Interesting Reading about BMW OIL facts long

[M13]

Luckily my "winter" weather is approx 55 degrees F. so I can run 15w50 all year round.

Where did you buy your oil?

[Zaks]

Luckily my "winter" weather is approx 55 degrees F. so I can run 15w50 all year round.

Where did you buy your oil?

i bought it at a local autostore (murray's) i was going to buy the european formula 5w40 from amsoil but they wanted like $20-30 for shipping on an $80 order so i said screw them

[M13]

Chit, I should of asked earlier. How much for the oil?


Thread stealing over here.

[Zaks]

Chit, I should of asked earlier. How much for the oil?


Thread stealing over here.

haha i think it was about $6/qt i know it was no more than $7 and no less than $5.50 haha... can't exactly remember since i was looking at 10 other things for prices. i'm almost sure it was about $6.30 though

[M13]

Good to know, thx!

[gsxrrider43]

well i'm putting castrol syntec 10w 40 in mine. It's a happy frickn medium and no one could give me a straight answer. I will try the 15w15 next and just run 5w30 in the winter. Everyone has their own opinions and no one has had a straight answer of what specs are. The castrol syntec 10w40 indicates on the back that it is for BMW applications and is that whole asce a-3 and b-3 certified. I was told to look for that and I did. I was given recomendations for not to put anything lighter than 5w30 and nothing heavier than 15w40. So we'll see. If any one has any enlightenment I would be much appreciated. I am always open to suggestion. It's a 93 325is w/111,000

[paul e]

Dont forget, you guys who live in the northern tier, you can mix a qt and a half of M1 0w-40, also a ACEA A3 rated oil, wiht 5 qts of your M1 15W-50, and have an oil you can run 12 mos a year with no problems. Or, the Syntec 10W-40 would be a similarly good compromise.

[gsxrrider43]

Thank you Paul!!! I appreciate that. I had so many different people and dealers saying 6 different things and just got me no where. So thank you for the advice and the reassurance i'm puting the right thing in.

[paul e]

Thank you Paul!!! I appreciate that. I had so many different people and dealers saying 6 different things and just got me no where. So thank you for the advice and the reassurance i'm puting the right thing in.

Sure.. glad to help.. Im running that blend here and its almost as cold here as it is where you are.. The nice thing about synthetics is that theyre much more forgiving than dyno oils, and cover a much wider spectrum of conditions. Its much harder to make a 'mistake' with synthetics.. So use the blend I suggested all year round and youll be fine. I dont know how often you like to change your oil, but what you can do is change your filter every 5k miles, and at that time, take a small sample of the oil and send it off to Blackstone labs for an analysis.. Synthetics last alot longer than regular oils, especially the Mobil 1 long life stuff. Many people get 15k miles out of it with no indication that it needs changing. Just keep changing the filter and sampling the oil at 5k mile intervals, til you find out when its starting to degrade. Then youll convince yourself that all is ok.. If not, just change it according to the bmw srvc interval schedule.. thats about once every 10k miles on my M3. good luck...

[document]

I'll take "Family Guy" references for $300, Alex.

(A variation on the talking car from the "There's Something About Paulie" episode)

Family Guy reference? Not quite: In the US, you check out books at the library. In ... the US ... library checks out YOU! Sigh.

[pas]

Is Amsoil series 2000 0W-30 carry the ACEA A3 rating ?

Yes. I've been using it (Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30) for years, including on the track at several DE's per year. It is ACEA A3 and has a kinematic viscosity @100C of 11.2. Never had a single problem, no lifter tick, and does not burn any oil that I can measure. Note that I do have the Euro GT dual pick-up oil pump and the LTW oil pan.

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/tso.aspx

AMSOIL Series 2000 Synthetic 0W-30 Motor Oil meets or exceeds the engine protection requirements of all domestic and foreign gasoline and diesel engines specifying the following:

* API SL/CF, SJ, SH
* ILSAC GF-2, GF-3
* ACEA A1/B1, A2/B2, A3/B3
* Chrysler MS-6395M
* Ford WSS-M2C-913A/B
* GM 4718M, 6094M
* VW 502.00 (HTHS is 3.4)
* DaimlerChrysler 229.5, 229.3
* JASO VTW

[steve99m3]

Oooh, can you sell me some AMSOIL as well?

All of us are probably changing our oil more often then necessary and aren't too worried about maximizing our fuel economy - with that in mind, nearly any modern engine oil is going to do.

[bmwpowere36m3]

Hey guys, I've been reading a bunch of this. Honestly I think you guys make a bigger deal out of the oil than it needs to be...Unless you're tracking the car and putting it thru hell. It really doesn't matter what oil you use.

Just stick with name brands and pick the viscosity that is required. Thats it. I had a '90 Mercedes 300E that ran dino 10W-40 and it has 220,000miles and still runs strong. I do believe that synthetic is better, but not if your vehicle has high mileage...because usually then it burns a lot of oil.

For my M3 now, i'm running Pentosin Pentosynth 5W-40:

• API SJ/CF, ACEA A3/B3,
• BMW Special oil list
• Porsche
• VW 502.00/505.00
• DaimlerChrysler MB 229.1

My dad runs this at his shop for all the newer Mercedes, so thats what I use in my M.

[paul e]

I agree, that we tend to make too big a deal about this in general.. However, folks like me with either a Supercharger or a Turbo, both of which are cooled and lubricated by the engine oil place a great deal more stress on the oil than the engine does, plus they run hotter. So, we tend to demand synthetic only for a good reason..

[cockerkiller68]

I've been running Redline 75w90 for a year now. No noise at all.....in the rear end.

I use Castol Synthetic all year round. Pretty quiet

[JETninja]

Shell Rotella T 5-40 Synth.....like Delvac 1, came from the Trucking industry. My Passat 1.8T loved it and so does my 115K mile M3. Engine is silent, I go about 7K between changes. (drive 70 highway miles a day) I buy it in 4qt Jugs at Walmart. 2 of them give me a 1qt overfill. Been doing it like that for a year.

Before Rotella T, been using Mobil 1 since 1977 in all my bikes and cars. Still use it actually in our '01 Honda Ody Minivan.....

[pas]

Oooh, can you sell me some AMSOIL as well?

No, I don't sell it nor do I care a whit if anyone buys the stuff.

All of us are probably changing our oil more often then necessary and aren't too worried about maximizing our fuel economy - with that in mind, nearly any modern engine oil is going to do.

Possibly, but physics is (generally) physics. Better lubrication and thermal management is better for your car engine. One can argue the short-term effects, but the long-term effects are fact. I bother researching this stuff a bit and making an effort to approach such decisions with the intention of keeping my car for a long time. YMMV

[The Letter M]

I've been using ELF oil now for a while & I may use it again when I change it again soon, but it meets all the BMW specs for oil, it's also not cheap, but nothing good is.

[steve99m3]

Possibly, but physics is (generally) physics. Better lubrication and thermal management is better for your car engine. One can argue the short-term effects, but the long-term effects are fact. I bother researching this stuff a bit and making an effort to approach such decisions with the intention of keeping my car for a long time. YMMV

That's fair. I actually work in the lubricants business, so I'm trying to give my impartial input. Sorry if I came across wrong, but I get really tired of reading all the sh!t stuff that accompanies most AMSOIL posts...

FWIW, I am not minimizing the extreme and important differences that can be gained by using a true* synthetic oil as compared to a conventional oil. I use synthetics.

*By true synthetic, I mean an oil using Group IV or Group V basestocks.

[pas]

That's fair. I actually work in the lubricants business, so I'm trying to give my impartial input. Sorry if I came across wrong, but I get really tired of reading all the sh!t stuff that accompanies most AMSOIL posts...

FWIW, I am not minimizing the extreme and important differences that can be gained by using a true* synthetic oil as compared to a conventional oil. I use synthetics.

*By true synthetic, I mean an oil using Group IV or Group V basestocks.

No worries. The whole Amsoil thing begins to strike me as a cult, or at least a pyramid scheme at some point. It is so hard to get real info, and as I'm sure you know, one of the few ways to do it is pour through the SAE journals and other trade journals. I happen to work at research laboratory that has access to basically every journal known to humankind and took some lunchtimes to read up on some stuff. Definately agree with the "true synthetic" definition and also don't discount the fact that some folks could get more miles out of their oil, but to really track it, of course, they'd need to get some analyses done through several seasons.

One thing that gets me is that my M3 is basically used for DE's so I put very few miles on it per year - thus my main concern is time and moisture issues versus wear as the parameters that drive oil changes. So far, so good.

[ebolamonkey]

Oooh, can you sell me some AMSOIL as well?

All of us are probably changing our oil more often then necessary and aren't too worried about maximizing our fuel economy - with that in mind, nearly any modern engine oil is going to do.

I'll sell you some @ around dealer cost.

i bought it at a local autostore (murray's) i was going to buy the european formula 5w40 from amsoil but they wanted like $20-30 for shipping on an $80 order so i said screw them

If you want some oil I'll be happy to give you some @ around dealer cost as well. No stupid "try to profit off of shipping" nonsense.

[steve99m3]

Oooh, can you sell me some AMSOIL as well?

I'll sell you some @ around dealer cost.

Sorry, guy, but your sarcasm meter must be broken.

[zeta4]

Seeing this thread made me look up an article I read in the Race Engine Technology mag written by a specialist about Lubricating Oils and begins by explaining some basics.The definitions of Group III and Group IV are as described in the original post but he does say a couple of intersting things.

First although he says Grp IV base (Polyalphaolefin) stocks are potentially superior to Grp III its not that simple. Some very well refined GRPIIIs are almost as good as GRPIV as has been said. However the additive package that can make up to 25% of the oil is very important and for instance additives that clean the oil and additives that provide anti wear protection can compete with each other with the anti wear loosing out if too much of the detergent additive is used. So in this instance an oil intended for a high performance engine may not be as good for Long Life. This is the sort of thing that is covered in the oil specifications and backs up what has been said about the specs being the most important thing rather than whether an oil is true synthetic or not.

An interesting point he raises when discussing GrpIV base oils is that these oils are nowhere as good as GrpIII oils in providing the small amount of oil seal swelling neccesary in such things as crankshaft seals. He said that up to 15% of organic esters are added to mitigate the worst of these effects but are still not quite as good as GRPIII.

In the end he says it all comes down to price and in general the most expensive oil will have the best base stock, and the best additive package.

As to viscosity there was a detailed explanation of the various kinds of lubricating conditions existing in an engine which was understandably complicated. However one key point I got out of it was that engine bearings particularly big end bearings are the area most sensitive to oil viscosity. The engine would have been designed with a particular viscosity range in mind ie bearing clearances and oil pump capacity versus friction losses. In other words listen to what the manufacturer says.

I hope I have understood the article correctly and I hope it provides a bit more information. Interestingly I use Valvoline Synpower 5W-40 on recommendation from my Indie who has used it in his racing M3. But looking at the specs as suggested in the article Mobil 1 0W- 40 looks to be a better oil but not by much.

[ebolamonkey]

What sarcasm?

[gtx510]

German Castrol Syntec (GC) 0W30 > Mobil 1 0W40
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/...ubb=forum;f=51
look ^here^


Valvoline Synpower and most Castrol Syntec are GrpIII, hydrocracked dino oils.


PAO's cause seals to shrink, ester oils (GrpV) cause seals to swell.
Esters are polar so they cling to metal and they also clean well.
Motul and Redline are mostly ester.


www.auto-rx.com is a natural ester oil. It cleans the inside of your engine.