First Oil change (brand of OIL)

So I'm about to change the oil of my E46 323ci and what brand of oil is that best and where do I buy it?

and how much do I put on it? (quarts)

and to reset the oil service on the OBC (dashboard)

Any tips and Tricks?







thanks

There are a bazillion discussions, threads, DIYs, videos, ad nauseum, on oil. We certainly don`t need another one. Please use the SEARCH function.

Any synthetic oil that meets LL-01 specifications is fine. I use Mobile 1.

7 quarts.

Search the site sponsors links at the top of the page for a good price on the oil you want.

Read the Wiki and pay close attention to Solidjake's video for resetting the oil service light.

Read the Wiki, learn the Wiki, live the Wiki. Most of these basic questions have been answered there. And if you can't find guidance in the wiki, try the search function.

As others have said. This topic has been attacked from every angle. You can turn up a wealth of info from the wiki as well as by a simple search.

With that said I have been using dealer oil for all of my oil changes.





For a couple of reasons--It is an appropriate oil and not the least or which is that I can get it cheaper at my local dealer than the European Mobil 1 or European Castrol from the local auto parts. Even when they do their Oil change sales when I factor in my CCA discount at the dealer.

So something to consider.

Asking us which brand is like asking us which religion.

YOU need to decide for yourself.

In the end, what matters is not the religion, but how often you worship.

See details here:
- BMW motor oil Petrolism (1)

• Jewish
• Catholic
• Protestant

...

• BMW-approved oils only
• BMW-approved oils and similar oils only
  
• BMW-approved oils and similar oils and quality oils only

...

• When it's time to meet its maker ... your beloved bimmer ...
  • blissfully rises to mythical Bavarian pearly gates
  • knowingly lingers in mythical Bavarian purgatorial limbo
  • unrepentantly suffers in mythical Bavarian hell

Any ll01 oil. Brand/viscosity is irrelevant.

Originally Posted by oilsschmoils

Any ll01 oil. Brand/viscosity is irrelevant.

The main point is the OWNER should choose their religion.
For example, depending on your Petrolism, even LL01 (long life 2001) is irrelevant, especially if you change your oil religiously.

So it makes no sense for US to tell HIM what oil to use (nor even what 'standard' to go by).

HE must tell us what category he is in; once we know that, it's easy to point him to a plethora of 'right' oils for him!

For example, if he's in the first category (he follows BMW recommendations to the letter, then these are decent links for him:
- BMW approved motor oils (pdf)
- Why does BMW mold "Use Castrol" on the oil filler cap (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

If he's in the second category, then it gets more complicated (but if he's really in that category, he would relish the detail):
- Bob is the Oil Guy
- More Than You Ever Wanted to. Know About Motor Oil by Ed Hackett

Lastly, if he's in the consumer-reports style category, then, again, it's super easy to tell him what oil he should use:
- How to logically choose the right motor oil for your E39

To the OP: What 'kind' of person are you?

• Do you believe that BMW makes better engines (different) than anyone else?
• Do you enjoy looking up precise boiling point and flash point and viscosity specifications?
• Or do you simply buy things 'by the numbers', trusting in the commonality of petroleum engineering standards?

M1 10W40 isn't 'fine'. 0W or 5W are the only acceptable viscosities. And if the oil doesn't met
LL01, it at least has to meet ACEA A3,B3, so a min HTHS OF 3.5 and a viscosity @100C of approx 12.0 cSt minimum.

As for which oil is best, you'd get a million different answers to that questions, as long is BMW approved and is LL01, you'll be fine, just don't forget to change it every 7500 miles.
Never wait 15000 milews between oil changes, you'll have sludge in your engine, not a pleasant situation.

Originally Posted by lancelot1959

As for which oil is best, you'd get a million different answers to that questions

Actually, we've analyzed every single 'what oil' thread in the E39 forums for the past five years ... and boiled the results down to THREE different (fundamental) answers.

Originally Posted by lancelot1959

Never wait 15000 miles between oil changes, you'll have sludge in your engine, not a pleasant situation.

Few would doubt sludge will form if you don't change your oil regularly; but let's be clear that sludge (& mayo) can form from other factors unrelated to the motor oil changes. For example:
- Why sludge in the oil cap is an indication of a failing CCV (aka PCV)

Originally Posted by oilsschmoils

M1 10W40 isn't 'fine'. 0W or 5W are the only acceptable viscosities

There's no doubt what religion YOU belong to ... based on BMW fundamentalist dogma ... but neither you nor I can properly tell the OP which oil to use until we know what doctrine the OP wishes to subscribe to.

Once we know the OP's preferred religion, then (and only then), can we, in all good faith, recommend something like Mobile1 0W40 (LL01) versus Mobil1 10W40 (LL011) as a proper response to his question.

Note: Viscosity is not the issue (even BMW says that ... see below, for example); the issue is in the Petrolism that the OP subscribes to.

Originally Posted by jonathan2263

Any synthetic oil that meets LL-01 specifications is fine. I use Mobile 1.

7 quarts.

Search the site sponsors links at the top of the page for a good price on the oil you want.

Read the Wiki and pay close attention to Solidjake's video for resetting the oil service light.

Read the Wiki, learn the Wiki, live the Wiki. Most of these basic questions have been answered there. And if you can't find guidance in the wiki, try the search function.

thank you so much for you info

Change oil every 7500 miles. Use mobil1 0w40 and oem filter or those Mann filters

Originally Posted by bluebee

There's no doubt what religion YOU belong to ... based on BMW fundamentalist dogma ...

Not having captured the specimen yet for a thorough DNA analysis, but we have a strong suspicion that there are quite a few GoingNuts genes present there....

Originally Posted by jcourcoul

Not having captured the specimen yet for a thorough DNA analysis, but we have a strong suspicion that there are quite a few GoingNuts genes present there....

THAT gene pool needs some chlorine, fer sure....

Originally Posted by jcourcoul

Not having captured the specimen yet for a thorough DNA analysis

I'm not sure, based on your joke, whether you understood the humor in equating the three types of suggestions to religious dogma.

As for me, I'm an atheist ... but that doesn't mean I foist my religion upon others. Likewise, were I an orthodox Jew, I wouldn't tell a Christian that they can't believe in Christ. Yet, were I to argue with a fundamentalist, we'd have a thousand what-religion threads, none of which would ever agree.

The point of the humor (which seems to have been missed by some, including me in yours), is that we could have what-oil threads until the end of time, and we'd not agree SIMPLY BECAUSE we have three different ways of approaching the problem.

Keeping religious jokes out of the mix, we could characterize these as:
1. The BMW way
2. The "Bob is the Oil Guy" way
3. The Consumer Reports way

The most exclusive is the "BMW way", and those strong proponents are very fundamentalist in their recommendations. It's either on BMW's list, or it's not.

The most generally pragmatic is the "Consumer Reports" way.

Somewhere in between is the "Bob is the Oil Guy" way.

My point of equating these with religions is to point out that it really doesn't matter what WE think. It matters what the OP feels inside (since the choice of oil really doesn't matter in the end anyway, to the life of the car, assuming quality oils and frequent oil changes from the start).

For some people, following BMW mantra feels good; for others, making educated decisions feels good; and for the rest, being intelligently pragmatic feels just as good.

But, the fact that the first is exclusionary, the second is exclusive, and the third is widely encompassing, is the fundamental reason for all the 'what oil' arguments.

I, for one, won't suggest an oil to the OP until the OP tells us what dogma he wishes to subscribe to. If, as it seems to appear, he's in the first category, then the answer is trivially simple.

But, my point is you can't give him the answer until you figure out which one of the three he is wiling to bet the life of his engine on!

I hope you understand as this is NOT the typical approach to the zillions of 'what oil' threads ... because ... if it was ... there wouldn't BE zillions of what oil threads!

Originally Posted by bluebee

I'm not sure, based on your joke, whether you understood the humor in equating the three types of suggestions to religious dogma.

As for me, I'm an atheist ... but that doesn't mean I foist my religion upon others. Likewise, were I an orthodox Jew, I wouldn't tell a Christian that they can't believe in Christ. Yet, were I to argue with a fundamentalist, we'd have a thousand what-religion threads, none of which would ever agree.

The point of the humor (which seems to have been missed by some, including me in yours), is that we could have what-oil threads until the end of time, and we'd not agree SIMPLY BECAUSE we have three different ways of approaching the problem.

Keeping religious jokes out of the mix, we could characterize these as:
1. The BMW way
2. The "Bob is the Oil Guy" way
3. The Consumer Reports way

The most exclusive is the "BMW way", and those strong proponents are very fundamentalist in their recommendations. It's either on BMW's list, or it's not.

The most generally pragmatic is the "Consumer Reports" way.

Somewhere in between is the "Bob is the Oil Guy" way.

My point of equating these with religions is to point out that it really doesn't matter what WE think. It matters what the OP feels inside (since the choice of oil really doesn't matter in the end anyway, to the life of the car, assuming quality oils and frequent oil changes from the start).

For some people, following BMW mantra feels good; for others, making educated decisions feels good; and for the rest, being intelligently pragmatic feels just as good.

But, the fact that the first is exclusionary, the second is exclusive, and the third is widely encompassing, is the fundamental reason for all the 'what oil' arguments.

I, for one, won't suggest an oil to the OP until the OP tells us what dogma he wishes to subscribe to. If, as it seems to appear, he's in the first category, then the answer is trivially simple.

But, my point is you can't give him the answer until you figure out which one of the three he is wiling to bet the life of his engine on!

I hope you understand as this is NOT the typical approach to the zillions of 'what oil' threads ... because ... if it was ... there wouldn't BE zillions of what oil threads!

Let me take a wild guess here, Blue....you were a Philosophy major ???

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

Let me take a wild guess here, Blue....you were a Philosophy major ???

I have a few degrees.

The main point is we analyzed why so many people ask the same question, and, why, at the same time, there was no easy agreement like there is on other issues.

We found out, collectively, that it's a dogmatic issue - and therefore - like religion - has no true right or wrong answer - while - at the same time - has a right answer for everyone (which depends on the doctrine they wish to believe in).

We also looked far and wide to find to find evidence of engines 'ruined' by conscientious use of non-BMW-approved quality oils (e.g., Mobil1 10W40) ... and found nothing to support the oft-stated claims.

In addition, we looked at 'similar' engines - and again - found nothing to substantiate sole use of any one of the three doctrines.

Like religions, they all serve the same purpose to the same end.

The beauty of this analysis was that we simplified the results so that there was no disagreement - among similar doctrines.

If someone asks 'which oil', we merely need to determine 'which doctrine', each of which has their clearly defined favorite oils!

What utter bollocks! There's a specific spec in the owners manual (LL01) and it even mentions the temporary use of ACEA A3,B3 oil (0/5W30 or 0/5W40) when LL01 isn't available. But wait I forgot that BMWNA forgot to put that info into the U.S owners manual, and consequently we have all this confusion, but on U.S BMW forums. BMWNA have a lot to answer for.

Originally Posted by oilsschmoils

What utter bollocks! There's a specific spec in the owners manual (LL01)

I think you wholly missed the point!

In doing so, you unwittingly made my main point!

To wit, some clearly have a 'dogmatic' attachment to the BMW LL/ACAE doctrine. Nothing wrong with that.

But, plenty of other people don't have that dogmatic attachment to the BMW doctrine; they don't disagree with BMw's dogmatic selection of motor oils ... they just have other high-quality oils in mind that work just as well for their BMW.

As in most religious fervor, some (apparently) can't comprehend any other opinion than the LL01/ACEA doctrine clearly espoused by BMW.

On the other hand, others fully understand that dogmatic opinion; yet they simply aren't as fundamentalist about it.

That dogmatic disagreement is fundamentally why there is so many inconclusive 'what oil' discussions on the forums!

For further dogmatic details, see:
- Fundamentally, why are there so many 'what oil' threads?

For further technical details, see:
- How to CHOOSE the right oil for you for your BMW

After reading all of this the poor bloke's probably taken his zimmer to the local garage and paid someone to choose for him. HA

hell nah

Originally Posted by mujjuman

Change oil every 7500 miles. Use mobil1 0w40 and oem filter or those Mann filters

http://www.amazon.com/Mobil-96989-Sy...2447460&sr=1-1

is this a good deal?

Originally Posted by Words

http://www.amazon.com/Mobil-96989-Sy...2447460&sr=1-1

is this a good deal?

It's just okay. I recently paid a little bit more at my local Auto Zone for the same product, and that included sales taxes. I'm sure there are better deals to be had if one searches long enough.

Nice way to bring an old thread back to life!

will I need 7 not 6 so it would end up being the same price -_- i payed at autozone which was
65 for 7 of them.

I live in oregon no sales tax.