jasperxli

although i stand behind castrol euro formula 0w30 100%, i trust Mr. Tiny here. if he said its good i wouldnt doubt him =]

Maini

I have been told that the BMW engines run very hot (higher temperatures) Especially if you have turbos. I prefer to use 0W40 or 5W40 oil only.
The biggest sludge culprit is when the oil get a bit older and start breaking down and forming sludge. If you want to change your oil every 5-8K miles I suggest go for high temperature oils like 0W40 and 5W40.
I always used these in my Audi 2.7 Biturbo and that is what was recommend by all. Also stay away from M1 oils they are no longer type 4 synthetic and in my experience they breakdown after about 4K miles. Pennzoil 5W40 is the best in my experience. Royal Purple is also very good. M1 see to be good but no longer is... stay away!! Read more at bobistheoilguy.com they best oil site

BimmerFan52

?Stay away from M1 oils they are no longer type 4 synthetic?
Just repeating what you have read on the internet? Mobil has been asked whether they use Group III base stock or entirely Group IV base stock, and will not comment on proprietary formulas.
This website that sells Amsoil says Mobil 1 is a Group IV base stock oil. ........ http://www.technilube.com/faqs_info/synth_diff.php
Is it typical for a competitor to misrepresent your product in a more positive light?

?M1 see (sic) to be good but no longer is... stay away!! Read more at bobistheoilguy.com they best oil site?
On the bobistheoilguy.com website Bob lists three different Mobil 1 oils as his personal favorites! ....... http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-106/
Mobil 1 0W-40 has the following industry approvals: European ACEA (A3/B3/B4), API (SM/SL/CF)OEM Approvals: BMW (LL-01), Mercedes-Benz (MB 229.5/AMG), Porsche Approval List 2002, Saab, VW (502.00/505.00/503.01)
Mobil 1 0W-40 is a factory fill for all Porsches, Corvettes, Aston Martins, Mercedes AMGs.

"in my experience they breakdown after about 4K miles"
Did a laboratory test your Mobil 1 oil that you say broke down, or was your opinion based upon a visual inspection of the oil? If tested, how low was the total base number or did you use some other criteria?
How many miles were on the engine at the time of the test? Was the engine in good condition and running well? VERY IMPORTANT - How many hours did it take to go 4K miles (i.e. was the stop and go driving at an average 10mph or highway miles at an average 60mph)?

IMHO people are spending too much time reading specification sheets and nitpicking product trying to find the ?ideal? oil, instead of paying attention to the conditions of their engine use, which is what should drive how frequently you change your oil. 5-6K miles, 300 operating hours MAX or once per year, whichever comes first.

Really, any name brand oil, used properly, will do the job well. In fact, when used properly, some of today?s name brand Group II mineral oils would out perform many Group IV PAO full synthetic oils made as little as 10 years ago, due to recent significant advances in additive technology.

Rizbel

I've been using Mobile 1 0W-40 (European car formula), and Castrol Syntec 0W-30 (German Castrol).

phlfly

I did a lot oil research for past month, I wanted to understand oil thing, so I went bobsoil forum. So now I know it's all BS about BMW oil, if you do oil changes every 5-7 thousand miles.
So the oil grade is by temp C at 40 - it's first number xW and meaning your viscosity at 40 C, the lower number then better for your normal engines at cold start up(I don't know about high performance engines), and at 100 C - it's second number - 10,20,30..... and meaning oil viscosity at normal operating temp, (hwy driving and ect) and at 150 C (HTHS) - it's second number as well, but it's under high stress, like track, aggressive driving, long idle (very long) at hot weather conditions. So the idea is all oils degraded viscosity with time of usage, and viscosity is falling down, so these people on bobsoil..com did tested after different period of usage and came to conclusion, at 150 C is a biggest stress on oil.
So now back to BMW LL01 A3/B3/C3 group: this oils have HTHS at 150 C around 3.5 and plus, but BMW oil 5W-30 is about only 3.2 to 3.3 (according test on bobsoil..com) and dropping to 3.1 after 1000 miles or so. Amazing?! So LL01 recommendation is just for long oil changes period, but the according same website almost any oil will not survive such long period to keep HTHS above HTHS 3.3 at least, unless you are using very thick oil on your car like xW-40,50,60. They don't recommend to do so, as because the flow is not good enough (no flow = bad lubrication), because oil could get hot enough at normal commute. So the synth normal oils (A1, A5 group) should be substantial enough for 5-7 thousand miles, oil like Pennzoil or Mobil 5W-30 (with HTHS 3.1 to 3.2) will be a good enough, also you could go with Mobil 1 0W-30 (3.0, it's on lower side but very stable oil).

phlfly

Yes you are right and even more BMW oil 5W-30 is Group III. So don't use for extended time this oil.

paul-g

i've alwasy went 7,500 on mobile 1 0w-30w (in wife's audi a6 3.2l) and now 0w-40 mobile 1 in my 07 550i audi more city then highway and bmw more 50/50 highway/city (she's a stay at home mom so that means i have to work lol)and also go 7,500 miles between oil changes. audi runs flawless and now 120k on her and bmw 82k so jury still out lol.

what i think is funny is for the first 50k why does BMW take care of all oil changes and makes you go 14k on it???

Maini

I think all of us have a 'feel" for how our engine runs.... I started off with the M1 0W40 in my 2001 Audi A6 2.7T back in 2004. Great oil and it used to last well all of 10,000 miles.. never broke down. Car ran well all 10K miles.
Around 2008 I noticed the car was not running smooth enough 5K after the oil change. After many trials.. I changed the oil to 5W40 Rotella T6 based on advise from many senior members on audiworld.com. That solved all the issues 10K miles. When I moved to 5W40 Pennzoil Euro formula.. again no issues 10K Miles... when I moved to Ow40 M1.. first 5K miles no issues.. smooth engine.. after that.. various noises..
So this is unscientific.. based on my experience and backed by what I found on the bobistheoilguy website.. which is highly revered by the guys on audiworld to be extremely comprehensive with a lot of oil tests and analysis. Please show me other sites so I can be enlightened further.. My driving did not change much and I have a mix of driving as everyone.. I am in sales so quite a bit. The other thing I noticed.. The oil temperature on the Audi using M1 was running a bit higher than the other oils... So unscientific.. but being an engineer myself... I think I would stay away from M1 for my supported experiments... I was a fan.. but no longer...Just my humble opinion...Your car you can do whatever you want. I though the forums are to share thoughts freely..

phlfly

I guess you are talking about M1 0W-40, so it's very understandable, this oil has high HTHS 3.8 + so it designed to withstand high temps, but at normal commute this oil never gets hot enough to have a proper flow, so at lower temps this oil flow is not substantial to cool your engine. It's easy less flow = higher temp. So you need to use 5W-30 oils or even better M1 0W-30.

Maini

Audi only recommends 0W40 and 5W40 for the 2.7TT engine. That engine like other turbo engines always ran hotter than normal engines... my runs were long enough and hard enough to get the oil hot.
Also my understanding was that the OW40 oil flows very well in the specified temperature range... it really does not mean tat if the temperature is not very high the oil will not flow... Maybe I am wrong... but that is what I understood from the spec sheets etc.