Best motor oil for a 2001 BMW 525i?

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Considering a BMW 525i, 2001 with 106K. What is the best oil for it. I like QS so I would like to stay with that, but I would move away ( I would still use it in my F150). Any suggestions are appriciated-thanks
 
Synthetic 5w40 or 0w40 that meets BMW LL01. Don't think QS has something like that, but corporate sister Pennzoil has a 5w40 European Formula that meets the spec.
 
There's nothing too magical about the 6-cyl. bmw. I have two, well engineered, last forever, one has 185K miles, the other 130K. Neither uses oil. I have been using M1 HM 10-30, A3-B3, with excellent analysis from [censored]. No need to spend more; I change at 7500 mi. with room to spare. $22 at WM for a jug; I buy two jugs plus 1 jug of 10W-40 HM for summer blend. Try it, you'll like it.
Mike
 
Originally Posted By: Mike Thompson
There's nothing too magical about the 6-cyl. bmw. I have two, well engineered, last forever, one has 185K miles, the other 130K. Neither uses oil. I have been using M1 HM 10-30, A3-B3, with excellent analysis from [censored]. No need to spend more; I change at 7500 mi. with room to spare. $22 at WM for a jug; I buy two jugs plus 1 jug of 10W-40 HM for summer blend. Try it, you'll like it.
Mike


+1
 
According to UOAs and Terry Dyson, the "best" oil I found from the over the counter (including the BMW synth) was GC. This was for an '02 BMW 330ci. "Best" is the question that was asked.

If this were my car I'd likely run a decent 5w-30 Synthetic in a midwest winter. The other option is Maxlife 5w-40 Synth which is an ACEA A3 oil.

If you are changing at 7.5k OCIs, then I won't lie to you, for a 10 year old car with 106k miles, I'd run the QS synth 5w-30 synth in the winter and a 10w-40HM or even a 15w-40 HDEO in the summer. There are some really good (about 4 year old) UOAs on a 2001 BMW 330ci on 15w-40 HDEO in the UOA section.

At this stage in its life given reasonable 7.5k OCIs (it likely calls for 15k OCIs (where the A3 LL01 recommendation comes from) oil choice won't be the limiter of this car's life. You'll suffer a cooling issue, crash or other issue.

Great engine, I loved mine.
 
I had a 2002 BMW 330Ci (3.0L M54 motor); I used the BMW Synthetic 5w-30 exclusively ($5/qt @ dealer with BMW CCA member discount). I never did a UOA, but I was happy with the performance of the oil. That car saw frequent track use.

I currently have a 2002 BMW 525i wagon (2.5L M54 motor). From the records I had, it looked like the previous owner maxed-out the OCI's to 15k (BMW recommended), so I'm running Mobil 1 0w-40 in there now to help clean out any sludge that may have resulted. I'll probably do that for 2-3 OCI's and then go with either the BMW synth or M1 0w-40, whichever is cheaper when I need oil.
 
You haven't said how the car is driven but the no brainer choice would be M1 0W-40; there's simply no better all round oil.

Having said that, M1 0W-30 would be good during Iowa winters and year round if you drive it easy during the summer.
 
The visc depends on how you drive, but the Mobil 1 High Miles oils are ideal for Euro cars and are cheap.
 
Any concerns switching from conventional to synthetic? 2001 525i with 120k miles that has been running Quaker State (dino, I believe but not 100% sure) 5W40 or 5W30 the previous 3 years with the previous owner of the car.
 
Thoughts on Rotella T6 5W40? Seems like a really good oil and I can stock up on some for ~ $16 a gallon this weekend. In Michigan, so weather ranges from -10 to 30F in winter up to 80-95F in summer.
 
Originally Posted By: bluedevils
Thoughts on Rotella T6 5W40? Seems like a really good oil and I can stock up on some for ~ $16 a gallon this weekend. In Michigan, so weather ranges from -10 to 30F in winter up to 80-95F in summer.


This was going to be my rec. - Rotella T6 5W-40.

May not 'officially' be A3-rated, but it easily meets that visc. spec.

Excellent oil, at a great price - go for it!
 
Great, thanks! My planned OCI is 5k-7.5k. Have never done oil analysis but might start with this vehicle.

The owner's manual recommends 5W30 or 5W40, so I was hoping that the Rotella T6 5W40 would work well.

Still somewhat concerned about switching to synthetic after the car seems to have run dino, at least the past 2-3 years.

Not that it matters for my decision, but can anybody point to a thread or something clearly stating if the Rotella T6 is Group III or Group IV? Found some conflicting opinions on 1 thread here at BITOG, nothing definitive.
 
Thanks hpichris. I must admit, I am looking for something readily available at a Walmart or other big retail store rather than something that is sold mostly at a specific auto parts chain -- isn't that the case with the German Castrol?

From what I have read so far -- and I'm just learning about this car -- the motor prefers a thicker oil and the 5w40 Rotella T6 fits that criterion pretty well.

Ideally, I'd like to run the same oil year-round but I don't know if this 5w40 will be a good idea during lower Michigan winter...low temps can reach 0F or sometimes below on occasion, with avg high temp 32F or less for 2-3 months. The car will be parked in an unheated garage which rarely goes below 25-30F even when outside temps are below zero.
 
Mmmmm M1 0w40
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Ended up having local shop put in the Rotella T6 5w40 today. In the future I'll do the changes myself.

Bought the oil somewhere other than Walmart
smile.gif


Will have to decide later on whether to switch to a different oil for the winter months.
 
Originally Posted By: bluedevils
Ended up having local shop put in the Rotella T6 5w40 today. In the future I'll do the changes myself.

Bought the oil somewhere other than Walmart
smile.gif


Will have to decide later on whether to switch to a different oil for the winter months.


As you've probably noticed, I live in MN. I have a pretty strong idea how cold it gets
smile.gif
Bring on -40+ windchill!!!

Anyways, only used T6 on my Jetta these past 2 years and just did an oil change yesterday on the Jetta with more T6. I've started and driven the car in temp. where normal batteries have an issue just starting the car.
 
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