It could be the default for your area.

 

Even though Oil spec is area dependent, I was told by SA that BMW has switched to 0W-30 for fuel efficiency. My SA still recommends to stick to 5W-30 if possible. I am doing that, since I usually keep my cars for a very long time.

 

living in san fransisco you want 5w40 oil.

 

Here in Norway the LL04 spec oil is switched to 0W30 as whell but we find LL04 approval on 0w30, 5w30, 0w40 and 5w40.

 

All 0W30s are NOT created equal. If it's LL-01 and ACEA A3 then it's fine. Non-A3 0W30s are not. If it was put in by the dealer, it's most certainly fine.

12 years ago there was only one ACEA A3 0W30 (German Castrol Syntec 0W30) and it was unicorn oil. There may be more now, but that stuff is more than good enough for our engines. You've got a heck of a lot more to worry about for long term, out of warranty ownership than an ACEA A3 0W30. For that matter, you're better with an ACEA A3 0W30 than a non-A3 5W30, 10W30, 0W40 etc...

 

My last oil change at dealer (Apr 2017) they used 0W-30 as well...

BMW LL-01 oil: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/.../en/f10-550i-xdrive-lim_201208/repair-manuals/11-engine/11-00-engine/1VnYpiUbyG

BMW LL-01 FE (fuel efficiency) oil: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/.../en/f10-550i-xdrive-lim_201208/repair-manuals/11-engine/11-00-engine/1VnYpiUbyG

-Mike

 

Just FYI for this topic, my new 540i specifies 0W-20 and has a label to that effect under the hood as a reminder.

 

never in my life would I ever put 0w20 into any vehicle, especially not a BMW. I put 5w30 into my Mazda after realizing that the 0w20 is ONLY for north america, engine runs much quieter and smoother, stopped all oil consumption, never looking back.

Repeatedly saying something doesn't make it true. The people who designed these engines disagree with you. (See Markl53's post above.)

Frau Putzer's V6 Honda has 142k miles on 5W-20 synthetic. It doesn't need oil top off between 8k miles oil changes, and on the last road trip (fewer variables affecting MPG than in-town driving) it got the same MPG as it did on road trips with 40k miles.

Oil viscosity is necessary to keep the shafts floating in the bearings. But, with tighter bearing clearances lower viscosities can be used. When it comes to metal-on-metal lubrication, when there are just a few oil molecules between the two metal surfaces, viscosity is irrelevant. For this 'boundary layer lubrication," it's the molecular properties of the oil and the additives that determine the effectiveness of the lubrication.

BMW's have some of the loosest bearing clearances you will find on any vehicle. people have run 10w40 and 15w40 in these cars during the summer with zero issues.

I am really not in the mood to start this debate, but I strongly urge you to read up on the CAFE requirements (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) that we have in north america. Note that USA and Canada are the only two places in the entire world regularly using a 0w oil. I can promise you that BMW did not specifically tighten the bearing clearances on any of their vehicles specifically for 0w20.

 

average annual mileage is about 14k so common sense tells me....

0w-30 a3/b4 cold months
5w-40 a3/b4 hot months

now back to my cerveza

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Newer BMW's require BMW Long Life oils: LL-01, LL-04, LL-12, LL-14, etc. The LL spec's are more severe than the ACEA A3/B4 oils. Here's a radar chart I got off of the Lubrizol website in 2015. (The link doesn't work anymore.) Lubrizol is the leading manufacturer of lubricant and fuel additives.

 

My local dealership (Morristown NJ) used the same (83-21-2-450-384) in my 550i xdrive, oil changed 12/1.
So is that 0w-30 or 5w-30? Thanks!

 

That part number comes back as a BMW service bulletin (instructions). But, it appears to be a bulletin saying to use 0W-30. So, I'd assume that you got 0W-30 in your car.

https://www.bmwdirectparts.com/oem-parts/bmw-bmw-group-ll-01-fe-0w-30-bul-832511-83212450384

 

Fascinating discussion. Still, no definitive answer as of if 0W is worse than 5W. Still, I went to my records and, lo and behold, this time last year, the dealer also used 0W30 for oil change. The one before that was 5W30. I chanced measured oil level just prior to the oil change two weeks ago. It came back with this silly electronic gizmo pointing right in the middle of the Hi-Lo range. After the oil change the same thing points at the top of the range. If, as in the older days the range is equal to 1Qt, my engine consumed 0.5 Qt of 0W30 oil over 10k miles. My driving habits are all over the place - both highway and short trip in town.

Probably not too bad: I am still recovering from Qt/500 mile my E46 had some years back at 150k, which nobody was able to explain, as it never smoked nor leaked oil: neither a dealer, who would be happy to replace oil separation valves in perpetuity, no a fabled indy, who wanted to rebuild the motor just because compression was slightly lower in one cylinder (still within the spec though). The mystery was never solved and it is somebody else's problem now.

 

Fascinating discussion. Still, no definitive answer as of if 0W is worse than 5W. Still, I went to my records and, lo and behold, this time last year, the dealer also used 0W30 for oil change. The one before that was 5W30. I chanced measured oil level just prior to the oil change two weeks ago. It came back with this silly electronic gizmo pointing right in the middle of the Hi-Lo range. After the oil change the same thing points at the top of the range. If, as in the older days the range is equal to 1Qt, my engine consumed 0.5 Qt of 0W30 oil over 10k miles. My driving habits are all over the place - both highway and short trip in town.

Probably not too bad: I am still recovering from Qt/500 mile my E46 had some years back at 150k, which nobody was able to explain, as it never smoked nor leaked oil: neither a dealer, who would be happy to replace oil separation valves in perpetuity, no a fabled indy, who wanted to rebuild the motor just because compression was slightly lower in one cylinder (still within the spec though). The mystery was never solved and it is somebody else's problem now.

-20C: 0w is better

20c or higher: 5w40 is better

there is no wrong or right, only how you drive and in what sort of weather conditions.

your E46 excessively consumed oil due to an original owner not breaking in the engine properly and revving it hard multiple times when the engine was still new. if you let someone rev the exhaust for you while you stood behind the car, you would definitely smell burnt oil. an oil like motul or shell rotella 5w40 would help slow oil consumption that case (most likely worn piston rings, PCV system, maybe valve stem seals, etc causing consumption)

 

What's wrong with using the oil the engineers designed the engine to use?

As I understand it the "W" stands for winter and the oil will flow easier at low temperatures and the /30-40-50 is what the oil "converts" to when heated-up. So at normal operating temps the oil isn't a thin 0 weight but a 30/40/50 or whatever.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/putting-the-simple-back-into-viscosity/

 

What's wrong with using the oil the engineers designed the engine to use?

As I understand it the "W" stands for winter and the oil will flow easier at low temperatures and the /30-40-50 is what the oil "converts" to when heated-up. So at normal operating temps the oil isn't a thin 0 weight but a 30/40/50 or whatever.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/putting-the-simple-back-into-viscosity/

Because STR8-6IX said so.

The weak links in modern non-M BMW engines are the VANOS (variable valve timing) hardware and the turbocharger(s). These components are at the end of the oil path. So, a thinner oil at start-up (0W... instead of 5W...10W..., or especially 15W...) means that oil will get to those components slightly sooner after a cold start-up. Cold start-up is where a lot of an engine's wear takes place, due to a lack of oil. The sooner the oil gets to those components, the less wear they will incur.

The last time I looked up what the W rating meant was in 1983. That was before the Interwebs, so looking it up was big pain in the ass. I had to go to a library at a college that had an engineering program. In 1982, the W rating was the maximum Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) viscosity index at 0C/32F. As surly said, they (the SAE) might have added requirements for viscosity at 0F/-18C.

M-cars are designed for track use. The current ones use 0W-40, as do Porsches and Mercedes-Benz AMG's. If you're tracking, chasing speeders, or tear-assing on the Autobahn at 120 MPH, yeah, go to an
LL-01 0W-40 that is still one of approved oil types in the owner's manual of my 2014 535i.

The weak link in M engines, because of how they are used, is the connecting rod bearings. Under high-speed conditions that M cars are subjected to that extra viscosity at operating temperature (the 40 in a 0W-40) might keep your engine in one piece longer. A lot of M car owners replace the connecting rod bearings as part of periodic and preventative maintenance. They can see trouble coming by regularly having their oil analyzed. When an increased amount of metal from the bearings shows up in the oil, it's time to replace the bearings.

 

I switched to 0W30 a couple years ago but used 5W since new 5 years ago.

I do short drives daily to the office so wanted the lighter weight. It’s been great.

On 5W30 I’d get a refill warning every 5k but haven’t on the 0W. I change oil between 5 and 7K.

Car drives and feels great and I don’t baby it.

BMW dealers in Tokyo have this twin power oil but they need to order in advance but it’s not an issue if you plan.


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I switched to 0W30 a couple years ago but used 5W since new 5 years ago.

I do short drives daily to the office so wanted the lighter weight. It's been great.

On 5W30 I'd get a refill warning every 5k but haven't on the 0W. I change oil between 5 and 7K.

Car drives and feels great and I don't baby it.

BMW dealers in Tokyo have this twin power oil but they need to order in advance but it's not an issue if you plan.

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You do know the 0w is the cold viscosity, yes? Once the oil is at operating temp it becomes a 30 weight (if 0w30).

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/

 

I think it was LL-14. I need to take a picture of it next time I see it.

The only thing that would worry me about 0W-20
or 30 is that the bigger the spread between yhe first and second numbers means there's more VI (viscosity improvers) added-more polymeric stuff that unfolds to make thd oil thicker.

Depending on the quality and properties of the base oil, yes.

Because more VI added also means more sludge potential as VIs breakdown.

I'd prefer 5W-20 over 0W-20 or 10W-30 over 0W-30 myself.

I'm a big fan of BITOG too!

The Castrol Edge/Euro 0W30 is a non-issue. On my UOA results on a BMW engine I drove harder and revved higher than my F10 it showed that it stayed exactly in place in terms of viscosity (low 12.x cSt @100C) and is shear stable. Mobil1 0W40, on the other hand, started around 12.9cSt and was in the low 10s @100C after a few thousand kilometers (not even miles).

From what I've read so far, you can still look for LL-01 and you're not forced to use LL-14FE to maintain your warranty. I read it as "0W20 is optional". For those with an LL-14FE vehicle, you may wish to confirm warranty terms.