BMW LL04 Oil, BMW recommend 0w-30

[p1tse]

Just rang BMW and they said they use 0W-30 Castrol Edge

What's the difference to 5W-30 as I stuck that in my 535d before to 0W-30?
It's for a 2008 X5.

They want £175 for an oil service.

Quick look on EuroCar parts
9L £76
Oil Filter £10
£86
I guess my local Indy will charge like an hour labour (at a guess ) £50+Vat = £60
£136 If I went supplied my own Indy route

But which oil, 0w-30 as recommended or 5w-30?

[gizlaroc]

0w-30 is great when new, but 5w-30 may be a bit better as it gets a bit older and the miles rack up a bit.

Probably use a bit less oil too going 5w-30, many have gone 5w-40 or when up to 100,000 miles 10w-40 even.

[gizlaroc]

Also, worth considering this stuff, really want to know who makes it for them, but put it in the ML and so much quieter than Castrol...

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/...

Mate just put it in his X6 and he is saying the same, noticeably quieter.

[p1tse]

interesting

but for on the safe side probably stick to castrol ll04 range
5w-30 instead

[gizlaroc]

I wouldn't bother, on the Merc forum a few people have said their cars are noticeably noisier with Castrol.

Not saying go with that stuff, but you could try Millers XF, Amsoil Euro Formula, Fuchs Titan GT1 Pro, Shell Helix, Petronas 5000, all of which get great reviews.


I put Castrol in the Z3 a few months back and that went from sounding like a sewing machine to a bit tappety, after 1000 miles I dropped it out and put that QX Life stuff in and it was purring again.

I have gone right off the Castrol Edge stuff and it seems I'm not the only one.

[Locknut]

As far as I know 0w30 and 5w30 are much the same in everyday use. The difference is that 0w30 is chemically treated to give it a lower pour point in extreme cold weather. I don't know the exact values but they are down around -40C and 0w30 is a few degrees lower... very useful for an early morning start in the Arctic!

As regards who makes what brand: Castrol has not been Castrol for a long time. They are now a brand owned by BP Oil.

Edited by Locknut on Monday 13th October 20:06

[StuntmanMike]

gizlaroc said:

Also, worth considering this stuff, really want to know who makes it for them, but put it in the ML and so much quieter than Castrol...

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/...

Mate just put it in his X6 and he is saying the same, noticeably quieter.

I'm changing my oil at the weekend, I was going to use Castrol, but would you recommend that oil instead.
E46 330, 90 thou on the clock.

[anonymous-user]

Locknut said:

As far as I know 0w30 and 5w30 are much the same in everyday use. The difference is that 0w30 is chemically treated to give it a lower pour point in extreme cold weather. I don't know the exact values but they are down around -40C and 0w30 is a few degrees lower... very useful for an early morning start in the Artic!

As regards who makes what brand: Castrol has not been Castrol for a long time. They are now a brand owned by BP Oil.

0-30 indicates a viscosity when cold of an SAE grade 0. At 100c it will have the viscosity of SAE 30. Simple as that. A 5-30 will have a cold viscosity equal to a straight SAE 5 etc.

A 0 grade would only be necessary at very low ambients, so changing to a 5- should be fine in the UK.

To try to reduce oil consumption in an older engine moving to an oil with higher hot viscosity might be more useful. Eg 5-40.

[gizlaroc]

StuntmanMike said:

I'm changing my oil at the weekend, I was going to use Castrol, but would you recommend that oil instead.
E46 330, 90 thou on the clock.

I have had great results with it, when I bought it it was £13.99 for 4 litres, so cheap enough to try and drop again if it didn't feel right, but it did and so I stuck with it.

[StuntmanMike]

Thanks for the reply, I'll give it a whirl.

[copperman05]

Contrary to popular belief I would be very surprised if anyone could 'feel' the difference in oils from brand to brand, from different ends of the viscosity scale perhaps yes, but otherwise the differences are negligible.

In theory the 0W30 oil will have better winter protection (even in Britain's temps as a thinner oil circulate quicker than thicker ones) but the 5W30 wll be slightly more stable over then longer term and perhaps more suitable for the 18,000 service intervals as prescribed by BMW.

As a general rule and within the BMW recommended LL-04 oils, the thinner oils 0W30/5W30, etc can be considered fuel economy oils, optimised for economy and emission regulations, the thicker 0W40/5W40 oils (still within the BMW LL-04 regs) can be considered high performance oils for performance engines. Optimised for oil film strength and engine longevity.

Thats not to say a 0W30 oils can not be the later (such as Millers 0W30 Nanodrive race oil), but these are expensive ester oils best use for track days and hard driving. Oils can be a bit of a nightmare in choosing, if you not racing or doing many track days, as long as you select an oil within the manufactures recommendations you can't really go wrong.

Edited by copperman05 on Monday 13th October 21:30

[gizlaroc]

copperman05 said:

Contrary to popular belief I would be very surprised if anyone could 'feel' the difference in oils from brand to brand, from different ends of the viscosity scale perhaps yes, but otherwise the differences are negligible.

I agree, but the difference when the Castrol Edge was in was quite noticeable, in fact I thought I had a bit of an issue, it was only my father in law who has a garage said maybe it was the oil as it happened after I changed it.
So did a bit of a search and found thread after thread saying the same thing.

I dropped it out and put that QX Life in, as it was cheap enough to have a go with, and the engine was quiet again.

Then without thinking put Castrol in the Z3, as that is what I have always used on BMWs, and the Z3 is petrol so didn't even consider there would be any noise, but sure enough, straight away it sounded noisy. I went and bought some more of the QX Life stuff, this time 5w40 as I would prefer a little more protection when up to temperature than a 1mpg gain, and it was silky smooth again.


Then started playing with gearbox oils and found the Redline D4 Automatic Transmission Fluid to be amazing, mine is a manual, but it makes the changes so click and crisp and got rid of any notchiness at all.

I am now a convert and spend far too long reading reviews of different oils.....how sad!

[copperman05]

Placebo perhaps? If your replacing a 0W30 oil with a 10W50 then yes you will see a noticeable difference in engines noise as the thicker oil will muffle the mechanical sounds coming from the engine. However, this does not equal better lubrication or that the 'noisier' oil is doing any less protection wise. Oils should be measured by their ability to prevent engine wear, allow required service intervals and provide adequate boundary lubrication to metals in contact. How the oil makes the engine sound or not should be at the bottom of our list of requirements for engine longevity...

[Denis O]

Everyone should use Castrol R.

What a lovely smelling country we would have then.

[Gruber]

copperman05 said:

Placebo perhaps? If your replacing a 0W30 oil with a 10W50 then yes you will see a noticeable difference in engines noise as the thicker oil will muffle the mechanical sounds coming from the engine. However, this does not equal better lubrication or that the 'noisier' oil is doing any less protection wise. Oils should be measured by their ability to prevent engine wear, allow required service intervals and provide adequate boundary lubrication to metals in contact. How the oil makes the engine sound or not should be at the bottom of our list of requirements for engine longevity...

Some really interesting stuff there (and in your earlier post). Thanks!

[gizlaroc]

copperman05 said:

Placebo perhaps? If your replacing a 0W30 oil with a 10W50 then yes you will see a noticeable difference in engines noise as the thicker oil will muffle the mechanical sounds coming from the engine. However, this does not equal better lubrication or that the 'noisier' oil is doing any less protection wise. Oils should be measured by their ability to prevent engine wear, allow required service intervals and provide adequate boundary lubrication to metals in contact. How the oil makes the engine sound or not should be at the bottom of our list of requirements for engine longevity...

Not a placebo, it was bloody obvious.



BMW moved to a 0w30 to increase MPG, at the expense of engine wear, not a great move imho.

M division and Alpina still recommend a higher viscosity than BMW.

[copperman05]

gizlaroc said:

Not a placebo, it was bloody obvious.



BMW moved to a 0w30 to increase MPG, at the expense of engine wear, not a great move imho.

M division and Alpina still recommend a higher viscosity than BMW.

I agree.

[p1tse]

going through a saga as from my other post my indy wasn't keen for me to supply own

their Petronas is probably very similar, and as grizloc says the cheaper stuff maybe better too, but just going to stick to the book and keep with Castrol Edge but go with 5w-30 instead

[Sump]

I use GM Dexos. Costs me £13 for 5L.

[Alex]

REALIST123 said:

0-30 indicates a viscosity when cold of an SAE grade 0. At 100c it will have the viscosity of SAE 30. Simple as that. A 5-30 will have a cold viscosity equal to a straight SAE 5 etc.

This is correct. Worth pointing out that the winter viscosity rating (0W, 5W etc.) and hot viscosity rating (30, 40 etc) use different scales. So the "20" in 20W-50 is not the same as the "20" in 0W-20.