How many quarts of oil in a BMW 325i?

Answer 1

Assuming we're talking about an E46, owner's manual says 6.5 quarts. BMW dealer will tell you 7. Reason is that the filter will be holding approximately .5 quart. Best thing to do is to remove filter from housing under hood, drain oil pan on level ground (remove bolt from under access panel under engine compartment), bolt it back on with the replacement washer given with the new filter, install the new filter with the new O-ring that also comes with it (lube with a little clean oil), and then fill with 6.5 quarts. Run the car, and instead of checking your oil and adding more right away, go ahead and drive it a day (check it once to make sure nothing is screwy, or leaking). After that day, if you're at all low (perfect level is in the 2nd gap on dipstick), add the rest. If you're already correct then leave it alone. You don't want too much oil b/c it'll actually make the engine work harder and could have consequences added to just not running quite as efficiently as possible. Also, always use Castrol fully synthetic 5-30. If you absolutely have to use another 5-30 synthetic, fine, but the Castrol is actually a slightly higher grade - i.e. approved for more applications, and if you're the typical BMW owner who cares enough to ask exactly how much oil in the first place, then you'll want to get it right, because if you don't then it'll bother you. I changed mine with Mobil the first time I did it and then found the literature about why to go Castrol instead, and I wasn't happy until I drained $40 worth of good oil and replaced it with a different $40 bucks worth just to get it perfect. Oh, and if you ARE overfull, you won't have any problems up to a half a quart over, although you're better off without it. The easiest way to get some out is to open the oil reservoir and sticka paper towel or shop rag in there and soak a little up. You can get a siphoning pump or a turkey baster syringe, but why go through that much trouble. Good luck.