I inspect the engine for leaks or anything that looks amiss. I inspect the engine drive belt and pulleys and the radiator for damage or leaks.


I remove the right front engine bay stiffening bar. I remove the engine air filter. I lightly tap it dirty side down onto my workbench. Very little dust comes out. Using a flashlight, shine it from the clean side through and inspect the dirty side. The light will show how much dirt the filter is holding. My $300 flashlight is way too powerful for this, I use a somewhat less expensive pen light. The filter is a bit dirty but OK.


I lift the vehicle all the way up to the top. I'm going to inspect the entire underneath of the vehicle, the steering, suspension, brakes, and drivetrain. I grab my overpriced flashlight again. I start at the very front of the vehicle and work my way to the back. I do a quick front to back, like 3 minutes. I make mental notes of what I see. I'm now going to go back and take a closer look at the trouble areas. I have to determine exactly what is wrong, and how to fix it. Let's say this vehicle is a few years old, and is no longer in powertrain warranty. It has a oil leak from the rear of the engine. I determine that it is coming from the timing chain cover gasket. This is a big ass expensive repair that requires many special tools. Before I recommend this repair, I have to make sure the shop I'm working for has these special tools and myself or someone else in the shop has the skill level to actually perform this repair. I will use service information and scroll through the procedure to see what I'm getting myself into. I inspect everything I can, sway bar end links, brake hoses, control arm bushings, exhaust system, drive shafts, CV joints.

[Flexray]

I lower the vehicle to wheel height. To do a proper brake, steering, suspension inspection, the wheels have to be removed. All of the components here are safety related. At this point in my inspection. Removing the wheels it going add on about 20 minutes. Time limits on inspections have been put in place, the wheels do not come off. I inspect the inboard brake pads with a mirror and measure the outboard ones with a brake gage. I check the ball joints, tie rod ends, and suspension bushings for tightness. Different types of suspensions get checked in different ways. Service information gives instructions and specs on how to check these components. I inspect the tires and set the pressures. I regularly miss things by not removing the wheels, but this is the way it is. I lower the vehicle back down onto the ground. I'm finished doing the inspection. I send the work order to parts so it can get estimated.


We are now going to change the oil. The oil filter is located on the top left rear of the engine. Using a 32mm socket, I unscrew the oil filter cap. This opens the oil filter drain back valve. All of the oil in the filter and housing drain into the crankcase. I remove the cap, and the oil filter. The new oil filter comes with a new cap o-ring and a new drain plug crush washer. Using a small pocket flat blade screwdriver, I remove the old cap o-ring. I fit the new one into its channel and give it a light coat of silicone lubricant. I click the new filter into the cap and install it into the housing on the engine. The torque spec for this is 25 Newton meters, so not very tight. For a long time, BMW made their oil filter housings out of metal. The housing gaskets always leak. On the B series engines, they changed the housings to plastic. From heat cycling, the plastic gets brittle and cracks. With the metal housing, you would get a mild to moderate oil leak with a bad gasket. When the plastic housings crack, it will dump oil or coolant out of the left rear of the engine.




I lift the vehicle all the way back to the top. On the subframe stiffening plate there is a plastic plug. I remove it and it exposes the engine oil drain plug. It took me years to learn how to remove drain plugs and not make a mess. I let the oil drain until it has a slow drip, usually like 5 minutes or so. I clean the drain plug with brake clean and put the new sealing washer on. The torque spec for this plug is 25nm. On anything German, If you reuse the the crush washer, it will leak. I clean off the whole drain plug area with brake clean and put the plug back in the stiffening plate and lower the car down to ground level

[Flexray]

I look up the oil type and capacity. 5.2L of 0w20. I give zero fucks about oil brands. The only thing I care about is the oil has BMW LL17FE approval. Not, meets or exceeds, or recommend for. Approval only.

For almost 20 years, BMW engines have not had dip sticks. I don't hate this, it makes it easier in many ways and poping the hood and possibly getting some dirt or oil on yourself is beneath they type of people who buy these types of vehicles. Using the information display, I go into settings-maintenance-check oil level.

It tells me that the vehicle needs to be driven for a half hour to warm the oil up. A half hour test drive is not going to happen, the clock is ticking. The engine oil temperature just needs to be above 70c to run the measurement. I hold the engine rpm at 3000 for a few minutes to warm up the oil. I let the engine idle and the start measurement button highlights. I run the measurement






The oil level is good. I put an oil change sticker in the window, put on the engine cover, make sure I have left no fingerprints or spilled fluids anywhere. I am done the oil change and inspection.

It took me an hour and bit to do this job. The more the vehicle needs, the longer the inspection takes. My bare bones job description is to repair vehicles at a profit. This week I did inspection/oil changes on two vehicles. From my inspections, I turned both of those vehicles into $5000 invoices. This is why oil changes are done at a loss leader.

I fan boi over very few cars. The supra is not one of them. But, for Toyota to badge engineer such an iconic vehicle, they should be ashamed of themselves. This car drives not that much different than any other BMW with a B58. It does have a really awesome manual gearbox though

[TomcoPDR]

[brucebanner]

Always enjoy these threads. Keep them coming Flexray.

[dj_rice]

Great thread. Thorough technician and not a glorified Parts changer like some of our techs.

[Ekliptix]

I like the motor.

[riander5]

Flexray you da man

[sxtasy]

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Always enjoy these threads. Keep them coming Flexray.

Agreed, great content!

[Gman.45]

Fascinating as usual, there are a number of things I picked up here that I didn't know before. I somehow doubt that the care and attention Flexray puts into this sort of job is the same as regular dealerships, and especially the drive in oil change shops. Bravo Zulu Flexray.

[BokCh0y]

Amazing thread, thanks for sharing.

[rvd]

"I fan boi over very few cars."

What's your top 5 ?

[Flexray]

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"I fan boi over very few cars."

What's your top 5 ?

That's a tough one.

I repair and drive many different vehicles a day, year after year. As you slowly meet all of your heroes, the novelty of cool cars wears off.

991 GT3
R32
E92 M3
S14
Chevy Astro van, I worked on so many of these things learning to fix cars. And didn't appreciate them until they were gone.

[whoreads]

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R32

The car that made beyond famous.