New to me 2001 BMW 530i

[miatapaul]

I inherited a 2001 BMW from my mother. It has about 40,000 miles on it, now that I put about 10,000. I did a search on the forum and went through about 6 pages of results without finding much of interest to my situation. I am looking for advice on service interval and oil choice. I generally do my own service on all my cars, and will be getting an OBDII reader that can reset the service minders. So is there a "generally accepted" good choice for BMWs?

1. What kind of vehicle you have - 2001 BMW 530,
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well - They basicly say use BMW oil.
3. Where you live Upstate NY
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?) - It was babied for it's first 30,000 by an old lady, now driven in a mix of 70% commuting and running the kids around and 30% sporty hard, traction control turned off and flailed around our local twisty roads, like it was my Miata.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?) Daily commute is around 10 miles each way, along with trips of 6 miles each way to get get kids to school each weekday.
6. Whether your car has any known problems - None and my mother had it serviced by the dealership before I picked it up.

 

[2James1]

Many BMW owners have had good results with Mobil 1 0W-40.

 

[ledslinger]

Welcome. Sorry about your mother's passing.

Mobil 1 0W40.

 

[bodeh6]

Mobil 1 0W-40 or German Castrol 0W-30

 

[huffmuds9320]

I don't own a BMW but a friend of mine has a 01 325i which I help service.

As far as I know the maintenance minders is reset via the dash, no computer or any special equipment needed. I believe on the older BMW pre-2000 has some diagnostic port in the engine compartment which you reset via a pin. But yours is a 01 so you should be able to reset it via the dash.

As for oil any oil with the BMW LL-01 spec will be fine. This would be something like Mobil 1 0W-40, Castrol Syntec 0W-30, Castrol Syntec 5W-40. Just look in back of the bottle for the BMW LL-01 spec.

 

[addyguy]

Make sure it isn't an engine with bearing problems that requires TWS 10W-60 before using another oil.

Member 'OVERK1LL' just bought an '01 M5 - I'm sure he'd love to hear from you to talk BMW's, and maybe give you some tips.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: miatapaul
will be getting an OBDII reader that can reset the service minders.

On this model year, you can reset service reminders without an OBDII tool.

http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/reset-plug/reset.htm

(scroll to the bottom of the page. part 1 doesn't concern you.)

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: miatapaul
I inherited a 2001 BMW from my mother. It has about 40,000 miles on it, now that I put about 10,000. I did a search on the forum and went through about 6 pages of results without finding much of interest to my situation. I am looking for advice on service interval and oil choice. I generally do my own service on all my cars, and will be getting an OBDII reader that can reset the service minders. So is there a "generally accepted" good choice for BMWs?

1. What kind of vehicle you have - 2001 BMW 530,
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well - They basicly say use BMW oil.
3. Where you live Upstate NY
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?) - It was babied for it's first 30,000 by an old lady, now driven in a mix of 70% commuting and running the kids around and 30% sporty hard, traction control turned off and flailed around our local twisty roads, like it was my Miata.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?) Daily commute is around 10 miles each way, along with trips of 6 miles each way to get get kids to school each weekday.
6. Whether your car has any known problems - None and my mother had it serviced by the dealership before I picked it up.



Congrats. The E39 530 is a great car. Oilwise like everyone else any LL01 or BMW Dealership (BMW branded Castrol) 5w30 motor oil.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Make sure it isn't an engine with bearing problems that requires TWS 10W-60 before using another oil.

Member 'OVERK1LL' just bought an '01 M5 - I'm sure he'd love to hear from you to talk BMW's, and maybe give you some tips.


A production run of early model E46 M3's had this problem and they were all repaired with the proper tolerance bearing journals(??I think that's what they're called)

 

[mongo161]

There are a couple of very good threads on the differences between Europ and Non-Euro spec oil:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...139#Post2416139

Here is another thread on Amsol Euro, Low SAPS oil with a very recent UOA.....with Outstanding results!

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/posts/2416490/

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: miatapaul
will be getting an OBDII reader that can reset the service minders.

On this model year, you can reset service reminders without an OBDII tool.
http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/reset-plug/reset.htm
(scroll to the bottom of the page. part 1 doesn't concern you.)

Nice tip.
I might try it although it's targeted to MY 2001 and later Bimmers.
A mechanic I once frequented, used to reset the service minder by popping the hood and using with nothing more than a small screwdriver (I think) in the Data Link Connector.
I wish I paid more attention to how he did it!

 

[dparm]

Mobil 1 0w40 is a safe bet, but so is the BMW oil.

 

[Solarent]

Your mother must be a sweet woman to have a 01 with only 40,000 miles on it.

BMW dealer oil = Castrol High Performance 5w30 (I wish I still had the bottle I could post a picture). It's not the exact same formula as the SYNTEC stuff but syntec will work. If you were to ask BMW they recommend Castrol but M1 0w-40 is also a great substitute.

for OCI - my wife's is an 06 and we were running 15K miles on dealer oil with similar driving to you and the UOA came back with mixed results, based on what I've seen with us I would recommend you don't let it go past 10K if you are using Castrol or M1. Unless you do a UOA at 10k and it comes back with life left in the oil.

I have also heard good things about QS full synthetic, but haven't tried it myself.

 

[OVERKILL]

Use Mobil 1 0w40 in that engine with confidence, and enjoy the car!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Solarent
based on what I've seen with us I would recommend you don't let it go past 10K if you are using Castrol or M1. Unless you do a UOA at 10k and it comes back with life left in the oil.

I'd agree with this advice. I had GC analyzed in mine after 10K miles. According to the lab, the oil needed to be changed at that point already.

 

[antonmnster]

I do not trust the OBC oil change mileage.

I have almost the same engine. Because the previous owner went by the OBC, I'm changing my M1 0-40 every 3-5000 to clean it out.

 

[miatapaul]

Wow a lot of very quick answers! thanks. I will check out the links and I will try the oil server minder reset as it does not look too difficult.

 

[Mark_Walk]

Sounds like a cool car...you should post a pic.

 

[hpichris]

Mobil 1 0W-40.

Pretty much used it on every BMW I've ever owned.

 

[MCompact]

Ditto on the M1 0W-40, but I'll also note that my experience with the M52/M54 engine has shown that the additive package(TBN) is essentially depleted by 10,000 miles.