Here’s How I Fixed My 409,000 Mile M5 For 90% Less Than The Dealer At Home With Zero BMW Experience. 

Reminds me of when Chevy told me that replacing an oxygen sensor was going to cost $200 for the sensor and $400 for 3 hours of labor...... Bought a $35 sensor and it took me 15 minutes.

You should take it back up to the dealership and see what they say is still broken! Edit - Thanks for all the likes fellas!

You could get the parts and install a lift in your garage for less then the dealership🤣

I remember my dad refusing to take his car to a garage to fix an idling problem because they wanted $60 to do a complete tune up. He then dropped a screwdriver bit into the carburetor as the engine was running, which then found its way into a cylinder, breaking the piston, damaging the valves, and cracking a cylinder. The cost to replace the engine was $1200.

Greatest advices. I went from changing my bicycle tire maximum skills to replacing brakes, radiators and transmission on 2 audis just by taking my time.

That 6YA guy seemed pretty helpful. Feel bad that he has to start and end each call with such a stupid sounding company name!

This is why I've been doing my own work on all my Bmws and Mercedes for the past 14 years. My maintenance cost less than what people spend on maintenance for their economy cars.

But...... you didn't get FREE wiper blades!

Dude. Now I want to buy an E39 M5. Lol. Strong work.

You should paint the brake calipers, you don’t have to use crazy colors but anything beats rust! : edit y’all broke my like record!

Out of all the YT car channels, this is my favourite. A great presenting style, very informative, and enthusiasm for days. Very well done !

One of my favourite channels of all time. Please keep the videos coming. Taught myself how to work on my cars and its a skill I see getting lost among guys younger than me. Channels like this keep the skill alive! If you go to sell the M5 give me a holler, I'll keep it top just like you have.

That reliability comment on bmws 😂😂

This video is so great and requires so much attention. You used so much time and money to make this, the quality is great, the thought process and the way this video is set up is very very addicting to me. KEEP UP THE AWESOME WORK

My new favorite RU-vid channel. You have an amazing attitude and voice for these videos. Thanks for making us feel like we can tackle anything!

Love these types of videos Alex. Keep em coming!

Great video, reliability is only as good as your maintenance, and BMW's are no different, great cars, rewarding to drive, keep up the awsome content!!

Congrats on the Jalopnik article.

Thank you I have been doing home repair for years and saved allot of money. It would have been too have the internet back then but I got it. But thanks for the updates.

Another AWESOME VIDEO!! You make it look so effen easy. Best RU-vid automotive channel period. Great job Alex!! 👍

Sweet. Great video man. I just got a quote from BMW...€950 to replace a starter motor in my E92 335i. I bought a starter motor for €120 and fitted it myself over the weekend. About 4 hours total. Stealer prices are just crazy!!

Absolute brilliance really enjoyed this vid sir 👏🏻😭

Thanks for the videos, great to see someone encouraging people to have a go. I love working on my own cars, it teaches me so much.

I cant thank you enough for making this channel. Thanks for sharing man!

Hey Alex, why didn't you clean up the drumbrakes for the handbrake while you where in there? Love the videos, keep it up

"Can be worked on at home" car is up on a lift...

I grew up not very far from where you live, it's great seeing you drive around familiar neighborhoods! I bought a wrecked/rebuilt 06 Audi Cabrio and I've tackled most (85%) of the repairs myself as well as my girlfriends' Jeep, her old Mazda and her sons Honda. Your videos are great, keep em coming!!

Alex, you have done it again. Thoughtful, concise and with a good dose of humour to boot. Pure class! Appreciate your content every time! 5 Stars!

Good stuff! I’ve always worked on cars, from a very young age, but when I first got my licence I didn’t trust my abilities, so I brought my daily driver to a mechanic... After having my car screwed up by “professionals” and having to deal with a broken car and haggle on getting money back, I decided I was safer doing it myself! My skills have just been improving from that day on, my current car has been my daily for 8yrs and I’m the only one to ever work on it in that time, it’s also never failed me!

Get this man some more subscribers, he deserves them. 👏🏾

Loved the video and signed up for a year of 6ya. Love it and subscribed!!

Thank you for showing people how to save so much money. You are awesome one of the best RU-vid channels out there!

SHHHHHHHH, stop telling people how easy depreciated German luxury is to fix, resale prices will go up ;)

Never been a professional mechanic, but my life experience has been similar to this video. My tool set has grown over the years and every tool has paid for itself at least 10x over by doing my own maintenance and repairs. If I can't diagnose the repair, I'll let a dealer perform the 1 hour check-over, then complete the repair myself once they ID what they would do. I'm so thankful many states are taking up "Right to repair" legislation so we can keep the shade tree traditions going. Outsourcing *all* your repairs is just plain asinine, unless you wipe your posterior with dollar bills.

I love your videos. You make every repair look so easy!

Great channel. So happy I've discovered it. Great job mate.

christ, there are a lot of goons that post in here. good videos man, probably one of the best DIY'ers on the internet. keep it up!

The best way to fix older Bimmers to keep ownership costs down is DIY😊 Great vid bro!

I have only just recently subscribed but I absolutely love your content. I recently (5-6 months ago) got a nice 2001 540i and this video is really helping me out, thanks!

Excellent editing and production Nicely condensed into 20 minutes. I miss seeing the old Chicago neighborhoods thanks.

MAN! I wish you could work on my 2002 Trans-Am lol

One of my fav timeless cars didnt know you had one very nice.

Awesome mate! Cheers from Australia!

Great vid love how clean that m5 is for the miles

Showing everyone whats up and how old bmw ownership is possible. Stay away from the dealer

I'm used to never commenting on anything; however, your videos are so amazing and not only do you manage to do top notch work on your cars (as well as on your editing) while also displaying such a pleasing and wise personality! This is why this temporary life's so unfair: a Doug Demuro sounds like a dumb teenager compared to you but takes all that massive # of views/subscribers due to the cars/approach. Best of best regards from Brazil!

Nice work - I used to take my cars and motorcycles to main dealers for servicing - I got fed up with extortionate pricing and being quoted for unnecessary work - I now service and repair everything myself - and in fact I started my auto installation business using the skills I learned solely due to being fed up with getting ripped off. Thank you for sharing!

Alex another great informative video letting us know that we can work on our own vehicle’s! Keep em coming man!🐟

You had me going for a few seconds with the BMW reliability talk! I certainly have my Bavarian wallet burner story. Or is it BMW (Bavarian Money Waster)?

You had me going with "BMW's are utterly reliable." 😂

So nice to finally see someone on youtube use anti sieze between the rotor and hub. It makes the next time you do that job soooo much easier.

Love all that you’re doing man👍

Few things. Should have done both rear ball joints to keep it identical and both fresh Also should have replaced the integral links too as they are off and cheap. The bmw reliability thing? My e39 M5 was no trouble at all and the e39 530d daily is totally bulletproof so far. Easy to work on too.

Of course I learned a lot from this video

Awesome Thanks again... you are right, get the confidence and save the money.... thanks for doing this

I love this video. Learning how to work on your own car is totally worth the effort, and it's super rewarding and gratifying, even it if isn't easy the first time or two. I don't know if there are too many things that I'd say could be "easily" done at home by someone with zero experience, but I would 100% say that anyone who wants to can to a LOT more than most people do, especially if they really understand how to use the internet, and that just watching several videos (vs just the shortest one with the best thumbnail) is advisable, and also if they understand that with cars it's always important to know when to course correct. I know Alex said it's his first time doing all these things on a BMW, but I think something can be said for at having done them, or similar things, on many other cars, even if they were a different makes (unless he was only addressing people who have worked on other cars before and were just switching makes or something). I work in an office. My high school jobs I've never required me to fix anything mechanical. The first time I changed my own brake pads I also did the rotors. One of the rotors was Stuck, with a capital S, on. I read about the push bolts but no one mentioned that it was most likely the same size bolt as the one that held the caliper to the caliper bracket. I spent forever first beating on the rotor with a mallet, then a hammer before reading about the push, then more time trying every single bolt lying around my house (the hole looked WAY smaller than the caliper bolt, which I did try first, but it felt like it wouldn't go past like 1/4 rotation) before getting mad enough to try to force the caliper bolt through and then finding out that after the first like 7 or 8 cranks it was actually the right size. Then a floating caliper pin was like 100% fused and wouldn't move so I couldn't get the stupid caliper back over the pad. Instead of realizing it wasn't going to move I spent forever spraying stuff on it and beating on it in a vice before I just went and got a new one. Then I didn't know that the little rubber boot didn't come with the new pins, so had to go back again. I wish I would have had and/or known about 6YA back when I started working on my own car.

For the dealer's price, you are better off buying a used car.

My BMW dealership charges a 2 hour minimum @ 150 an hour. 😕 I do all work myself. Lol

Nice showing BMW some love. BMW’s are some of the absolute easiest vehicles to work on. The difficulty comes in properly diagnosing the actual cause of issues, as well as keeping up on necessary preventive repairs (replacing things BEFORE they fail). If it’s not already done, can absolutely promise that your thermostat is partially stuck open & over cooling the engine. This is a chronic issue on every BMW, period.... Front torsion arms should be replaced w/ mono ball units if they haven’t already, even if the dealership called em good.

Did an awesome job on the brake pads the only thing I would recommend is when you're done doing the brakes always always always use brake cleaner and wipe down the surface where the pads and the rotor contact also it's important to not get any grease or oil of any kind on the surface of the pad you won't get it off on the rotor you can but not with the pads awesome job love the video

I would have replaced the seal on the cap to keep it visually looking original.

You need a retainer screw in each of them brake rotors. +$600

Thank you for this video Alex! Could you do a common problems/issues with E39 M5? This is a car I would like to own, but am scared to own. You make me just that little bit more comfortable to own one.

Thanks Alex, you are an inspiration :)

Your the man, keep inspiring!

I spit my coffee all over my new TV at :45, so you owe me a new TV :)

I always admire your work.

Done that ball joint so many times due to bad quality parts. Got Lemforder on one side and Moog on the other now... I never bothered to lower the arm, I disconnected the sway bar link. The special tool helps with this job and they do not cost too much.

I was expecting Alex to do his whole channel intro when talking to the guy.

The savings from that one bill just payed for your lift

No, Alex, the undercarriage cover *isn't* just a piece of plastic! I replaced one on my E90 with a cheap ebay knockoff. The piece didn't fit great, but, more importantly, it was thicker and significantly heavier than the OEM part. It's heavy enough to stress the screws holding it on, and it's constantly coming loose and sagging down in places. Hopefully yours works out better!

Alex, next time you've got the car up take a look at the fuel filter (there's a date stamp on it). When I bought my car at 131k miles it had the original fuel filter. Changing that and spark plugs made an immediate difference on my car.

What dealer is that? They're on even more crack than most dealers.

Lol I wanna see you do those job without that hydraulic lift

What a legend.. love this channel

Keep it up man. Good work

6YA!

How many miles are on your daily drivers?

Dear Alex, during brake job you forgot about (or just did not show on camera): - brake caliper carrier cleaning (grinding rust on contact paths between pad and carrier) -checking e brake components and cleaning e brake shoes -replacing pad wear sensor -replacing caliper spring -checking/replacing/cleaning+lubing caliper guides -checking/replacing caliper seals and pistons

Just FYI - There’s a dedicated tool for the rear ball joints that works much better than a generic C-clamp style. You can get it done with the C-clamp, but the wheel carrier interferes with the cups. Good job!

BMW are the worst dealership to have work done on your car. They will rip u off big time.

Alex: I have no experience whatsoever on these cars Also Alex: works on complicated performance German cars all the time and is a Mercedes certified tech for years

Nice work!

Bro. Love your channel. All the way from South Africa.

This is exactly why I laugh at everyone that tries telling me that maintenance is going to kill me on my 7 series...😂😂😂 I have tools, muscles, and FCP Euro! I've been able to do everything myself including some coding with BMW ProTool. Plus with RU-vid I have found video's for every repair as well. The forums are great in the BMW community too. Just wish I had me a lift, or better yet a place to put a lift in at. Lol.

Cant believe i just watched that whole thing. and i have no idea about car mechanics

You had me at BMWs are “so reliable”... haha Funny stuff. Great video!

Great video. Will use as a reference for my 2003 M5

I wonder how many people think that your discs will fall out without the little locating screw that you didn't install?!?!

Now it makes sense why BMW's depreciate so much... dealerships are ripping customers

Greetings from Portugal love your videos man, learned so much stuff from you... I also work on my cars at home when needed, you should get a diesel vag car like 1.9 tdi or 2.0 tdi, it will turn out a great content...

Great video! What a great car, recently purchased a 520I which needs some rear wishbones and probably the ball joints as there is a vibration around 70mph! thanks for the video, make me feel a little more comfortable tackling it. Can't beleive those BMW dealership prices :0

Is it not a good idea to replace those balljoins on both sides on the car, while you are at it? Just a thought

You are a bad influence! Making me think about investing in a e39 M5 with all these DIY repairs.

Hey Alex. Been a while. Great vid. Keep it up

Just saw you with SAMCRAC at Co-Parts looking at Teslas, and the V12 AMG. Very interesting! But the work on the Beemer was awesome!!

I think your ex might work at that dealership. Just sayin. 😁

You replaced the M cap with a regular cap. Only M motors got that cap.

saw you not checking the alignment when you whacked the disc's on and i was like Yep... their wrong XD so glad you came back and showed it in the video... rofl good job :D

Wow! Many thanks 🙏🏾 for this video