Spark Plug Interval - S55 engine

[Motodude310]

Do you have to buy ultimate care to have things like spark plugs replaced while the car is under warranty?

[JamesGames]

Originally Posted by Motodude310

Do you have to buy ultimate care to have things like spark plugs replaced while the car is under warranty?

no it's included in the maintenance plan that came w/ the car.

[tcharged]

Does anybody know the interval for spark plugs in Canada? I have 30,000 miles/60,000 km and they haven't been changed yet.

[swifty]

Originally Posted by tcharged

Does anybody know the interval for spark plugs in Canada? I have 30,000 miles/60,000 km and they haven't been changed yet.

I just gave my car in for service (3rd oil change) and the dealership system shows that it's due for spark plugs.

Showed mileage of 37000kms or 3rd oil change on the SA's system.

[Poiseuille]

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[V8MAN]

Originally Posted by Poiseuille

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Just got my car back, this was its 3rd oil change (3 years), they also replaced the brake fluid and spark plugs along with air filter elements. My car has 15K miles. Dealer had the car for a couple of days.

Looks like they don't do much more than an oil change at year 4 before warranty/free maintenance expires. Differential oil change at year 5 which will be out of my pocket, wonder what is the cost of that?

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by V8MAN

Differential oil change at year 5 which will be out of my pocket, wonder what is the cost of that?

Diff oil change should be inexpensive. $50 give or take for fluid and drain/fill bolts and 30 minutes of labor.

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

Just had a bit of sticker shock as my car is in for its 6th service and no longer under service warranty. Didn't think much when I dropped it off and they said spark plugs, but he called back to let me know it was billed at 5.3 hrs at $1xx/hr plus parts.

I'm not necessarily eager to spend the 4 to 5 hours doing it myself, but I feel like ~$1000 is steep for spark plugs. I honestly didn't know S55 service could be this expensive - might be time to look at extended service plan. I don't even remember my S54 service being this expensive, and that included the valve adjustments. Don't recall paying this much for S65 spark plugs either.

Anyone had a private shop change their plugs?

Did you end up getting this done at the dealership or go private party? What was the cost if you don't mind me asking an hrs billed?

[JoeFromPA]

I'm knocking at 60k, just did my own oil change, and see that I really want to DIY/Indy shop the spark plugs. A few questions for ya'll DIYers:

1. Preferred Manual transmission and rear diff fluids?
2. Expected shop cost for plugs?

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by JoeFromPA

I'm knocking at 60k, just did my own oil change, and see that I really want to DIY/Indy shop the spark plugs. A few questions for ya'll DIYers:

1. Preferred Manual transmission and rear diff fluids?
2. Expected shop cost for plugs?

I like red line manual transmission fluids and OEM diff fluid.

I would recommend sourcing the plugs yourself (to be sure you are getting OEM, and you can find them cheaper online than retail at a dealership) and having the shop do the labor. I would say no more than 2 hours labor for the plugs. Plugs are $20-30/ea (say $150 total) and 2 hours labor @ $120/hr puts all-in cost just under $400. Its not cheap but fortunately its only needed every 30k miles.

[G4BR13L]

Originally Posted by tcharged

Does anybody know the interval for spark plugs in Canada? I have 30,000 miles/60,000 km and they haven't been changed yet.

It should be replaced every 60.000 KM (every 2nd official oil service). Although there might be country specific deviations. If this is the interval for Europe I would expect the same for colder climates like Canada or maybe even sooner but since there is no oil service around 50.000 KM...

Also 30k miles is 48k KM.

[meadowsdb]

What about the coil packs? Is there any need to change those?

[climax_e92]

Originally Posted by romanonj

I am surprised they are willing to do it at 25k. N54 tune up was required at 60k and 40k for 335IS high output engine. Not sure what S55 calls for. I cant find it in my manual.

Mine was replaced free at 23,400 miles (4th service)

[tropicatango]

mine were done at around 28 000 km under warranty, and i just replace them again at 58 000 km during winter storage

[Agamemnon]

Well, I just had my third oil change and plugs were changed. And the car only had 6550 km on it. I have many cars. Seems crazy somehow but, whatever, It didn’t cost me anything.

[Alpine_F82]

So just changed the spark plugs just under 3k miles ago. I pulled it to regap them because I just put a tune on it a couple days ago. This is what the 1st one closest to the front of the car looks like. Still pulling them all out. But what does this mean?

[Poiseuille]

Originally Posted by M4BimmerChris

So just changed the spark plugs just under 3k miles ago. I pulled it to regap them because I just put a tune on it a couple days ago. This is what the 1st one closest to the front of the car looks like. Still pulling them all out. But what does this mean?

thanks for posting that pic.
you say the plugs were replaced ~3000 miles prior to the pic. did you replace them? if not, do you have reason to be pretty sure the plugs were actually replaced at that time? sadly, what i mean by that is 'did you watch?'
also, what is the total mileage on this car?
not trying to interrogate you here, i do have personal reasons for asking.

[Alpine_F82]

Originally Posted by Poiseuille

thanks for posting that pic.
you say the plugs were replaced ~3000 miles prior to the pic. did you replace them? if not, do you have reason to be pretty sure the plugs were actually replaced at that time? sadly, what i mean by that is 'did you watch?'
also, what is the total mileage on this car?
not trying to interrogate you here, i do have personal reasons for asking.

Yes I put them in myself 3k miles ago. I have 59k miles on my car.

[behindthen0thing]

Originally Posted by M4BimmerChris

So just changed the spark plugs just under 3k miles ago. I pulled it to regap them because I just put a tune on it a couple days ago. This is what the 1st one closest to the front of the car looks like. Still pulling them all out. But what does this mean?

I'm not an absolute spark plug guru but those plugs look pretty ok to me.
Nothing jumps out as totally jacked up.
There is a small amount of carbon fouling on the side but this may be completely normal for the engine.

The electrode, and grounding strap appear to be the correct color, the porcelain is intact and white, There are no metal deposits, cracking or melting. Nothing appears to be deteriorated or damaged.

I haven't' personally changed plugs on an S55 yet, but I'll have a look at them next week, as I'm putting in some colder plugs for methanol injection purposes.

Keep in mind these things are in a high pressure chamber with allot of fire, fuel and airflow. They will look a bit rough after time spent in there.

[Alpine_F82]

Originally Posted by behindthen0thing

I'm not an absolute spark plug guru but those plugs look pretty ok to me.
Nothing jumps out as totally jacked up.
There is a small amount of carbon fouling on the side but this may be completely normal for the engine.

The electrode, and grounding strap appear to be the correct color, the porcelain is intact and white, There are no metal deposits, cracking or melting. Nothing appears to be deteriorated or damaged.

I haven't' personally changed plugs on an S55 yet, but I'll have a look at them next week, as I'm putting in some colder plugs for methanol injection purposes.

Keep in mind these things are in a high pressure chamber with allot of fire, fuel and airflow. They will look a bit rough after time spent in there.

Thanks for the input, I thought there was a decent amount of carbon deposits. Could be normal for a car at 59k miles. But just listening to everyone’s input and seeeinf what you all think. Just thought it looked a little crazy for 3k miles. I have heard the Bosch are bad on tuning cars and don’t last long so will be changing later to ngk’s. But since I’ve got 3k miles on my plugs I want to last another 5-10k miles if I can.

[THEROK]

Spark plug change interval, per BMW's maintenance schedule, is 30K miles or 36 months whichever comes first, correct?

I'm a little shy of 25K miles almost three years bought new and noticing zero performance anomalies on a bone stock powertrain.

Thank you.

[Alpine_F82]

Originally Posted by THEROK

Spark plug change interval, per BMW's maintenance schedule, is 30K miles or 36 months whichever comes first, correct?

I'm a little shy of 25K miles almost three years bought new and noticing zero performance anomalies on a bone stock powertrain.

Thank you.

Yes it is every 30k on stock engine. You won’t notice it because over time it slowly wears out but you should have no signs of them being bad even at 30k. They usually plan for them in advance so they don’t show symptoms I was at 56k when I changed mine for the second time and the first time they were changed at 32k. I had slight loss of power without even noticing. When I installed them the car was much more peppy, and I could also tell startup was basically instant, rather than like 1-2 second to start. I could tell the difference. But I believe I read somewhere that tuned it last like 12-15k miles and 30k on stock.