1987 BMW 325 - which oil weight to use?

[jhammer382]

Hey everyone,

I have a 1987 BMW 325 coupe with the 2.7 liter inline 6 cylinder with over 150,000 miles. The previous maintenance history is unknown on the car and would like to know what oil weight is recommended? Was thinking a 10w40 or 15w40 conventional oil. This car isn't worth putting synthetic in haha.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[beast3300]

15w40

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: beast3300
15w40


+1 any HDEO would work well.

 

[JHZR2]

5w or 15w-40 would be fine.

 

[190E26FTW]

On my 1991 BMW 325I I ran Castrol GTX 20W50 year round. Never had any engine trouble. Since you are on the East Coast then you probably wanna run that in the summer and swap to 0W40 or 5W40 for the winter. 10W40 also works depending on how cold it is where you are.

 

[jhammer382]

Thanks for the input everyone. I bought some super tech 15w40 from walmart and will be changing the oil today.

 

[90325is]

I have used Valvoline 20w50 for years and done a lot of BMW drivers schools and never had a problem. However I tried Rotella 15w40 this winter and found it used about a quart in about 3000 miles where it never used any with the 20w50. I am going to switch back to 20w50 this summer and use 15w40 for the winter. Just my opion and hope this helps

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

BMW dealerships sell a 10w or 15w-40 on the cheap.

 

[crw]

You might not need synthetic, but don't sell yourself short. No reason not to get 250K out of that engine.

 

[Ray Garlington]

Originally Posted By: crw
You might not need synthetic, but don't sell yourself short. No reason not to get 250K out of that engine.


True, and 350k miles is not unheard of either.

 

[190E26FTW]

There was that one BMW 325 that went 1 million miles on Mobil 1 during the endurance test.

 

[30valve]

Rotella T6 5w-40 year round. Great synthetic oil and doesn't cost much more than dino.

 

[CATERHAM]

Do you have the owners manual for the car?
For my car it was 5W-30 for the winter and 15W-40 foe the summer.
The 15W-40 wouldn't be my choice but should be fine for the summer but I'd switch to a 5W-30 for the winter. If the engine is in good shape and doesn't burn a large amount of oil I'd stick to a 5W-30 year round.

 

[Carmudgeon]

The M20 isn't afraid of being filled with a 40 or 50 weight oil.

 

[fdcg27]

Use 15W-40 HDEO spring through fall, and an A3 10W-xx for winter.
Valvoline Durablend and Maxlife both meet A3 in 10W-40.
There are other choices, although they would cost more.
The A3 rating means an HTHS of at least 3.5, among other things, which is also required for any BMW approved oil, so BMW apparently thinks it matters.