Considering change from M1 - seeking opinion

[bobo]

I have a 95 Maxima with the VQ engine. It has less than 102,000 mostly highway kilometres on it (63,000 miles) and I've owned it since day 1.

Following an AutoRX clean and rinse, I recently switched from dino oil (mostly Castrol GTX 5w30) to Esso XD3 0w30 full synthetic which I intend to run year round with a 12-month OCI.

The climate at the coast of British Columbia where I live is milder than where you live.

You should be able to extend your OCI to 12 months with the XD3 and it then becomes a question of which weight to use - 0w30 or 0w40.

Buy the oil direct from the nearest Esso bulk plant. There is no need to pick it up at WalMart and I believe they do not stock the 0w30.

 

[orics]

I think you can run M1 0w40 in the winter w/out worries and use Amsoil 5w40 in the summer months. This oils are very good they are ACEA A3/B3 rated and BMW LL 98/01 approved. My car is a 04 BMW X3 and this combination really works good for me as substitute for my free OCI of the dealer's BMW 5w30.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Take a ride to the states (NY) & buy Pennzoil Platinum. The folks at the border will tell you how much volume you can buy without declaring it.

 

[Idrinkmotoroil]

I'm going to try some Amsoil next, I've been running Mobil1, although everything runs fine I am getting a bit tired of seeing this oil disappear in higher volumes in the past year. The thought of my engine consuming oil irritates me, so I'm hoping the Amsoil won't disappear as much, given it's very low Noak numbers. I'd also recommend Redline if you can get it for a decent price, it is a fair bit more expensive than other oils up here so I'm not ready to use it for daily driving purposes, although I have used it for road course racing.

 

[bobo]

quote:

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Originally posted by Idrinkmotoroil:
I'm going to try some Amsoil next, I've been running Mobil1, although everything runs fine I am getting a bit tired of seeing this oil disappear in higher volumes in the past year. The thought of my engine consuming oil irritates me, so I'm hoping the Amsoil won't disappear as much, given it's very low Noak numbers. I'd also recommend Redline if you can get it for a decent price, it is a fair bit more expensive than other oils up here so I'm not ready to use it for daily driving purposes, although I have used it for road course racing.

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Don't waste your money on the Amsoil, when Esso XD3 is readily available to you at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Craig in Canada]

quote:

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brucelee
Member # 12118 - posted April 13, 2006 02:09 Stick with the M1 and move to 5K miles for the OCI. You are WAY overdoing it and likely increasing wear, not decreasing it!

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You're going to have to explain how a 6500km OCI is going to cause more wear than a 9000km one.

quote:

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marco246
Member # 6912 - posted April 13, 2006 02:13 Craig,

I realize you are in the data gathering phase of your research and that opinion and speculation are important and useful. However, as an engineer you are accustomed to dealing with factual data. I recommend you do a UOA on your M1 0W-40 to determine how well it is lubricating and protecting your engine and whether (or how much) it is shearing. These data are essential if you're going to experiment to find the right oil for your BMW.

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I've purchased a sample kit for a local-ish UOA place and will use it the next time. If I may have a little rant at this point... This single UOA will cost me $31 with tax. I believe the max discount if I buy something like 10 or 20 kits at a time is $20-something. An entire OCI of M1 is $48. I cannot for the life of me comprehend folks taking multiple samples trying to extend their OCI by 20% or 40% to save money on OCI. Wear and coolant detection aside, just changing at 5k is cheaper unless you use something like Redline. Every couple of posts is someone telling me I change my oil too often, start doing UOA and stretch my OCI a bit. I don't get it. Is UOA $5 down there? Rant over.

I will be interested in the viscosity information from the UOA to see how much the M1 0W40 sheared.

quote:

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bobo
Member # 7688 - posted April 14, 2006 01:14 I
You should be able to extend your OCI to 12 months with the XD3 and it then becomes a question of which weight to use - 0w30 or 0w40.

Buy the oil direct from the nearest Esso bulk plant. There is no need to pick it up at WalMart and I believe they do not stock the 0w30.

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I'm going to try to find info on how well XD3 stays in grade for sure. I would like a decent 40 or so, at least for warmer weather, but as I mentioned I heard comments about XD3 0w40 shearing badly. Dunno yet.

How do I find a bulk plant? Is this the same list? None of them seem to be near me at all, and I'm west of Toronto. I'm not going to drive 1.5h round trip to save a couple of bucks. If there are other locations, I'd love some help locating them.


I'm still seriously thinking about the M1 T&S/TurboDiesel 5w40, but haven't been able to find it yet. I'd be sticking with M1 (comfortable territory) but getting a better oil. Hopefully the XD3 15W40 HDEO will be going in with AutoRX this weekend.

Craig.

 

[ajwan]

Don't know about the XD-3 0w-40, but the 0w-30 variant does not appear to volatilize as easily as M1 5-30 did in my car. In the most recent interval with XD-3 0w-30, after 15000km, the oil level was just a tad lower from full mark on the dipstick. No top-ups throughout the interval.

Regards,

AJW

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002776#000000

 

[Winston]

Your M1 0W40 is a great choice. If you want to try something different, try the Redline. It is VERY different than M1. You could also increase the OCI with it.

You should not worry so much about the 0W40 oils shearing. I believe they are designed that way.

The only reason anyone suggests Pennzoil Synthetic is because it is cheap.

I think Castrol Syntec is a good oil. Not just the GC but their other synthetic grades too. Nobody likes it because it is group III(except GC). I tried 10W30 on my japanese V6 and wear metals dropped significantly. It never got very dark even after 7500 miles. There are only 2-3 UOA's of Castrol Syntec so there is not much data out there. Try their 5W40.

 

[jeepman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Winston:
The only reason anyone suggests Pennzoil Synthetic is because it is cheap.

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I don't know about where you are shopping, but Pennzoil Platinum here is only about $2 cheaper per 5 quart jug, so I don't buy it based on price. I buy it based on the good UOA scores it has posted, and that it doesn't make my engine sound like the lifters are getting ready to pop off at any time. Nothing against M1, but I think your statement could be misunderstood that PP is not a good oil, and is just for people who are penny pinchers....

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

And what exactly is wrong with Rotella 5W40? Do I detect a falling of favor? Is it not a full syn with decent additives?

Meanwhile, the Mobil1 is fine, I'm sure. That little bit of varnish, are you sure the AutoRX is really necessary?

 

[Nickdfresh]

quote:

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Originally posted by jeepman:

quote:

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Originally posted by Winston:
The only reason anyone suggests Pennzoil Synthetic is because it is cheap.

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I don't know about where you are shopping, but Pennzoil Platinum here is only about $2 cheaper per 5 quart jug, so I don't buy it based on price. I buy it based on the good UOA scores it has posted, and that it doesn't make my engine sound like the lifters are getting ready to pop off at any time. Nothing against M1, but I think your statement could be misunderstood that PP is not a good oil, and is just for people who are penny pinchers....

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I believe PP offers rebates periodically, bringing the price of the oil down to about $2.00 a quart...

 

[Winston]

Ever since Platinum has been on sale at various places (Pep Boys) people have started recommending it. As noted above, it can be had for about $2 a quart. I actually have it in my vehicle right now, but only because it is cheap. There are not many UOA's out there for Platinum and out of those two show drastic thinning/shearing, one from today shows high lead. All in all not much to support Platinum as being a good oil. It might be good, but there is nothing special about it other than it is made from a new fangled base stock that is cheap to make, and you can get it on sale.

It is unfortunate, but there are not a lot of UOA's on synthetic oils other than Mobil 1.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Update:

On Friday I did an oil change to Esso XD3 15W40 with Auto-RX.

My engine is, without a doubt, noticeably quieter both cold and hot, inside and out, at idle and high rpm.

The 15W40 has noticeable thickness in there on cold starts compared to my previous 0W40. I used to run 15W50 in a previous summer-only car so I'm accustomed to the oils-not-warm-yet feeling. At temperature I may notice a slight decrease in fuel efficiency by the sense that I require slightly more throttle angle to maintain the same cruising speed in a given situation. I've driven at most 100km so I have no real numbers.

Nifty.

My M1 0W40 is going for a UOA ($31) when I get a chance to drop it off at the lab during their business hours. I'm also going to do an oil drop test for the fun of it.

Craig.

 

[Craig in Canada]

My UOA and blotter test from winter fill of M1 0W40

http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=003451

 

[bobo]

You can find the Esso bulk plant in the yellow pages. They are also known as commercial card lots, I believe. There should be a number of them in the GTA.

I had to go to Burnaby to get mine. They were out of stock and the case had to be ordered for me from Edmonton.

 

[e36'n]

Any updates?

 

[babyhuey]

I have the perfect solution for your problem.Park it ,enclose it in plastic,and change the oil evry 20 hours.Seriously,Im not trying to be a jerk,but rings and bearings are made to wear,and looking at your oil to determine its lubricating value is much like reading tea leaves.I have used redline,good oil,and if I were beating my motor at the track I would put in nothing else.Amsoil,well the only thing they dont do is cure cancer according to their ads,but Im not buying.Take your car out and drive it.Run m1*i use a lot of it}supertech*logged a lot of miles on all flavors}or redline *expensive and overkill but does a good job}or anyhting that makes you feel good,just realize your engine will eventually wear out.Dont overanalyze things,drive it till it brakes.Fix then repeat.BTW,I put the cheapest 15w40 in mercedes mbe 9000's all day,with no lubrication problems*luv ya,Dr Z}Now for some breakfast!!

 

[babyhuey]

I have the perfect solution for your problem.Park it ,enclose it in plastic,and change the oil evry 20 hours.Seriously,Im not trying to be a jerk,but rings and bearings are made to wear,and looking at your oil to determine its lubricating value is much like reading tea leaves.I have used redline,good oil,and if I were beating my motor at the track I would put in nothing else.Amsoil,well the only thing they dont do is cure cancer according to their ads,but Im not buying.Take your car out and drive it.Run m1*i use a lot of it}supertech*logged a lot of miles on all flavors}or redline *expensive and overkill but does a good job}or anyhting that makes you feel good,just realize your engine will eventually wear out.Dont overanalyze things,drive it till it brakes.Fix then repeat.BTW,I put the cheapest 15w40 in mercedes mbe 9000's all day,with no lubrication problems*luv ya,Dr Z}Now for some breakfast!!