Oil question

[slamtry]

I have a 1995 E36 convertible with 130,000 miles and I live in Santa Monica so the air temp is basically between 50 and 75 degrees 99% of the time. I need to do an oil change. Could I use Mobil 1 0W-20 or would that be bad for the car in some way. I have a friend who has a bunch of the stuff and will give it to me for nothing. I'd love to save a buck as money is tight and the car is not my daily driver (That would be an old Harley Sportster). It gets maybe 1500 miles a year. S0, would this stuff be okay or should I stick to 10W30?

Dan

[E36328Coupe]

Slippy oils can make old or high mileage engines rattley. I'd go 10W40 Semi as I do on my 231K mile 328

[LightningBMW]

0w-20 is way to thin I personally use moly 5w-40 synth but anything LL-01 approved is good to use in these. But at 1500 miles a year I’d just use 10w-40 semi synth like 328coupe is suggesting.

[tjm3]

LightningBMW has good info, but I would go with the 5W-40 full time. With low expected mileage and infrequent startups the 5W will circulate a bit faster after a long wait between starts.
Also, go with the BMW LL01 rated oils. Why? Might as well just stick with the oils that have the additives that BMW likes to have circulating in there.

[Eric93se]

Your car is meant for 40w oil, do not go lower it will not protect the bearings as well. A lot of people foolishly use 30w oil because that is what bmw originally put in the car, but that was a special oil that had a very high viscosity for a 30w, you cannot buy that same oil anymore. To get anywhere near what bmw put in the car you would have to use a 40w oil. Because you don't have cold winter you should definitely go with something like a 10w40, get full syn because it's cheap and less likely to leave deposits, a 5w-40 would be fine as well.

[E36328Coupe]

^ This

Your cars are built as a point in time, stationary. Oil improvements aren't necessarily good because they will not be fully tested but when an old car breaks they just say "it's old"

[slamtry]

I looked up 10W-40 on Amazon and all they seem to have in that weight is expensive motorcycle oil. What's a reasonably priced 10W-40 weight oil? Do I need to go synthetic since I am only doing 1500 miles a year?

[scooper]

Get some castrol edge or motul euro synthetic. API says group 3 oils here can be labeled full synthetic which they are not. Synthetics needs to be group 4 or 5.

[Eric93se]

There should be Castrol Edge at walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/search/?cat_...hProductResult

[myblackcar]

Go to Costco and get a 12 case of 10W40 for $36 or $27 when it is on sale.

Otherwise, go to Walmart as others mentioned.

[slamtry]

At Costco round here the price is $38 and that buys you a case of 6 not 12. Big price difference. Amazon has the Rotella T6 5W-40 for $20 a gallon, so forty bucks would leave me a quart or so for top-ups. May go that route. Alternatively, since the car doesn't get driven I may just find some dino oil in 10W-40. It just has to get me through a smog check this week.

[E36328Coupe]

He does few enough miles to suck up the cost to best protect engine.

[jmo69]

There is nothing in the manual that says you need synthetic oil in an e36. If you are on a budget but 2 gallons of Shell Rotella 15w-40 diesel oil. Either the fill Dino or synthetic blend, if nothing else it will keep your engine extra clean. It's $20/gal around here with coupons available for rebates and specials in some of the big box store occasionally. A local home improvement store here has the Dino for $13/gal and $15/gallon for the blend.