Fluids and capacities bible: every fill number, honestly split

Every fluid these platforms swallow, one page, with the honesty law applied throughout: the capacities and pressures below are factory-cited; the grades our extract does not carry are routed with their label on. The engine-specific guides own the procedures — this page owns the numbers, and the cross-links at each table say where the procedure lives.

Engine oil — the capacity table, every carried row

The overfill warning is the loudest line in every version of the procedure — engine damage caused by overfilling, written as a risk callout, not a footnote. The law that follows: the capacity is the starting point, the level sensor after a run-and-settle is the authority. The drain torques (25 Nm M12x1.5 N54/N55 with a new ring; S55 20/25 Nm by sump; filter caps 25 Nm) live in the torque-specs-master-index; the LL-01 honesty and interval law live in the engine-oil-change-guide.

Engine oil grades — the honest split

What the factory layer carries: an approvals reference — "see recommended engine oils for BMW Group engines" — and nothing brand-shaped. What it does not carry: the approvals list itself (referenced, not included), any viscosity table by climate, or extended-interval guidance — intervals on these cars are condition-based (CBS), calculated off fuel burned and duty, not a sticker. Our verdict, labeled ours: LL-01 remains the honest default for stock-tune street duty; a tuned or tracked car earns its oil change by analysis, not by calendar. The revision loop owns that discipline.

Coolant — volumes per chassis, the test ceiling, the bleed law

The 1.5 bar test ceiling is a leak-finder, not a strength contest — the relief-valve rows are why: the cap is already designed to vent in that neighborhood, and a test that pops the cap has taught you nothing. The mixture ratio and coolant part specification are referenced by the procedures but not carried in our extract — the honest fill is the long-life coolant your chassis documents call for, mixed per its own label. The bleed law and the vacuum-filling honesty live in the coolant-service-and-bleeding-guide: after component work the factory writes the system must be filled with a vacuum filling unit, with the bleed as the confirmation pass.

Gearbox and diff — the honesty table

Per the factory data we hold: this is the section where the extract is thinnest, and the wiki says so rather than dressing community numbers in factory clothes. Where a number below appears elsewhere in the wiki it is either factory-cited or carries its label — no third category exists.

Fuel — tank volumes and the low-pressure test point

The 5-bar row is the leak-down point for the low-pressure side — the bookend test to the HPFP and LPFP diagnostics in the lpfp-upgrade-guide. Fuel grade honesty: the minimum-octane rows live in the sales-data layer our extract does not carry; the tuned-car answer is your tune's, not the tank sticker's.

Washer, brake, A/C — the remaining honest rows

Brake fluid: the service procedures reference the operating-fluids specification for the fluid itself, which our extract does not carry — the community standard (DOT 4-class, the low-viscosity DOT 4 LV family on the B58-era cars, replaced on a two-year clock) is labeled community. The flush discipline and the bleed sequence belong to your chassis's brake documents; the battery-registration-guide owns the electrical half of that visit. Washer and A/C refrigerant capacities: the A/C layer of our extract carries system-oil and refrigerant rows for some chassis (the E8x/E9x N54 row exists in the climate group) — those belong to the A/C service conversation, and we do not quote them where the validity is not engine-specific. This page's law is the same as the spec sheets': every number carries its citation or its label.