Can I mix 2 different Castrol BMW LL01 oils?

Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
8
Location
Macon,GA, USA
I picked up a 120,000 mile 2009 328i over the summer with no service history. The dash said the oil was 35,000 miles old. I immediately changed it to the old style gold bottle Castrol Edge LL01 just to play it safe. The gold bottles 5 quarts go for $50 now. There was sludge around the drain plug. Now flash forward 5000 miles later and the car has not burned a drop! The car runs like new. I want to get the Walmart Castrol Edge black bottle LL01 for $24 this time. I have 3 quarts left over from the gold bottle. The car holds about 7 quarts. Can I mix the gold bottle LL01 with the black bottle LL01 oil? (Also, plan to send off sample to Blackstone this time)
 
Yes you can. But, current LL01 is irrelevant in N51/52 engines. Run Castrol 0W40, M1 0W40, Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W40. All better than Edge 5W40.
LL01 went through update in 2018 addressing needs of new generation of engines. You can run anything that has MB229.5.
 
Mix, there will be no issues. The only times you would see issues from mixing oils is if you mix Motor Oil and Gear oil in the crankcase, or if you mix motor oil with motor oil of API SA/SB/SC/SD/SE/SF/SG/SH rating. Otherwise there will be no issues.

There is a guy who purposely mixed 33 motor oils in his supercharged 500hp+ Range Rover, in the name of "science". There were no issues, virgin oil analysis and used oil analysis didn't raise any red flags either. And that vehicle still runs years later without any oil related issues.
 
That is a great car with a great engine-BMW’s last and finest naturally aspirated straight-six. With a I ran my ‘08 to 212k and sold it to my brother who loves it and takes same great care of it. I ran BMW OEM 5w30 until 130k then switched to Valvoline Euro then Total 5w40. 7-8k OCI was the sweet spot. Make sure you wind that thing out often enough, it needs it and it’s fun! Might buy it back from him when my kids get older!
 
Back
Top