Toad: Bull. The 5 and 0 only imply the temperatures at which the oil maintains rated viscosity. The 0 or 5 does not have any implications as to some oil being good or bad for an engine. a 0W spec oil will protect an engine at a lower temperature.
Mobil1 0w-40 is great stuff. I used it for a long time, until it jumped up to 9 or so bucks a quart. The last two oil changes in my wife's bimmer have been dealer oil. And I'm a cheapskate.
Thanks guys! I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow and see what they charge and go from their. I think i'm going to end up trying the Mobile1 from walmart.
Says they are in stock at my local store, doesn't quite mean they do, or have enough that is.
check for the local deals in auto zone/advanced auto/oriely's/pepboys.....
You will usually get 5 quarts for around $30 on either of the following with a filter. Not all of them carry filter for our cars though, so I just get filter for my other car or for someone I know.
I was using mobil1 0w40.
Then switched to castrol edge 0w30.
Castrol edge 5w40 is also LL01 approved.
Do not use the oil that is not LL01 spec.
PS: Local Autozone had 5 qt castrol edge 0w30 for $30 a couple of weeks ago when I bought it and pep boys had it for $27 for 5 qts 2 months ago.
You just need to search for a deal, you will get it cheaper than walmart.
LAdy at autozone price matched walmarts M1 0w40 for me. Walmart didn't have it. So picked up 8Q for 60$
Did the oil change today, was really easy.
When I originally bought the car a few months ago, I was having all the leaks fixed and had non synth valvoline put in. idk what weight.
Car feels much smoother after the change.
So quick question. I put in 7Q and checked the dip stick, it was at the "low" mark. So I ran the engine, checked it, and let it cool then checked it again, was still low. I ended up putting 7.6Q in to get it to the "full" mark.
Seems odd?
I let the car drain for a while, and leveled it after it stopped dripping to get some more out.
Didn't read to the end, but check the oil level in a.m. on level ground. If you don't have an Xi, you overfilled and should get it to at or below the top notch to make me happy.
You are using the wrong oil. Only BMW oil is to be used for oil changes. BMW LL-01 oil is only for topping up only, BMW does not recommend using them for a full oil change. You should only use Castrol for topping up, because BMW recommends Castrol.
Mobil 1 0w40 has smaller molecules than Castrol and it leaks through gaskets. I've verified this because I had leaks when I topped up using Mobil 1. You should only use Castrol for topping off.*
I have used castrol gtx full synthetic 5w30 for as long as I have had the car and so did the previous owner (all the service records were kept in the glove box) and I am yet to have a malfunction oil related. I also own a shop and we use that for all cars requiring synthetic
I use Shell Rotella T6 5w40 Synthetic. All of my friends use this oil as well in their BMW's. Shell Rotella is a great oil and can be picked up for half the price of other synthetic oil when purchased at menards or walmart
Mango, please elaborate further than just the price, if you could, I would appreciate it as you have a strong presence on this site. Do you run your oil for the entire 15k mile interval on the BMW oil?
I think that means you're a bit low. Just low enough to trip the sensor, but not necessarily dangerously low. At what point exactly did you check the oil? The dipstick is calibrated to show the correct level 5 min after shutdown (you probably know this but just throwing it out there).
Rotella doesn't show an ACEA spec of A3/B3. I have a bottle in the garage and just checked...use it in the Subaru. I checked Shell's website when I got it for my son's car and decided that 'no ACEA A3/B3' that it's not going in my car.
Mango, my dear. We meet again. Just wanted to share the oil I've been using for all the BMW's I've owned. You said my Penzoil 5-30 wasn't up to spec in the other thread.
I stopped reading Sprintman and his oil opinions here years ago...once I understood there were rules that he's written about maybe 10,000 times now, I didn't need to read him again.
M1 5w/30 users...search my thread on this...one of my early ones...and one of the reasons why I now hate oil threads like everyone else!
You can trust Sprintman on oil...and me too...use LL-01 or acea a3/b3 it's not that complicated...though it can be if you get into it.
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