Okay strange oil question??

[Louiseven]

When I bought my Touring late last November it had just had an oil service. It is not yet time for an oil service but I do need to top off my oil a bit. Here is the question. I do not know what kind of oil is already in there? Dino or Synthetic? Is there a way to tell?? I do not have an owners manual yet so forgive my ignorance. What oil weight should I put into an M50 pre-vanos engine? Thanks

[4500 RPM]

6.1 qts. IIRC do 20w-50 of synthetic, that's what I run in the summer.

[Louiseven]

Thanks for the suggestions however I dont think I need to change the oil yet. I just need to add a little. I just do not know what to do when I dont know what kind of oil is already in the engine.

[Stir Fry A Lot]

Just do a full oil change with synthetic and stick with. Syn 20w-50 ftw.

[bmw440]

Take the dip stick out, put a little on your finger and taste it,then post and say what it taste like, then we'll be able to tell u what kind is in there. lol just kidding. just use 20w-50.youll be fine.

[Deanx2009]

mine tastes a bit warm, smooth of course, slight chemicals added...and just the universal "oil" taste.

How about you guys?

[Louiseven]

Take the dip stick out, put a little on your finger and taste it,then post and say what it taste like, then we'll be able to tell u what kind is in there. lol just kidding. just use 20w-50.youll be fine.

IS it ok to mix oil? My concern is what if the oil thats already in there is syntehtic oil and I put the 20w-50 dino?? Or the opposite??

[sfgearhead]

mixing conventional and synthetic will be fine. i run synthetic but topped it off recently with a quart of conventional as that's all i had. my rational is it's better to be full of a blend than low with pure synthetic.

to be safe you could put in synthetic, but either will be fine.

[Louiseven]

Thank you,thank you very much!!!

[tonyroc14]

or you can just buy a quart of synthetic blend. It will be perfect for it. That's what i did before i changed my oil

[sfgearhead]

i did a "flush" on ours, i changed the oil with a basic conventional oil. ran it for a day or two, then changed again with synthetic. i'm not sure why in retrospect, just seemed like a good thing to do.

[FalconBMW]

i did a "flush" on ours, i changed the oil with a basic conventional oil. ran it for a day or two, then changed again with synthetic. i'm not sure why in retrospect, just seemed like a good thing to do.
Actually, it is a good thing to do. I forget exactly why, I'll have to ask my dad on that one.

I picked up some 20W 50 dino oil and after I get the engine back together I'm going to run that for a while to sort of break everything in (the head will be replaced with another used one and all of the gaskets will be replaced). After I drive it a couple hundred miles I'll do another oil change and put synthetic in.

[ladiesman217]

I flush mine every 15k by adding a quart of atf III and running it for a few minutes before an oil change... takes any/all the buildup out from using dino.

[John Q Public]

When I bought my Touring late last November it had just had an oil service. It is not yet time for an oil service but I do need to top off my oil a bit. Here is the question. I do not know what kind of oil is already in there? Dino or Synthetic? Is there a way to tell?? I do not have an owners manual yet so forgive my ignorance. What oil weight should I put into an M50 pre-vanos engine? Thanks


I run 5W50 fully synthetic in my M50...never had a problem...but it does have a little valve clatter for a few seconds on startup from the thinner oil if I haven't driven in several days...but it's what I use year round...thin enough for winter...thermal breakdown high enough for summer...