Help Me Choose, GC, Mobil 1 or PU Euro

[HyundaiGuy]

Hi All.

The car:

2009 Mini Cooper S Clubman. 24K miles. Manufactured August 2009. Purchased new by my in laws March 2010. Only 2 oil changes, March 2011 and March 2012 performed by the selling Mini dealer. Sold to me last month with 22500 miles.

I immediately changed the oil, oil filter, engine air filter and cabin air filter. All were nasty. I used the factory BMW/Mini Oil filter and Mann Filters elsewhere. The AC works noticeably better. Oil used was Royal Purple 5W30 SN. Looking through the fill hole now, things look good. Due to the fact that the Cooper S uses a direct injected turbocharged Peugeot engine, I will not be running extended OCI- I am thinking 5-7500 mile OCI. Mini specifies a one year/15K OCI in the manual, but have recently changed to a 10K OCI.

I want to have a clean engine with minimal wear. One concern, there have been
reports of the oil supply line becoming clogged which causes the turbo to fail.

Between GC OW30, Mobil 1 0W40 (both available locally) and Pennzoil 5W30 Platinum Euro Ultra (ordered from Amazon) which would you choose and why?
All are factory approved BMW LL04 oils.

The car is driven 95% highway- mostly on cruise control at speeds from 55-75 MPH. I'm looking to pick an oil and stick to it all year round. The car is driven approximately 26K annually.

Help me choose.

 

[dparm]

I'd choose whichever is the cheapest. The nod goes to M1 in terms of the best specs, and the fact it's almost always available for qt. But any of those will work well for your application.

 

[jaj]

So, you explain the things you're concerned about, but you're using an oil that's not approved by the manufacturer and which doesn't meet the manufacturer's requirements for viscosity, let alone anything else. You might want to change it fairly soon.

As to what to run in that engine, either the Mobil 1 0w-40 or the Pennz Ultra Euro (no Platinum involved - that's a different product) will be fine. Use whichever one is cheapest. I haven't got anything against the Castrol, but the other two are reputed to do a better job of keeping things clean.

DO NOT USE A BMW LL-04 oil in this vehicle. LL-04 is for ultra-low sulfur diesels with particulate filters and extended oil drain intervals. While it is approved for gas engines, it's better to use LL-01, which is intended for gas engines in the first place.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I agree. Choose based on price and availability.

FYI, your Mini was spec'ed for LL01, not LL04. However, if it is in fact a DI engine, then using LL04 oil (low/mid SAPs) may help minimize deposits, so something like PU Euro 5w-30 or Valvoline Synpower 5w-40 may not be a bad idea since you won't be running very long OCIs anyway.

 

[dparm]

BTW you can get Valvoline SynPower 5w40 locally as well.


If you are really driving 26k a year, and it's mostly highway, you can definitely do a 7500k interval.

 

[HyundaiGuy]

Originally Posted By: jaj
So, you explain the things you're concerned about, but you're using an oil that's not approved by the manufacturer and which doesn't meet the manufacturer's requirements for viscosity, let alone anything else. You might want to change it fairly soon.

As to what to run in that engine, either the Mobil 1 0w-40 or the Pennz Ultra Euro (no Platinum involved - that's a different product) will be fine. Use whichever one is cheapest. I haven't got anything against the Castrol, but the other two are reputed to do a better job of keeping things clean.

DO NOT USE A BMW LL-04 oil in this vehicle. LL-04 is for ultra-low sulfur diesels with particulate filters and extended oil drain intervals. While it is approved for gas engines, it's better to use LL-01, which is intended for gas engines in the first place.



You are correct. LL01 is the spec, not LL04. not sure where that came from.

Per the book, allowable viscosities are 0W30, 5W30, 0W40 and 5W40, so the viscosity of the RP is allowable, although it does not meet LL01 spec, which is why I won't use it again. I'll run this for 2K more miles- 4K total.

According to the book "mini recommends Castrol." This is also stamped to a crossmember near the oil dipstick.

Another poster posted Valvoline Synpower 5W40- I have read elsewhere that what I need is not the same formulation of Synpower commonly seen but is Synpower MST, which is very uncommon. Is this true?

Also. IIRC correctly the TBN for Valvoline is low. I'd like a high TBN due to the heat from the turbo. Am I on the right track now?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: HyundaiGuy
Another poster posted Valvoline Synpower 5W40- I have read elsewhere that what I need is not the same formulation of Synpower commonly seen but is Synpower MST, which is very uncommon. Is this true?

The only Synpower 5w-40 you're going to find in the store is the MST version. MST officially meets LL04 spec because it's a mid/low SAPs oil. Again, for your DI engine, this may actually be a good thing.


Quote:

I'd like a high TBN due to the heat from the turbo. Am I on the right track now?

Not sure I follow. What does TBN have to do with it?

High TBN allows for long OCIs, but that's about it.

 

[HyundaiGuy]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: HyundaiGuy
Another poster posted Valvoline Synpower 5W40- I have read elsewhere that what I need is not the same formulation of Synpower commonly seen but is Synpower MST, which is very uncommon. Is this true?

The only Synpower 5w-40 you're going to find in the store is the MST version. MST officially meets LL04 spec because it's a mid/low SAPs oil. Again, for your DI engine, this may actually be a good thing.

Quote:


I'd like a high TBN due to the heat from the turbo. Am I on the right track now?

Not sure I follow. What does TBN have to do with it?

High TBN allows for long OCIs, but that's about it.


From reading Blackstone reports, they say the oil is shot when the TBN=1, not that I want to go that low before changing. I am thinking that on an engine that is harder on oil (turbo and DI qualifies, I would think) that id is better to start with high TBN, as the engine would break down the oil more quickly than an "average" engine.

 

[dparm]

TBN is reserve alkalinity. If your car is prone to form acids in the crankcase (short-tripping, water buildup, certain types of gas), you need a higher starting TBN.

BMW would not approve that oil if the TBN was insufficient.

 

[jaj]

Originally Posted By: HyundaiGuy
... LL01 is the spec, not LL04...

Per the book, allowable viscosities are 0W30, 5W30, 0W40 and 5W40...

..."mini recommends Castrol." This is also stamped to a crossmember near the oil dipstick.

Another poster posted Valvoline Synpower 5W40- I have read elsewhere that what I need is not the same formulation of Synpower commonly seen but is Synpower MST, which is very uncommon. Is this true?

Also. IIRC correctly the TBN for Valvoline is low. I'd like a high TBN due to the heat from the turbo. Am I on the right track now?


LL-01 is a demanding spec to meet - oil that meets it will work well in your engine. LL-04 is a newer spec and I think of it as a "European-only" spec because it relies on exceptionally low levels of sulfur in the fuel. That's why the TBN is so low - no sulfur means much less acid formation. BMW and Mini in North America use their own-branded oils at the dealerships, and I believe that they're an LL-01 product, even for the cars that get LL-04 in Europe. North American OCI's are shorter too. One of the ECU file updates on my 2008 M3 lowered the OCI in the Condition Based Service system by about 1/3.

Oils with LL-01 approval in that range of viscosities all have a specific level of High Temperature High Shear viscosity - they're 3.5 or higher. Most API 5w-30's (like RP) are only 3.1, which won't blow your engine up, but it does fall short of the spec.

Mini and BMW recommend Castrol, but they approve a bunch of others too. Again anything that passes the testing for LL-01 will work fine.

Synpower MST is LL-04 and isn't OEM approved for LL-01, although Valvoline says you can use it that way. Synpower HST has LL-01 approval. The low TBN in MST is probably related to the requirement for low-sulfur fuel - back to the European oil comment I made above.

As for heat from the turbo, TBN isn't a factor really - you want an oil with a high resistance to oxidation and nitration, and the LL-01 oils are exactly that.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: jaj
LL-04 is a newer spec and I think of it as a "European-only" spec because it relies on exceptionally low levels of sulfur in the fuel. That's why the TBN is so low - no sulfur means much less acid formation.

The reason BMW advises against the use of LL-04 oils in the US is because the lower add pack in these oils may not be able to withstand the 10-15K mile OCIs that most BMWs are on, due to our use of non-ultra low sulfur gasoline, as you already noted. However, if he's planning to change it every 5-7.5K miles, as he noted, then I don't see a problem there. Of course, a UOA could help verify this. And if he's still under warranty, then I agree that he should stick to one of the official LL-01 oils.

The benefit of using a low-SAPs oil (LL-04) is that it helps minimize deposit issues which DI engines are known for.

 

[glxpassat]

I'm currently using the M1 0w-40 due to price, availability and it's cleaning ability. It's also very smooth.