M3 maintenance page at BMW web site!

[G-MAN]

Check out the oil BMW recommends on the M3 maintenace page of the BMW North American web site. Guess the IT guys haven't gotten the word yet about the 10w60.

M3 oil recommendation

 

[Patman]

I always found it odd that BMW originally specified these engines to run 5w30, then all of a sudden said oops, now we need to use 10w60 in here. That's a huge difference, and makes me wonder exactly how much testing do they do with these engines to determine their oil recommendations? Obviously not much.

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:
I always found it odd that BMW originally specified these engines to run 5w30, then all of a sudden said oops, now we need to use 10w60 in here. That's a huge difference, and makes me wonder exactly how much testing do they do with these engines to determine their oil recommendations? Obviously not much.

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The screwup was with BMW North America. The engines came from the factory with Castrol 10w60 in them. The service departments here put in the 5w30 when they would change the oil, based on this oil being specified across the board for US BMWs. I suspect that BMW in Germany thought this would be okay because they assumed that US driving styles and conditions are not as demanding as those in Germany. Obviously, when it comes to the M3, they were wrong, and the 5w30 couldn't cut it.

 

[Patman]

That makes more sense then. It also shows how stupid North America can be, just making a blanket oil recommendation for everything sold here, and in most cases it's 5w30, even if the engine would live much longer on something else.

[ September 17, 2003, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: Patman ]

 

[pscholte]

This is another endorsement for BITOG. Owners who are informed by their dealers that XXX oil is what you should use can get a second opinion here if the recommendation doesn't make sense to them and then question their dealers if necessary. This also places a great responsibility on board members to offer responsible opinions based on sound reasoning/knowledge.

 

[F1Crazy]

How about recommendation for S62 engine found in M5 - all engines produced before 03/00 need to run 10W-60 TWS but the rest is fine with regular BMW synthetic 5W-30. The same recommendation is for European cars, only built before 03/00 require 10W-60.

 

[speedybenz]

That is really messed up. Building any engine that requires 60wt oil to stay alive to outrageous.

All of our AMA Superbike and Supersport engine were sized to run 0-30wt oil and 0-20wt oils. These engines make 160 Hp per liter and spin up to 14,000 rpm. We always had good parts reliabilty using the 20 and 30 wt oils.

I cna't even imagine putting in 60 wt oil.

Jeff

 

[Patman]

I wonder how long it would take for that 10w60 to shear back to 10w50, and then to 10w40 for that matter. Probably tons of VII in that viscosity I bet!

 

[buster]

Makes you wonder about these "over-hyped" German cars. Take the LS1 which is an older design and less sophisticated. Runs on 5w-30 and will last longer most likely. BMW screwed this one up thats for sure.

 

[CJH]

At least they haven't gone to 0W20 (yet).

quote:

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Originally posted by G-Man II:
Check out the oil BMW recommends on the M3 maintenace page of the BMW North American web site. Guess the IT guys haven't gotten the word yet about the 10w60.

M3 oil recommendation

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[vvk]

quote:

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Originally posted by G-Man II:
Check out the oil BMW recommends on the M3 maintenace page of the BMW North American web site. Guess the IT guys haven't gotten the word yet about the 10w60.

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I am confused on this. It seems that the 10W-60 recommendation was tried and failed to fix the spun bearing problem. It was later determined that a production fault was the real cause. Certain bearing clearances were adjusted.

Is 10W-60 the current recommendation for the S54 engines, due to increased bearing clearances? Is this still in effect for the most recent cars?

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by vvk:

quote:

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Originally posted by G-Man II:
Check out the oil BMW recommends on the M3 maintenace page of the BMW North American web site. Guess the IT guys haven't gotten the word yet about the 10w60.

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I am confused on this. It seems that the 10W-60 recommendation was tried and failed to fix the spun bearing problem. It was later determined that a production fault was the real cause. Certain bearing clearances were adjusted.

Is 10W-60 the current recommendation for the S54 engines, due to increased bearing clearances? Is this still in effect for the most recent cars?

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The 10w60 is still the factory fill and recommended service fill for the M3.