BMW Z4 oil change

Pennzoil motor oil
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tennisdoc40

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My daughter uses my BMW 2006 Z4, and after purchasing tires, went to a local shop having a special on allignments. The car was overdue for a low milage oil change. Spoke to the owner who said they do a lot of BMW's and use Mobil 1. They used 5w30, instead of the the 0w40 I expected. They went by an Oil data sheet that showed BMW oil 5w30 is indicated. Then they told me that the difference between the two viscosities is minimal, and that as long as I wasn't racing, there would be no concern. Should I be concerned?
RJ
 
There are 5w30s suitable for this engine.
Mobil 1 ain't one of them.
If you believe BMW, this oil is not appropriate to this engine.
The difference between the kinematic viscosities might be minimal, but the difference in HTHS is large.
Maybe their data sheet said that BMW brand 5w30 is suitable?
This oil is made by Castrol and labeled as BMW oil.
It meets BMW's oil standard.
Mobil 1 5w30 doesn't, while Mobil 1 0W-40 does.
 
If you want to go by the book, then look for motor oils that are BMW Long Life approved. This is usually listed on the back of the bottle. My understanding is that the LL approval does not depend on a specific SAE grade. There are 0W30, 0W40, 5W30, and 5W40 oils that are all approved for the same engines. Here is a brief list:

http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/content/owner/syntheticengineoils.aspx

However, I personally would not worry too much about having Mobil 1 5W30 in your engine, even though it does not have BMW LL approval. Driven normally there shouldn't be big difference if any at all. Keep it for one OCI and then decide what's best for your engine.
 
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As long as you don't rev the engine to redline in every gear, or drive at triple digits for hours then Mobil 1 5W30 is okay for shorter OCI of around 6-7k miles.
 
Originally Posted By: tennisdoc40
I have about 5k miles until next scheduled oil change. Could there be damage in that time?


My understanding is that BMW is advocating very long oil change intervals, like 10-15,000 miles. The LL approval ensures that the oil is good for such long drains. While I am not sure if Mobil 1 5W30 will be performing at its best for 15,000 miles, 5,000 should be piece of cake for this oil IMO.
 
Originally Posted By: tennisdoc40
They used 5w30, instead of the the 0w40 I expected. They went by an Oil data sheet that showed BMW oil 5w30 is indicated.


Wow, way to misinterpret data. The BMW 5w30 is a way different animal than Mobil 1 5w30. Just because they have the same SAE grade does not make the Mobil 1 suitable for the application.

I'd go back and make them drain it and put in the proper spec oil.
 
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Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
As long as you don't rev the engine to redline in every gear, or drive at triple digits for hours



By the way, I wouldn't worry about driving at triple digits for hours if it's on a highway at a steady speed. I keep track of water temperature gauges. On the highway, it's always the same or much lower than driving in the city, even in triple digits. Stop and go at triple digit temperatures will result in higher temperatures, but not everyone has to deal with this on daily basis.
 
How many miles total will the car have on the Mobil 1 5w30?
If the car isn't driven hard and doesn't sit in heavy traffic every afternoon, my opinion is that the oil won't cause any harm in 7K miles of use or so.
I'd probably not run it for the full allowable term of the Maintenance Minder.
There was a now-banned member here who posted a number of used oil analysis of mainly VAG turbo engines, VW also having their own demanding oil spec, that had been run on ordinary API spec oils, similar to Mobil 1 5w30.
If it makes you feel any better, these used oil analysis showed consistently good results.
 
The 5-30 is not a problem for your engine, but 0-40 would be my choice. My son in law uses Mobil 1 10w30 in their MB and changes every 10K. The engine now has 90K and runs great.
 
0W-40 would be the choice of either BMW or Mercedes as well, assuming that the owner wanted to use an Mobil 1 oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Zako2
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
As long as you don't rev the engine to redline in every gear, or drive at triple digits for hours



By the way, I wouldn't worry about driving at triple digits for hours if it's on a highway at a steady speed. I keep track of water temperature gauges. On the highway, it's always the same or much lower than driving in the city, even in triple digits. Stop and go at triple digit temperatures will result in higher temperatures, but not everyone has to deal with this on daily basis.

A steady speed of 80-90MPH on highway for hours is easy on engine, water and oil, but when you drive 100-150MPH for hours like they do on Germany Autobahn, then you need a slightly thicker oil such as Mobil 1 0W40.
 
There is a lot of things I don't like here.

Being overdue for a low mileage oil change.

Not using Mobil 1 0w40

Come on tennisdoc40, get your act together.
 
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One month overdue for an oil change on a 15 k oci and I need to get my act together? I had expected the owner of the shop to use 0w 40, hence my post asking for advice.
Please check your grammer and tone for this site.
 
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