BMW e36 328is Winter Short Trips - Suggestions

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cutlassvillager

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I am a college student that lives close to campus. I have been using Mobil 1 0w-40 in my 1998 328is. I will be making many short trips (~1 mile/5-10 minute drive) to go to class this winter. Any suggestions on how to best protect my engine (oil, warmup, etc)?
I'm planning on idling the car for a few minutes (probably 5-10mins) each morning before class, but most likely not before trips to campus later in the day. Every few weeks I will be driving home which is about a two hour drive and about 115 miles. Should I stick with the Mobil 1 0w-40? Is letting the car warm up by idling in the morning not recommended? I do not mind taking it for a 20 minute trip every week to burn out extra fuel/condensation. I also do not mind changing the oil sooner than the OLM dictates.
 
I would stick with Mobil 1 0w-40.

I would skip the idling.

Do a used oil analysis to see if changing the oil more frequently is needed. Possibly, yes.
 
Yep, skip the idling, stick with Mobil 1 0W40 or GC.

I'd also suggest the following which will sound weird to some (particularly those without winter).

If you can do so from a safety perspective, turn off your HVAC on the short trip days. Or, if you have a full manual system set it for low fan speed, defrost vents only, no heat (cold temperature) to keep air moving over the windshield. You would be amazed how much faster an M52 (which I have) warms up without the heater fan blasting on full desperately trying to warm the occupants for a 5 minute drive.

With HVAC off I can drive just to Starbucks and back in dead winter and be at indicated 12:00 operating temperature. I know it's not actually full temp, and the oil isn't up to temp, but with the HVAC system on it would still be in the blue at the bottom of the gauge.

Maybe find a wing joint 10-15min away you can go to once a week in addition to your trips home and you're probably doing "OK".
 
I would warm it up as long as necessary to clear the windows. I warm up my fleet car sometimes close to an hour in the winter, clear windows are a must. Your 115 mile trip every few week will take care of everything. Focus on your studies. Change the oil every 6 months if it needs it or not.
 
Originally Posted By: scurvy
Walk to class instead of driving a mile, please.


+1000. You live "close to campus", which likely means you pay a premium for housing, and you want to drive why?

If you are overweight, walking is a great way to get it off.
 
Drop the idling, it kills your oil and the car will warm up much faster driving it anyhow. Start the car, let it come to your normal idle, take off. Shouldn't take more than a minute. Short trips are tough on a car and oil, idling would make it even worse. Pretty much the worst driving mileage you can do, lots of starts in the cold with lots of idling and a short trip where the cars oil doesn't come up to temp. These put you in the severe driving conditions.

If you can, try to get the car out on the weekends for a nice long highway drive if at all possible. Also, try to walk or something sometimes, especially if it's cold and you are going to drive a mile there and then a few hours later drive a mile back. That is brutal.

Keep the Mobil 1 0w40. Great oil. You could also try German Castrol 0w30. Both produce excellent results for your car and both are regularly on sales at parts stores with good oil filter combo's. Advance Auto has Mobil 1 with Mobil 1 Extended Performance filter for $33 right now. Grab you some 0w40. You can get the GC with filter combo cheaper usually, so you might want to go that route to save a bit of cash. Both oil's are excellent.
 
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Thanks for all the input so far. It has been very informative. I knew turning off the heat would improve warm up time, but I didn't know it made such a difference with the M52. I will make sure to take longer trips occasionally and I'm sure I will be driving to places other than just class.

I was anticipating comments like this:

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: scurvy
Walk to class instead of driving a mile, please.


+1000. You live "close to campus", which likely means you pay a premium for housing, and you want to drive why?

If you are overweight, walking is a great way to get it off.


I suppose I should have explained my situation. No, I am not overweight. I am an avid bike rider and understand the importance of exercise. The main entrance to campus is a winding road with no sidewalks and many students that don't understand the extra caution needed during winter driving. Oftentimes people get up to 60 MPH on this winding strip. I am a senior and have seen countless light poles taken out in the past three years, many of which were taken out even when the roads were dry. I would rather not be one of those unfortunate light poles. The other entrance is on the other side of campus and would be much longer than a mile walk. It is unfortunate that I don't feel comfortable walking to campus as I would rather not put my car through these hard conditions.
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
See if an oil pan heater or something else is doable so your car gets one "warm" start a day.

Agreed.

Don't idle your car just to warm it up. It'll worsen the contamination situation. The best you can do is pick an oil that flows REALLY well when cold, change it frequently, and try to take hour-long highway trips on weekends to boil off the contamination.

For your oil, I would strongly recommend RLI BioSyn SHP 0w-30. It has some of the best cold properties you can get. I used the older formulation in my S52 and it did extremely well, even with leaky injectors causing very high fuel dilution; the newer formulation, which you'd get if you ordered today, is even tougher with no compromises.

Here's a link to my used oil analysis with that oil, comparing it to some very high-end Euro oils: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/rli-biosyn-shp-0w-30-4760-mi-1996-bmw-m3.139300/ I switched to their 5w-40 HD to try to reduce my oil consumption and stretch out my oil change intervals, but if my driving patterns were like yours, I would have stuck with the 0w30 for sure. I've never seen anything that comes close.
 
Originally Posted By: scurvy
Walk to class instead of driving a mile, please.


Why would someone walk in the middle of winter when they own a car and pay all the associated expenses? Would you pay for sattelite TV and then connect your rabbit ears because you're only going to watch for 15 minutes? Do you only drive your car when it's a long trip? I don't understand comments like this and you're not the first to post one.
 
You guys keep mentioning not to let the car idle just to let the oil warm up. How is 2-3 min. of warm up time in those cold winter mornings going to hurt anything? Actually at below 0F the engine needs at least 4-5 min of warm up time.
 
Originally Posted By: pidster
Why would someone walk in the middle of winter when they own a car and pay all the associated expenses? Would you pay for sattelite TV and then connect your rabbit ears because you're only going to watch for 15 minutes? Do you only drive your car when it's a long trip?


Walking a mile is better for you. A mile is a short enough distance that it puts the car in 'soccer mom' ultra-severe duty but would be no issue to walk in all but the worst winter weather.

Your other analogies have no bearing on this situation because the OP was concerned about protecting his engine and recognizes one mile twice a day in winter is a torture test for oil. Does it torture your TV or satellite box to only have it on for 15 minutes? Of course not.

When I took the train to work or lived within a few miles of campus, I routinely went weeks without driving as it was possible to ride my bicycle or walk to get all my other chores or shopping done - and yes, I did save my car for the occasions when I had to go on a relatively longer trip.
 
Originally Posted By: moss
You guys keep mentioning not to let the car idle just to let the oil warm up. How is 2-3 min. of warm up time in those cold winter mornings going to hurt anything? Actually at below 0F the engine needs at least 4-5 min of warm up time.

During that time, the engine is running poorly and not warming up particularly quickly, and oil pressure is very low. The best way to warm it up is to get moving. Just start it up and drive (mildly, of course).
 
Originally Posted By: cutlassvillager
I was anticipating comments like this:

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: scurvy
Walk to class instead of driving a mile, please.


+1000. You live "close to campus", which likely means you pay a premium for housing, and you want to drive why?

If you are overweight, walking is a great way to get it off.


I suppose I should have explained my situation. No, I am not overweight. I am an avid bike rider and understand the importance of exercise. The main entrance to campus is a winding road with no sidewalks and many students that don't understand the extra caution needed during winter driving. Oftentimes people get up to 60 MPH on this winding strip. I am a senior and have seen countless light poles taken out in the past three years, many of which were taken out even when the roads were dry. I would rather not be one of those unfortunate light poles. The other entrance is on the other side of campus and would be much longer than a mile walk. It is unfortunate that I don't feel comfortable walking to campus as I would rather not put my car through these hard conditions.


You should address this problem to your university.
If they clear the road for cars, they should also clear the side (at least one side) for walkers.
If people drive too fast, they should also address this issue as they will be in part responsible if an accident happens.

You will soon be an active member of the community, so show them now that you are ready to the challenge.
Don't go to complain only, bring ideas to solve the problem, a cheap but efficient to counter the problem.
If it works well, it will look good on your resume, too.
 
Originally Posted By: Pesca
You should address this problem to your university.
If they clear the road for cars, they should also clear the side (at least one side) for walkers.
If people drive too fast, they should also address this issue as they will be in part responsible if an accident happens.

You will soon be an active member of the community, so show them now that you are ready to the challenge.
Don't go to complain only, bring ideas to solve the problem, a cheap but efficient to counter the problem.
If it works well, it will look good on your resume, too.

Agreed on all points. Very well said.
 
Originally Posted By: moss
Actually at below 0F the engine needs at least 4-5 min of warm up time.


And that's the root of the issue - you do not need ANY warm up time, and the more time the engine is running while idling it isn't making enough heat to actually warm up but you're getting all of the cold start wear. You need load in order to heat the engine up fast.

I have the same engine as the OP and when it's cold it will not warm up by idling. Get it moving and it's warm in two minutes.

Plus, the owner's manual says not to sit there and idle it but to drive gently.

Also - don't idle to "clear the windows". Buy an ice scraper.
 
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