Oil Recommendation for 1995 BMW 318i

[The Critic]

Hi,
Please provide an oil recommendation for a 1995 BMW 318i that "racks up" 150-200 miles a week in light suburban traffic. This car is located in Boca Raton, FL, where they are virtually no hills, and rarely any cold temperatures.

I got these oil recommendations from the Amsoil Product Application Guide:

-4 to 50°F......10W-30
-4 to 68°F......10W-40
Above 5°F......15W-40
Below 32°F......5W-20
Below 50°F......5w30

This car has a 1.8L 4-Cyl and a 5.3 quart sump, which is considered on the larger side for this type of engine.

I think the OCI is determined by the Service Interval Indicator, pretty sure it goes up to 10K for pre-1999 vehicles.

The car is currently (will soon) go through two Auto-RX treatments because of its mileage (110K+), so I'm trying to decide which oil to use afterwards.

I figured that a thick 30wt to a light 40wt is ideal for this engine, please correct me if I'm wrong. So this is a list of oils that I've come up with, in no particular order:

1. GC
2. Mobil 1 0w-40
3. Mobil 1 Truck and SUV 5w40
4. Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40
5. Mobil 1 Extended Performance 10w40

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

Michael

 

[pitzel]

What does the BMW owners manual specify?

I'm no fan of GC personally, and XD-3 isn't available down south, so my inclination would be towards Delvac-1 (aka Mobil 1 Truck and SUV), with maybe a quart of Mobil 1 5W-20 added if you want to knock the viscosity back to a high 30-weight.

Why Auto-RX anyways? Suspect you might have a sludge issue? What was the car using previously? A good run with a HDEO for a few OCI's will pretty much do most of the work of ARX in a minorly sludged engine.

 

[pscholte]

I would go with Delvac 1 if you can get it, Mobil 1 Truck and SUV if you can't. (If they are not the same oil, I believe they are close.)

 

[The Critic]

quote:

---

Originally posted by pitzel:
What does the BMW owners manual specify?

I'm no fan of GC personally, and XD-3 isn't available down south, so my inclination would be towards Delvac-1 (aka Mobil 1 Truck and SUV), with maybe a quart of Mobil 1 5W-20 added if you want to knock the viscosity back to a high 30-weight.

Why Auto-RX anyways? Suspect you might have a sludge issue? What was the car using previously? A good run with a HDEO for a few OCI's will pretty much do most of the work of ARX in a minorly sludged engine.

---

Why not clean it up? We're BITOGers right; we like to mess around!!!

Anyways, the OCIs on this car were probably on the longer side for conventional oils, probably around the 6-8K mark knowing the BMW Service Interval Indicator. Two Auto-RX treatments are probably a good idea for any car with over 100K before switching to a syn, to minimize potential leaks and/or consumption.

Michael

 

[jaj]

Michael

I had a 1992 318is and I found the oil that it liked best was Castrol 5w-50. It ran really well with it.

Cheers
JJ

 

[ex_MGB]

No Owner's Manual? I had a '82 320i. Lots of miles on the odo. OM called for 20W-50 and that's just what it liked. 10W-40 felt thin.