BMW oil consumption, oil/climate or OCI to blame?

[wolfestone]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

Are you talking about the plastic baffle at the top? If so, some red coating up there is normal - there just isn't enough oil splash there to wash it off, but condensation frequently occurs resulting in discoloration, regardless of what oil is used.


Yes, the same as the underside of the oil filler cap appears. Thanks for the info.


I've been looking over these UOAs:

Shanneba's BMW UOAs

and while I'm far from knowledgeable on this subject, it appears to me that there wasn't a clear/consistent 'best' between them. Some appeared to have more additive left at the end, and it didn't seem that any one significantly reduced a particular wear metal.

Is that a fair assumption? I'm sure there's far more involved in interpreting the data than I can imagine.

I'm hesitant to go with the gold GC just because the green was reportedly excellent, and the BMW 5w30 at least seems to be a known entity.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: wolfestone

I've been looking over these UOAs:

Shanneba's BMW UOAs

and while I'm far from knowledgeable on this subject, it appears to me that there wasn't a clear/consistent 'best' between them.

Yup. Basically, a $20 UOA is not a tool to be used to compare oils' performance. A UOA is good to determine if you have fuel leaks, coolant leaks, etc, or to do trending analysis to see if some value suddenly goes way out of line. That's about it.

 

[wolfestone]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for the clarification.

I've done some more looking around and The motul 8100 x-max 5w30 looked promising. Seems like it's a group IV/V blend, viscosity at 100C is about equal to the bmw oil, and it's LL01 approved from what I can tell. Any reason this would be a bad choice?

Is the specifications sheet for the various oils the best tool to base a decision on?

 

[sprintman]

That engine would not have BMW 5W30 in most countries outside the U.S, it would be XW40 usually M1 0W40 from stealership or indy. CAFE has a lot to answer for imo.

 

[f355spider]

Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy
First, tell us how you drive, such as, perhaps lots of short trips around town? With that few miles on the M54, does not sound like you do many long trips. If most of your trips are shorter ones, like 10 miles or less, I do not see a need for a heavier oil than BMW recommends.

Also, you should not need the LL-04 oil as it is more for the diesels that have the particulate filter. I would stick with an LL-01 oil and change every 7500 miles or one year for what I think your type of driving might be. GC would be a good choice, even though it is a 0W-30. Redline would be a fine choice as well, but does not have the LL-01 endorsement. The BMW oil is a good oil, but I don't think anyone should go the full distance BMW allows on any of these oils unless a large portion of the miles are interstate/non-severe use, and certainly not more than one year oil change intervals max.


+1 on this advice! I would simply have an "extra" oil change performed in between the factory provided "free" ones. So oil change every 7500 miles. Do that and you will be fine. If you want to be super cautious, you could have your first oil change performed at 1500 miles, that is the advice of the technician that writes in the BMW Club publication "Roundel". He also recommends changing the trans and diff at 1500 miles, just to get any initial break-in crude out. Then change those every 30k there after.

Seriously, one quart every 1400 miles is not a huge deal...but I admit my M62 motor in my 540 doesn't burn any oil, and I am at 144k miles. I have changed the synthetic oil and filter every 7500 miles since new.

 

[wolfestone]

I fully intend to do the break-in service at 1200 miles. I'll be using bmw 5w30 for that change and then probably switching to something else at around 5k.

I'm still not having much luck picking an oil.. seems to be so many pros/cons to each. I'm also stumped as to whether an xw30 or xw40 would be the better choice.

 

[sprintman]

0W40

 

[f355spider]

Originally Posted By: wolfestone
I fully intend to do the break-in service at 1200 miles. I'll be using bmw 5w30 for that change and then probably switching to something else at around 5k.

I'm still not having much luck picking an oil.. seems to be so many pros/cons to each. I'm also stumped as to whether an xw30 or xw40 would be the better choice.



I seriously doubt it will matter much. Use any synthetic xw-30 or xw-40 and change it and the filter every 7500 miles and you will be just fine. While under warranty I would continue to only use the BMW stuff or what ever meets their warranty requirements...as the BMW tech said, if they will let you use an LL-01, then use that over the LL-04.

 

[wolfestone]

So it it fair to say that proper break-in and lower OCI intervals are far more important than oil choice (assuming all oils are synthetic 5wX)?