Essential Maintenance BMW 5 Series (E60 / E61) DPF Clean, Transmission & Diff Fluid and Fuel Filter 

Man, for me who’s about to buy an e61 525d, your chanel is a game changer! Thank you!

Nothing more satisfying than maintaining your car yourself... I have an E61 525DA from 2005 (PFL). Removed the EGR (and cooler), removed the darn swirl flaps, removed the DPF and deleted (software) the regeneration cylce completely. Had it tuned to 200 HP and changed the torque curve. Car has over 439.000 km on the clock and still running like a beast... The M57N engine to me is quite bullet proof. Also went to ZF in Dortmund back in the day for my first gear box oil change, where the engineer that designed these gear boxes (Herr Carl Jörg Sagert) gave me some interesting pointers (for example: use the manual gear changing when pulling my boat or other heavy trailers). Now I am also doing that oil change myself (like all the rest on the car). And also a big fan of the Carly app!

You should use the Original Oil from ZF. A transmission is something you should treat like a baby. Once I've heard in youtube that these car doesn't like cheap! But I've done a lot of cheap stuff myself as well :) good video

Great vids you make! Very practical and I like your relaxed tone, keep up the good work!

Hi, great e61 repair series, just don’t forgot to check you batery cable under the car, because it’s number one of e60/1 main problem, and if you see any oxidation go to your local bmw dealer and the bmw must change the cable for free, mine e60 cable changed just few months ago, Cheers✌️

Brilliant production as always

so yeah, I had the transmission oil changed 3 weeks ago with some basic service. 3 days later the DPF announced itself and it won't shut up! Great videos man, pretty much what I'm doing with mine 530d E61.

U have no idea how useful these videos are for us ♥️

Really enjoying the vids and learning a lot from it. Keep up the good work

Nice video. Awesome cars for the money and preventative maintenance is your friend, I don't quite have your resourcefulness but you've covered so many issues here already, nice family wagon 👌

Thank you for producing your video for us 5-Series owners. Very Useful and inspiring. I am ready to change oil and filter now. A plus is when you show the carton so I can order the right filter. Good thinking.

Great video as always! Haven't seen this way of cleaning the DPF before, only knew the (not so cheap) cleaning with a combination of heat and some chemical stuff... I am excited about how that works, the amount of ash what you cleaned out was really a lot, so it should make a difference

Great video as always 👍 be sure to check your lower control arm bushings, if these are worn then you can warp your new rotors/discs.

Cool video. Considering buying one of these. Little tip, slacken and drain oil filter first so the old oil will run into the sump, then open drain plug.

Very helpful and informative video with nice calm narration - thanks for putting together a great piece of content. If there was 1 thing that would make it even better (for me at least) is that it would be helpful to say what socket/torx sizes you use as you bolt/unbolt things as well as the torque settings you're applying...it saves anyone following your video as a guide to look this up separately. I came across your channel today (via the brake/tyre/wheel replacement video) and have subscribed!

Definitely saved lots of $ avoiding the stealership service center.

Always very professionally produced! 👍

That’s a very tidy looking motor now. Definitely coming together. The underside looks in extremely decent condition. Particularly compared to the Datsun.

Awesome as always, fab job

Great video. Seeing how well hidden that dpf is I’d have cut the guts out of it as they don’t remove under trays on mot’s they’d never spot it.

Good work as always

Excellent video mate, looking forward to some more interesting contents,🥳🥳🥳🥳🎊😅😅🤩🤩

I wish there was a place like that near liverpool where i could get my car on a lift and service it properly.

You should have changed the small rubber gaskets underneath the mecatronic unit while at it

Make sure you blank the swirl flaps off, they are renound for braking and falling into the engine, and also replace the crankcase breather filter, there not down as part of the service schedule but will fuck up your turbo if its blocked up.

Legend. Very nice video!

Thanks for the video, I will be doing all of this on my 550i

Great vid, just a caution that for the transmission pan change you need the zf 6hp19 for 525d, as the 6hp26 pan is for the 530d and 535d. The new pan used in this vid is incorrect as it is for the 6hp26 gearbox which is flat inside. The 6hp19 525d pan has an large indent near the drain plug as seen at 08.05

1) Intake manifold: remove swirl flap 2) exhaust manifold: change it with the rainforced old version thats made specially for e60 (cast iron from e39 and x5 e53) available on ebay 3) change the turbo filter (crankcase oil breather filter) 4) if you have an opening rooftop, change the place of the calculators in the trunk, under the emergency wheel. You can have water problem. 5) Automatic transmission: change the fluide every 90000km 6) if you can, remove FAP and EGR

My E60 is on 184k never had the transmission oil changed, or DPF changed / clean. I might just have been lucky but ZF make great boxes!!

My swirl flaps were in a state, got rid of them in the nick of time at 120k they were brittle and flakey, change all the intake seals and clean egr at the same time, couple of hours work

Brilliant

Cool series of this e61! Please check your steel breaklines on the chassis connectors next to your fuelfilter. I discoverd this the hard way after breaking a 200km/h to 30 with a red pop-up warning of my breaks 😅 Cheers👏

Nice. Looks much easier when you have a ramp. Wish I could get one instead of using trolley jacks, axel stands and getting a sore back.

love it

Check to make sure your rear window heater, tailgate window and brake light all work I just had to rewire all mine

Nice vid, I never noticed that the diff doesn’t have a drain plug. How odd.. I’ll be tackling that soon hopefully.

👍 changed the crankcase breather pipe on mine (also called cam/rocker pipe). It’s the small flexibility pipe on the front left of the engine(uk). It was leaking slightly as had a slight oily residue. None fault, so upgraded to BMW’s modified part which I got from EBay for £19.99. MPG went up from 38.1 to 41.5 (urban) My car is a 520d 2010 E61

Man in this automatic gearbox goes 8.5 liters of automatic oil,you have to drain oil from wandler as well there is plug for that.

Nice to see you supporting a British company by using Kielder tools!

I've got a 520 touring, similar to your but a different engine, it's recently developed a rattle in the engine and someone told me it could be the tension-er gone, it might also need a chain change. Was just thinking may be can bring it to you and you can use it to film more lessons while fixing it.

Epic

More of this!

quality.

Great video, how often should you change the diff fluid?

Hey loving the videos but have you removed the siwrl flap in the manifold , on this engine the swirl flap come loose and would drop in the engine 😅😅 And i think you should also clean the egr and the manifold as well I have had couple of 5 series currently own a f10 so i have had to deal with these problems

What brand of gearbox filter/pan were you using,thank you! Great video!,you should buy next e61 with n52 and series on that,you have very good videos and explaination.

Done the gearbox fluid on my old E60 535d was an annoying job. You are making look at the auto trader too often for an E60 run around seeing as 3/4 grand gets an LCI 😎

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Double check the gearbox oil if the box is a zf6 it should use lifeguard 6 oil or mannol ag55, both are light golden brown, red transmission oil is usually an atf fluid which is incorrect

What kind of ash and soot mass numbers you got from the Dpf AFTER cleaning it? I'm not sure when the car does the regeneration at it's own so I suggest you to request "force regeneration" with Carly every now and then when you know you're going to a longer trip. And there was a comment about resetting the transmission, but I think he meant resetting the adaptation values, what you can also reset with Carly. At least in my own -08 530xd Lci I was able to. However great videos and lots of useful information!

dpf is lifetime item once it’s regenerating, but ur wasn’t so ur thermostat might be bad, glow plugs and few other things that restricted dpf regen

Great job buddy!Can you please send me the link for the Silverline pump?

Ideally you should have used better quality parts(gearbox oil), zf hp26 is fairly good box compared to earlier ones but you must use decent parts to make them run well for long time. not that expensive . and change your Vacuum lines under the manifold, that will give you egr problems and it will not be egr.

I have recently bought a 5 30d se GT hopefully this deals with this engine too?

Great Video! really usefull and inspiring for me, thank you. Just a question: does this car suffer for the timing chain failure problem of the N47 engine?

Great video. Fantastic production and continuity. Just wondering, with all the parts and servicing costs... is it still a cheap BMW?

I've got an '07 manual 530i M-Sport wagon with the infamous N53 engine, with the same wheels as you. Which so far, has given me no trouble over the last 13k (although I had to do the tailgate wiring), although it has a slight thirst for oil, which I suspect is connected with the egr system as there is oil in the breather pipe. However, I will have to change the tyres soon, and was thinking about Michelin PS4's, as I have had these in the past. Lots of grip, they last well. What tyres have you put on yours?

Great content thank you

Great video, can't wait to see the next!

pls use the original ZF lifetime 6 oil for the gearbox....i don't know if that comma have the req specs for the gearbox...

Hi I recently bought a 2008 525D. I noticed when I started from cold this morning it was slightly juttery. Any idea what I did wrong. Should I have waited for the glow plugs to work

How do you find what the torque spec is for things like this? I would have liked to have seen you drive it after these changes to see if it's made a difference to how the car feels, but great video regardless.

My e61 touring 520d jerks into 1st when I'm moving away from lights when cold only....10 mins later smooth as. Gearbox oil or something else? Not long purchased with 116 000 mls

How much transmission fluid did you use altogether? You mentioned 2 litres after installing the pan but not how much you needed to top up after running the engine and cycling the gears?

Remember the pcv valve, not hard to do

I have a 2013 X5 E70 with 91k miles. BMW states that the that transmission fluid is good for the lifetime of the vehicle but as with anything it can never last indefinitely. Really puzzled on what to do plus that ZF transmission fluid is quite expensive!

can I ask what is doing my bmw e61 2007 slow when its cold, it want hardly back up , want acclerate befor 300mph

Out of curiosity, how would a BMW like this compare against a Volvo S60/S70 diesel of the same vintage which I drive now, reliability- and cost-wise?

200,000 miles and my DPF just went I think I'll try this technique rather than take it out completely.

Great video I have a manual, should I be changing my oil? Can’t find much info online about the manual boxes

What engine oil did you use?

Hi, thanks for the great video. Changing the transmission oil is better than doing nothing, but it's better to get a tranmission flush and filter change to make sure all the old oild is replaced.

How come you only got 2 litres of oil out when they hold 9.7 litres? also no seals were replaced for the mechatronics.

Dpf doesn’t need to be removed there should be a connection point at least on f10 its like that

How is the fuchs oil??

Can you regenerate dpf in 6th?

How much is the Carly app and adopter

Bmw says lifetime because the car itself won’t last more than the transmission even if you don’t change the fluid. They want you to get rid of it at that stage and buy a new model. But if you want to keep the car running for longer you do the maintenance and for some models it would be worth it

Can we get another video please !!

You can clean the AuC sensor filter and that usually clears the fault. At least I always has for me.

Is that the DPF or catalytic convertor ?

Can you please tell the cost of transmission oil and differential oil, i went to a bmw garage they asked me 400 euros for trans oil and 40euros for diff oil :/

Yesss 1

#5SeriesLove

How long did this all take you? I'm about to do all of this and a few more bits to my X5 soon. Thanks.

Nice Video How good is the Fuchs oil that you used??

I see he was pumping red fluid into the transmission, but brown was leaking out when full. he has either used clips from other cars, or messed up his gear box.

Why not use ZF transmission fluid?

There is no need to change the dpf filter if the regen cycles are working properly

Do you disconnect the battery while servicing? many thanks

Did you prime the filter or bleed the air before starting the engine? I though diesels won’t start if air gets in the system?

how much does it cost ?

Is this the same garage Car Throttle used to use?

What is glowing so much, cant be the engine exhaust pipes?

Did your gearbox feel any different after you changed the oil? Mine feels a bit crap on my 335d, might change the oil

Code Info- 452A is just that - an "Info". Information to the oem service that the DPF is NEARING (not at!) the end of its projected life. Depending on model,452A it is stored in fault memory at (calculated) 90000km or less BEFORE your perfectly working DPF is full with ash. (In Carly, check the parameter "calculated remaining capacity of particle filter" and/ or monitor the DPF function when you drive. It just works!). So you cleaned the filter completly unnecessary. More so, the primitive method of cleaning with pressure washer created a danger that the cells were damaged, broken,filtering layer damaged by the pressure itself or by residue moisture inside the DPF. The filter can crack because there is no way you have dried all water out with that blower. Think of that the filter will heat up to 630 deg.C when regenerating! It will be pure luck if the internals escape in one piece.

Lifetime is sort of like 100.000 miles / km. I have to disagree with you on the flex joint. It looks worn at the bolts holes.

Quick question, did you not have to prime the fuel system after letting air in? I’ve heard tales of cars refusing to start without the system being purged of air.

My gearbox coolant temp goes up 96’C so I think yours stuck.