BMW spec LL-04 oil, not all the same it seems

[scrw.]

Now normally my cars get Morris oil, have done for years, ran engines in excess of 260k miles on it with no issues. Got a service kit from my local factors for my lads 1.6 R55 Clubby One and it came with Granville 5-30 synth to BMW LL-04 spec, thought I may as well give it a go. Oh dear, was okay for first run then got noisier and noisier, to the point I thought the chain tensioner was toast. Started throwing vanos codes after a few runs, so decided I better investigate. Tensioner and vanos solenoids were in good order and clean, at this point i thought the chain must be deffo on the way out, but before going down that rabbit hole I thought I would throw in fresh oil (it has only done 200 miles by now), my go to Morris Multivis to BMW spec went it and its like a new engine, no noise, drives smoother, no codes. So glad I was an easy fix.

[_Rodders_]

Both those oils sound like something from the war.

My starting point is AMSOIL, it's the best you can get.

[21TonyK]

My understanding (which is only based on what I have read in the BMW workshop manuals) is that the BMW spec is more to do with reducing particulate build up. I've been using the cheapo mannol recently as all the cars are around the 100K mark and I've been changing oil every 2000 miles (twice) before I put in something a bit better and leave it for a longer interval.

[Grayedout]

Be aware not all oils meet the specifications that they claim on the bottle!

This organisation takes oils from shelves and tests them against the specifications that they claim. A quick search shows Granville features at least once for possible false advertising!

https://ukla-vls.org.uk/

[scrw.]

Interesting, at least someone is keeping an eye on them.