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Engine Oil Preference

4K views 23 replies 12 participants last post by  mrsanchez3 
#1 ·
I have been using the OEM BMW oil foe the past 2 years. What other options do I have? What do you use? Cold weather?
 
#2 ·
I just changed my oil and used LiquiMoly 5w-30.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Bimmer App
 
#5 · (Edited)
If you want to save money use Valvoline 5w-30 Synthetic. You can get it at Wal-Mart pretty cheap. It's BMW approved. I use it in all my cars and my customers.
Is it for sure?

There may be a difference between the European version (Pic. 3) that was added to BMW's list and what is available here from WalMart (Pic. 1), Amazon (Pic. 2), etc.

http://www.valvolineeurope.com/english/products/engine_oils/synpower/cid(804)/synpower_5w-30

Discussion on another Bimmerfest forum:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483430

Might be a perfectly good oil though.
 

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#4 ·
Castrol 0W-30 since the very beginning for all our BMWs. Works for all climates.
 
#7 ·
I just went out and looked at the bottles of Valvoline I have and they do not say LL-01 on them. So I guess if your going to go 15k on an oil change you might want to look at the Mobil 1 label and see if it's LL-01. I have not had any issues with the Valvoline and some of my customers go 15k on it. I may switch to Mobil 1. They have that at Wal-Mart too.
 
#9 · (Edited)
That's too bad. Valvoline should really avoid any confusion and either label the bottles with LL-01 if it is, or not call it SynPower if it is not the same as the European one.

Pennzoil does it correctly with their European Formula qualification on the label.

Or, in the case of Castrol and their re-naming of their Syntec line, the Castro Edge with SPT in 0W30 and 5W40 is LL-01 approved whereas other Edge grades are not.

Not on BMW's list yet, but that might just be timing, or something to do with meeting the ACEA A3, B3 and B4 spec. as well.

But you might find this is a better price than Mobil 1 0W40 at Walmart.
 
#15 · (Edited)
#22 ·
Everyone's got different expectations and beliefs on maintenance intervals (do a search, it's been oft-debated). Many do the half-way interval change, others more often, others less so.
 
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