M140i oil filter victim

[long neck]

Put my 140i in for its oil service on Friday only to receive a call a few hours later to say it wouldn’t be ready until Monday as they had incurred a problem. I’d never heard of this issue until it happened to me but online searching has shown I’m not alone.
Surely this should be a recall by bmw and have the whole housing replaced ?

[helix402]

long neck said:

Put my 140i in for its oil service on Friday only to receive a call a few hours later to say it wouldn’t be ready until Monday as they had incurred a problem. I’d never heard of this issue until it happened to me but online searching has shown I’m not alone.
Surely this should be a recall by bmw and have the whole housing replaced ?

No. It’s been occurring since the M52 was introduced many years ago (1994 ish). The cure is to change the oil and filter more often than BMW recommend. I’m not sure changing the housing will fix the problem.

Edited by helix402 on Sunday 10th January 07:45

[10126 Torino]

What has actually happened ?

Not sure what the pic is showing apart from some filter parts .

[helix402]

10126 Torino said:

What has actually happened ?

Not sure what the pic is showing apart from some filter parts .

Oil filter has disintegrated.

[thebraketester]

Who makes the OEM BMW filters? Mann?

[long neck]

10126 Torino said:

What has actually happened ?

Not sure what the pic is showing apart from some filter parts .

If you zoom in you will see what came out when they removed the filter, the rest of it is still in the sump, the one on the right is how it should look

[helix402]

thebraketester said:

Who makes the OEM BMW filters? Mann?

BMW switch between Mann or Mahle for oil filters.

[GregK2]

How long since the last oil change?
Have heard of this on several occasions now, poor design.

[nordboy]

I’d never heard of this but strangely, I opened my BMW club magazine yesterday and there’s a couple of page article on exactly this issue and how you can get round it.

[g3org3y]

GregK2 said:

How long since the last oil change?
Have heard of this on several occasions now, poor design.

Never had this happen on any of my BMWs, but do an oil/filter change every year.

[d_a_n1979]

Had this happen once on an E38 728i ago years back; Mahle filter it was that fell apart

Have used Mann filters since and I change my oil twice a year now; zero issues (but then again I'm lucky to do 5k miles a year)

[ashenfie]

The issue more around poor quality and non OEM filters being used. Stick to MANN filters and all should be ok

[d_a_n1979]

ashenfie said:

The issue more around poor quality and non OEM filters being used. Stick to MANN filters and all should be ok

No it's not, it's happened with Mann and Mahle

It's all about folk leaving it far too long between changes

[Spidersleg]

Be grateful if can be fixed. There was a guy on the FB page the other week that required a new engine ( he only dropped it in for routine service) BMW relented and paid full cost of replacement engine, after some argy bargy.

[ashenfie]

d_a_n1979 said:

ashenfie said:

The issue more around poor quality and non OEM filters being used. Stick to MANN filters and all should be ok

No it's not, it's happened with Mann and Mahle

It's all about folk leaving it far too long between changes

That is a good point, if you don't follow the service schedule then you can't really complain if the filter fails regardless of brand. You have to hope your garage does actually change the filter, but saving £2-3 on a filter seams false economy

[g3org3y]

ashenfie said:

d_a_n1979 said:

ashenfie said:

The issue more around poor quality and non OEM filters being used. Stick to MANN filters and all should be ok

No it's not, it's happened with Mann and Mahle

It's all about folk leaving it far too long between changes

That is a good point, if you don't follow the service schedule then you can't really complain if the filter fails regardless of brand. You have to hope your garage does actually change the filter, but saving £2-3 on a filter seams false economy

Isn't the concern regarding the long time between oil changes specified by BMW?

If folk are following the service schedule and the filter degrades to the state shown by the OP, that's not acceptable.

[ashenfie]

If you go the full distance between services then a quality filter will serve you best because it has a larger surface area (according to the MANN blurb) and less lightly to clog. I suspect most of us hit the two years rather than the service distance, hence it's unlikely to be an issue.

Another issues is that the can type oil filters have bypass value to prevent oil blockages by allowing unfiltered oil to circulate around the engine, I'm not if if the BMW solution has these feature, but another reason to get a good quality filter.

Other factors come into it like follower the service guide and using the correct oil specification. I had an E90 years back and did 50K a year without issue. Serviced correctly the filter was fine and the oil didn't seam that bad either. Change the oil/filter more often if your want a longer life thu.

[helix402]

nordboy said:

I’d never heard of this but strangely, I opened my BMW club magazine yesterday and there’s a couple of page article on exactly this issue and how you can get round it.

What’s the magazine’s solution?

[long neck]

10126 Torino said:

What has actually happened ?

Not sure what the pic is showing apart from some filter parts .

If you zoom in you will see what came out when they removed the filter, the rest of it is still in the sump, the one on the right is how it should look

[long neck]

I bought the car new, it’s a 2019 model, the I drive messaged to book in for oil service at 14000 miles so I did and this is the result.