Nothing major, just had some nice weather today and took the opportunity to swap out spark plugs. To be clear, the old plugs appeared to be working just fine, I just don't know the history of the car.
Nothing too difficult. Removing/re-installing the strut brace and engine covers was a bit tedious. The silly foam stuff underneath the engine covers was annoying to push back into place, but that's probably the "worst" part of the job.
The engine bay with all the covers removed so you can get to the spark plugs:
When I pulled the stock plugs, I noted they were all gapped between .030 to .032 (all but one of them were probably at .031 but my gap tool set only has .030 and .032, so I kind of have to guess). The forums led me to believe they would be between .028 and 0.30, which was not what I experienced. I honestly should have left the new plugs alone and completely ignored the internet until I removed the stock plugs, which would have saved me from doing the job twice. Oh well.
Notes:
The plugs are not perfectly offset, so you'll want one of these fancy tools/spark plug sockets that swivels a bit. I bought a cheap thin walled magnetic one off of Amazon, which seemed to work just fine. A link to the tool I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0977LK9KS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
I also used a legit spark plug gap closing tool (screw based) to tighten them, along with a set of feeler gauges:
Because the holes for the plugs don't perfectly align with the coil pack tubes, threading them in feels a bit unnerving. I really took my time putting them back in to be sure I wasn't going to strip anything.
I bought these plugs off of FCP Euro and they claim they're the same as OEM plugs (stock/BMW on the left, replacement on the right):
^^^Notice the OEM/BMW plugs are made by Bosch and are labeled ZMR5TPP330 whereas the ones I put in (which are a fraction of the price on FCP Euro, $7.49 per plug vs the BMW plugs priced at $29.99) are also made by Bosch and labeled ZR5TPP330 (missing the "M"). The OEM plugs are labeled Bosch ///M whereas these plugs just say double platinum. One guy on the forums claimed to have a misfire from these plugs, others claim they work just fine. I went for a drive afterwards and so far, they feel just fine. I'll report back if I end up having any problems with them.
Overall, it took me a little over an hour to get this job done, that was with me taking my time, checking the gap of every plug and re-gappings the new plugs I put in. On FCP Euro's site they claim these new plugs are gapped to .031 and they probably were before I listened to the internet and closed their gaps down just a bit before I got started. Moral of the story: the factory/Bosch has it right, check them, but until you check your stock plugs, don't listen to the Internet, just leave them alone.
Either way, not a bad job.
Aside from the coolant, I do believe maintenance is now all caught up on the M2.
