BMW M57 - Gas or HDEO oil?

[Ptm121]

All,

I have recently acquired a BMW X5 with the M57 diesel. It makes north of 350/500 on the current (mild) tune. It’s a family car and gets only moderate abuse of the skinny pedal. I do tow occasionally, usually pretty heavy. I live in the northeast US and see ambient temps from -10F to +90F regularly.

I run M1 5W40 Euro in my gassers. It would be nice to use this oil in my M57, and it seems like a reasonable choice. Would you suggest doing so, or would I be better off with a diesel-specific oil in the same weight range?

I run relatively short OCIs on most of my vehicles, and was planning on 5,000 miles for this one.

Thanks in advance,

-Phil

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The M1 5w40 Euro will probably be fine in your X5. Most Euro oils are rated for both gas and diesel.

 

[Sam_Julier]

Any oil that meets the M57 specification: LL-04. Lots to choose from.

 

[JavierH19]

Either is fine but the higher ash hdeo and m1 5w-40 could be an issue if it burns oil since that 5w-40 has the older non dpf vw 505 and Mercedes 229.5 ratings

I'd stick to euro oil and specifically this calls for ll-04 but any equivalent low saps diesel from another euro brand is fine to use and that would be vw 507 and Mercedes 229.51 or .52 will work in place of ll-04.

Vw 505 and mb 229.5 which is what m1 5w-40 is rated for is meant for non dpf diesels but if it doesn't burn or at least more than a small amount it's not an issue to use it.

If it does burn a lot or you want to preserve the dpf use something low saps like M1 ESP 0/5w-30 which walmart has on shelves. ESP 5w-40 can be used too.

 

[edyvw]

All,

I have recently acquired a BMW X5 with the M57 diesel. It makes north of 350/500 on the current (mild) tune. It’s a family car and gets only moderate abuse of the skinny pedal. I do tow occasionally, usually pretty heavy. I live in the northeast US and see ambient temps from -10F to +90F regularly.

I run M1 5W40 Euro in my gassers. It would be nice to use this oil in my M57, and it seems like a reasonable choice. Would you suggest doing so, or would I be better off with a diesel-specific oil in the same weight range?

I run relatively short OCIs on most of my vehicles, and was planning on 5,000 miles for this one.

Thanks in advance,

-Phil

Mobil1 ESP 0W40 X4, regardless whether you have DPF or not.

 

[Ptm121]

Mobil1 ESP 0W40 X4, Motul X-Clean 5W40 GEN2.
Do you still have DPF and SCR installed?

I am not concerned about a low-SAPs oil to save the DPF.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

All,

I have recently acquired a BMW X5 with the M57 diesel. It makes north of 350/500 on the current (mild) tune. It’s a family car and gets only moderate abuse of the skinny pedal. I do tow occasionally, usually pretty heavy. I live in the northeast US and see ambient temps from -10F to +90F regularly.

I run M1 5W40 Euro in my gassers. It would be nice to use this oil in my M57, and it seems like a reasonable choice. Would you suggest doing so, or would I be better off with a diesel-specific oil in the same weight range?

I run relatively short OCIs on most of my vehicles, and was planning on 5,000 miles for this one.

Thanks in advance,

-Phil

The European oil certs for light duty passenger vehicles are intended for both gas and diesel. Oils with BMW LL04 approval are suitable for your engine due to the emissions system. These are ACEA C3 oils.
M1 ESP in 30 or 40 grade and Pennzoil Euro L 5w30 are readily available. The ESP in 40 grade does have LL04 but it's not that relevant in your case being that it also has Mercedes Benz, VW/Porsche approvals.

Personally I would opt for a 40 grade (M1 ESP 0w40) because you can buy it at Walmart

There are other brands like Motul, Redline, HPL, Amsoil which are more expensive.

 

[Ptm121]

I can’t find much information on the differences between ESP and European Formula, other than the ESP is “designed for particulate filters” and is much more expensive.

What is the advantage of running ESP in the M57? Less carbon on the intake and valves?

Is it actually a better oil all-around which I should/could be running in my M54 gassers? I see it’s used in Porsche and Vette motors which certainly indicates it’s probably good stuff.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I can’t find much information on the differences between ESP and European Formula, other than the ESP is “designed for particulate filters” and is much more expensive.

What is the advantage of running ESP in the M57? Less carbon on the intake and valves?

Is it actually a better oil all-around which I should/could be running in my M54 gassers? I see it’s used in Porsche and Vette motors which certainly indicates it’s probably good stuff.

Basically ESP and other ACEA Cx oils are designed for use with ULSD/ULSG. FS (ACEA Ax/Bx) is designed for use with high sulfur fuels. IMO oil companies are putting more effort into developing Cx oils because both gas and petrol vehicles sold in the US, EU, UK etc. are equipped with DPF/OPF.

LL04(C3) oils have to meet the same performance requirements as LL01(A3/B4). This is true throughout the brands.

The US moved to ULSG around 2020 which is why all the euro brands use a Cx oil.

Per BMW you can use LL04 in your M54. LL04 came out in the mid 2000's when the EU moved to ULSD/ULSG.

 

[Ptm121]

Gotcha, that’s a good, clear explanation. I was missing the move to ULSD with the (related) roll-out of DPFs, and hadn’t thought of the other oil changes which might be beneficial to an engine running ULSD.

My impression - which it sounds like was wrong - is that LL04 oils might be marginally worse at wear protection than LL01, because the DPF-safe additive packages were somewhat worse.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Gotcha, that’s a good, clear explanation. I was missing the move to ULSD with the (related) roll-out of DPFs, and hadn’t thought of the other oil changes which might be beneficial to an engine running ULSD.

My impression - which it sounds like was wrong - is that LL04 oils might be marginally worse at wear protection than LL01, because the DPF-safe additive packages were somewhat worse.

An A3/B4 product has excess capacity to handle acidic byproducts because it's being used with ULSG/ULSD so you could run it longer than the 13k oci on your M57.

Back during the transition around 2004 there was talk that the C3x oil would exhibit some degree of higher wear at the tail end of engine life although it was never quantified. The source was third party hearsay. That was over 20 yrs ago and additive packages along with base stock composition have changed. Plus automaker's continually revise approvals. For example Mercedes Benz and BMW revised all their approvals in 2022.
https://360.lubrizol.com/Resources/Relative-Performance-Tools

Another thing who cares if one engine dies at 350k miles and another at 340k miles when the car has been junked because the piezoelectric injectors cost thousands of dollars, or it needs new turbos.

 

[Ptm121]

Makes sense. This engine has 97k on it now and appears to be in great shape. I’d love to get 300k out of it, but honestly the rest of the vehicle will probably be a mess by 200-250k given the dirt roads and salt around here.

I would like to not have a filthy engine which needs the intake ports blasted every 60k miles, so running a cleaner oil made for ULSD makes sense. I’ll see if Wal-Mart the ESP here. Being able to extend the OCI would be good… I know 5k was very conservative, and even doing a (still very short by modern standards) 7,500 mile interval would offset the additional cost. Not that it’s critical, but it makes me feel better about the expense