BMW LL 17FE+ Oil

[TomYoung]

Without getting into the merits of whether BMW has it right in specifying the 0 W 20 grade, I am still wondering if my perceptions are correct. On the "newish" BMW 2.0 Twinpower cars, you can use LL 01, LL 04 or the LL 17. The LL 17 is what you get when you go to the dealer, at least in my experience. If you want LL 17 sourced from Amazon, you have only three choices: Triax Euro Ultra, Liqui Moly 6600 or Valvoline Euro. Maybe, sometimes, you can find BMW oil also.

From what I can tell on BITOG, many folks are using the older LL 01/04 specced oils, where there are many, many more choices. Still others seem to get through the warranty period, and be quite content that other oils that do not have the BMW specs are fine, or even better. A few others will pay the delivery charge to someone else, and pay very high prices for, say Ravenol or Motul oils.

I wonder if the German makers have propagated too many standards, the oil companies can't keep up. Or are we in an age of such sophistication that you need a very specific oil for a very specific engine?

 

[kschachn]

Without getting into the merits of whether BMW has it right in specifying the 0 W 20 grade, I am still wondering if my perceptions are correct. On the "newish" BMW 2.0 Twinpower cars, you can use LL 01, LL 04 or the LL 17. The LL 17 is what you get when you go to the dealer, at least in my experience. If you want LL 17 sourced from Amazon, you have only three choices: Triax Euro Ultra, Liqui Moly 6600 or Valvoline Euro. Maybe, sometimes, you can find BMW oil also.

Which ones have an actual BMW approval?

 

[TomYoung]

Which ones have an actual BMW approval?

They all state the specification on the label, but on some thread I saw that Triax was questionable. I plan on going with Liqui Moly, and am pretty sure it's solid, along with Valvoline.

 

[kschachn]

They all state the specification on the label, but on some thread I saw that Triax was questionable. I plan on going with Liqui Moly, and am pretty sure it's solid, along with Valvoline.

It's not just questionable. "State the specification on the label" is a lot different than "has the approval".

 

[mattwithcats]

LIQUI MOLY 22046 Oil | RockAuto

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[BMWTurboDzl]

Without getting into the merits of whether BMW has it right in specifying the 0 W 20 grade, I am still wondering if my perceptions are correct. On the "newish" BMW 2.0 Twinpower cars, you can use LL 01, LL 04 or the LL 17. The LL 17 is what you get when you go to the dealer, at least in my experience. If you want LL 17 sourced from Amazon, you have only three choices: Triax Euro Ultra, Liqui Moly 6600 or Valvoline Euro. Maybe, sometimes, you can find BMW oil also.

From what I can tell on BITOG, many folks are using the older LL 01/04 specced oils, where there are many, many more choices. Still others seem to get through the warranty period, and be quite content that other oils that do not have the BMW specs are fine, or even better. A few others will pay the delivery charge to someone else, and pay very high prices for, say Ravenol or Motul oils.

I wonder if the German makers have propagated too many standards, the oil companies can't keep up. Or are we in an age of such sophistication that you need a very specific oil for a very specific engine?

The B-series engines (Production date beginning around 2015) were always developed to use 20w oils but older specifications were also acceptable in markets such as Europe. In addition, for this engine family BMW chose to use polymer coated bearings (IROX) to significantly reduce start/stop wear. Start/stop reduces fuel consumption.

Since 2015 a lot has changed. First is the move to ULSG in 2020/21. CAFE requirements ((see link HERE)) continues to be important and automakers don't want to get in trouble with regulators so they're not going to recommend oils which differ from those which were used to certify the vehicle with regards to Fuel Consumption. Thirdly (BMW Specific) is that there's a chance that BMW is now shipping cars to the US with OPF (Confirmation required)

As older vehicles which rely on older specs are retired form service so will the oils which support them.

 

[Ed_Flecko]

Blauparts has: https://bit.ly/3ZucRxz that carry the specification you're interested in.

Ed

 

[TomYoung]

It's not just questionable. "State the specification on the label" is a lot different than "has the approval".

This was an eye-opener. Only Liqui-Moly has the approval. Valvoline says their oil is "recommended" and Triax says "meets specifications and approvals." These carefully parsed words are a little shocking, but so is BMW's propagation of a standard that so few can, or choose to, meet.

 

[chris719]

This was an eye-opener. Only Liqui-Moly has the approval. Valvoline says their oil is "recommended" and Triax says "meets specifications and approvals." These carefully parsed words are a little shocking, but so is BMW's propagation of a standard that so few can, or choose to, meet.

It's somewhat new and BMW is selling their own oil so probably less incentive to formulate it.

 

[TomYoung]

It's somewhat new and NA market only.

2017, and it's not like they don't churn out those 3 series cars!

 

[chris719]

2017, and it's not like they don't churn out those 3 series cars!

Yeah sorry I misread and also thought I clicked the LL22FE++ thread.

 

[greenleaf]

This was an eye-opener. Only Liqui-Moly has the approval. Valvoline says their oil is "recommended" and Triax says "meets specifications and approvals." These carefully parsed words are a little shocking, but so is BMW's propagation of a standard that so few can, or choose to, meet.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Without getting into the merits of whether BMW has it right in specifying the 0 W 20 grade, I am still wondering if my perceptions are correct. On the "newish" BMW 2.0 Twinpower cars, you can use LL 01, LL 04 or the LL 17. The LL 17 is what you get when you go to the dealer, at least in my experience. If you want LL 17 sourced from Amazon, you have only three choices: Triax Euro Ultra, Liqui Moly 6600 or Valvoline Euro. Maybe, sometimes, you can find BMW oil also.

From what I can tell on BITOG, many folks are using the older LL 01/04 specced oils, where there are many, many more choices. Still others seem to get through the warranty period, and be quite content that other oils that do not have the BMW specs are fine, or even better. A few others will pay the delivery charge to someone else, and pay very high prices for, say Ravenol or Motul oils.

I wonder if the German makers have propagated too many standards, the oil companies can't keep up. Or are we in an age of such sophistication that you need a very specific oil for a very specific engine?

The standards are a reflection of the markets in which they do business.. . Each market has unique emissions/FE goals, operating environments (fuel quality, Autobahn speeds, climate) and differ in terms of availability of cost effective lubricants which are available to the customer.

The US market is focused on fuel economy and the specialty lubricants are cheap for the consumer to acquire.

Europe over the last 2-3 yrs has just began moving towards recommending 20w and lighter oils for some of the German makes.