Replacing the Microfilters on a BMW 3 Series
13/04/13 11:05 Filed in: Cars
How to replace the micro filters on a BMW 3 series - saving money on servicing.
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Ok, I know this is a technology blog, but hey, cars are technology aren’t they? That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Anyway, I was recently chatting to some people about how I tend to do basic stuff on my car myself - to be clear, I mean very basic. I don’t do anything mechanical or the like, but I’m quite happy swapping an air filter. Doing such things can save a fairly chunky amount on your servicing bill, certainly for a car like mine.
So, here, let’s look at a very simple job. Replacing the Microfilters - these are the pollen/air filters that filter the air that goes in to the cabin. When my car was in for an oil service recently, they wanted to charge me GBP160 to do this…which sounded utterly ridiculous to change a couple of filters! After investigation, it really was a bit steep when I could buy them from the US for a lot less, and fit them in about ten minutes.
First thing to do is to track down the part number for the filters. For my car (An E92 M3), the part number is 64319159606. I picked up a set via a friend in the US for US$100 which is about 65GBP - saving a cool GBP95 for ten minutes work. Bear in mind if you order from the US you’ll having shipping and import duty by the way. As a side note, I also ordered some from a UK dealer too at a fair amount more - 100 quid - but they turned out to be the wrong ones, and not for the M3…so make sure you order the right parts! So even if you buy them from BMW UK at a ton, you’re still saving money on the install - and it really is easy.
There’s a great site here for browsing and finding the right part numbers:
RealOEM.com
They turned up in a week, and were in a genuine BMW box. Watch out if you have a NON-M 3 series as the filters are different - the M has four individual filters, in two compartments, whereas I think other models have two filters in one long compartment. Picture here of the ‘M engine bay shows you what I mean.
Anyway, on the ‘E92 there’s three screws securing the micro filter housing - the left side one is shown below. You need an 8mm Wrench to undo the three screws. Be careful with the one at the front by the way as there’s a plastic lug that’s quite easy to break. Take the three screws out and you can then lift up the housing.
On the right hand side housing be careful as it may have the cabling in that housing for the OEM alarm switch for the engine bay - same 3 screws, just be careful when you pop the cover off not to assume it comes all the way off like the one on the left.
Once the units are off, it’s a very simple matter of popping out the filters, and replacing them with the new ones. I used a small flat screw driver just to slightly leverage the filters out - honestly, it’s a doodle and you’ll see exactly what I mean when you have the units off.
The video below runs through the whole process. Simple isn’t it? You can see the hi-def version direct on YouTube here.
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