2003 BMW M5-Unknown oil 2500 mi

[Audios]

I was unsure what the previous owner ran since every oil change reciept had no details and it was only 85$, which seems very cheap for 10/60. He also had a quart of 5/30 from BMW in the trunk, and a few records of buying a quart here or there from them with 5/30. I guess I shouldve left it in. Ive read the millions of threads on the weight, Ill probably just drain out the 5/40 with 150 miles on it and put the 10/60 back in.

 

[oil_film_movies]

That's a xw-50 weight. With only 2,500 miles, it shouldn't have oxidized enough to rise much if any, so I'm thinking it's not an xw-40, although it's close to being a very thick-side xw-40.
16.2 cSt is the upper limit for an xw-40, and yours was 16.5. It's possible Blackstone is off a little on their measurement though.

 

[2heeldrive]

I would strongly recommend changing the oil as soon as you get a used car. Even one from a dealer. You just never know what oil and filter are in there.

I bought a used BMW a few years ago that had a glovebox full of oil change receipts from a local garage that had been changing the oil every 3000 miles. I noticed that the oil and filter had just been changed... so I left it in a while. I changed it a few thousand miles later and when I pulled the oil filter out (cartridge type) it clearly had not been changed in years. There was so much dirt and sludge packed into it the pleats were not even visible. It was just a big dirty lump. Needless to say, I was really unhappy and swore that I would never trust an oil change to anyone else again.

That garage changed him $18.00 for an oil filter every 3000 miles... and just pocketed it. Makes me wonder what else they didn't bother to do... probably used the cheapest oil they could find too. I wonder if he is still taking his cars there?

 

[oil_film_movies]

twoheeldrive, Wow, that is sadly a typical story we hear far too many times.

 

[OVERKILL]

I ran M1 0w-40 in mine. Up here, the S62 post 03/00 called for LL-01, so I wouldn't stress about 10W-60, the same in Germany, FWIW.

 

[Audios]

People have linked a bulletin from 2010 saying that 10/60 is the recommended weight for all non turbocharged M cars after 1999. But the fact that people have been running lesser weights for 10 years I think any problems would have showed.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by Audios
People have linked a bulletin from 2010 saying that 10/60 is the recommended weight for all non turbocharged M cars after 1999. But the fact that people have been running lesser weights for 10 years I think any problems would have showed.


Exactly. I don't think the S62 is overly hard on oil, IIRC, the original reason for it being spec'd for 10w-60 was to reduce consumption, which didn't work, hence the ring redesign for post 03/00 cars. It was at that juncture that Canada, Germany and probably everywhere else in Europe did the split on which oil for which, I believe it was only the US that kept 10w-60 across the board.

I recall a few years ago if you used the Mobil oil selector and pretended you were in Germany, you would get told to run their 0w-40 and the verbiage was "your car calls for an oil carrying LL-01". Of course now their FS 0w-40 doesn't carry LL-01, but Castrol 0w-40 does as do a few others.