Originally Posted By: gtmaster303
Originally Posted By: RonRock
So I went to the Local BMW thieves and got a filter. Surprisingly the parts dept. is decent and helpful. I paid 13.00 for the filter and talked with the guy about his thoughts on oil choices. His thoughts were pretty close to mine, and similar to most of the replies. Basically stick to a 5W-30 synthetic. As the BMW manual suggests.
So for this change I played it safe and went with Mobil 1 5W-30 synthetic and a BMW filter.
I had to get the oil changed ASAP, I told my wife I would do it Saturday.
But in my research here and at the local WalMart, I see the 0W-40 Mobil 1 for European Vehicles as well as the Castrol.
I nearly choose the Mobil 1 0W-40 but backed out considering the 5W-30 spec from BMW. So is the consensus here that I would be OK with the 0W-40? Or should I stick to the 5W-30 as specked?
As a bit more info, I will not wait for the 15K mileage limit for future oil changes. Now that I am responsible for the service, I plan to do more frequent oil changes. Still undecided on the mileage on that, but certainly less than 15K. Probably 5-10K, but open to suggestions. I'm pretty new to synthetic oils and the large mileage suggestions.
Still open to any advice,
Ron
I would be ok with running for 15k. Most new Jags now have a 20k interval and some Porsche cars as well. The oil itself hasn't changed. They all still use Mobil 1, just like they always have. Look at any used oil analysis and you'll see that oils can safely be run at the manufacturer interval and many times well beyond that, as long as they meet the specs.
I admire those of you that think you know better than multi-billion dollar car companies, but let's be honest here. These intervals aren't random numbers they just made up. They're also not designed to break your car. It may induce paranoia but I suspect that's more of a user issue
Just changed the oil on my Mercedes at 13k and both filter and oil looked great (pulled 2k miles early because I won't have time later) I will post pictures when I get a chance.
BMW recently revised the oil change interval to 10k miles or 1 year, down from 15k miles. You can be sure they didn't revise it down for no reason, since it hits them in the wallet. I think your trust in automakers is rather naïve. Like other manufacturers including Mercedes and Porsche, BMW has made their share of bad design decisions that cost them and/or their customers a lot of money. One of them is over ambitious oil change intervals intended to reduce life-cycle costs for warranty and leases. So what if the car wears out prematurely, the manufacturers couldn't care less.
OP, you should abide by the previous suggestions to use LL-01 oil with OE oil filter, as well as not exceeding the 10k mile / 1 year oil change interval. If you want to be cautious, get the oil tested by Blackstone.
FYI, I sold my last BMW with 188k kms on the odometer. I never added oil a single time the entire time I had it (over 110k kms). If you take care of your car, it will last a long time.