Oil for E46 330

[CIS121]

Hi folks,

BMW recommend the Castrol SLX LL04 which from them is about £15 a litre. Does anyone use an alternative(similar) oil that they've found cheaper or is this pricey stuff that only BMW seem to sell necessary?

[toastboy]

I use the Castrol for BMWs that they sell in Halfords. About £40 for 4 litres.

[Lordsmut]

toastboy said:

I use the Castrol for BMWs that they sell in Halfords. About £40 for 4 litres.

Thats the one I use too. It was SLX, but didn't it change recently to something else? The bottle changed anyway.

[rossi-328i-sport]

its not a 330 but i use Mobil 1 in my 328i sport,Many of the members on the forum im a member of highly recomend Mobile 1 and Alot of the M3 owners are using 0-30w Mobil 1,Iv used 10-40 Mobil 1 and im really pleased,the engine is completly silent now (not that it was loud to start with),Its not as expensive as the castrol but not that cheap either,i know mines not a 330 E46 but hope this helps you out.

Edited by rossi-328i-sport on Sunday 2nd September 10:06

[CIS121]

rossi-328i-sport said:

its not a 330 but i use Mobil 1 in my 328i sport,Many of the members on the forum im a member of highly recomend Mobile 1 and Alot of the M3 owners are using 0-30w Mobil 1,Iv used 10-40 Mobil 1 and im really pleased,the engine is completly silent now (not that it was loud to start with),Its not as expensive as the castrol but not that cheap either,i know mines not a 330 E46 but hope this helps you out.

Edited by rossi-328i-sport on Sunday 2nd September 10:06

Thanks Rossi. I'll have to look into this Mobile 1. The problem with the Castrol I use is that BMW spares seem to have a monopoly on supply hence it's so pricey. I'm sure it's no better than Mobil 1.

Thanks again!

[Chainguy]

Again, another vote for Mobil 1. I have a 325ci that does low miles, so needs long life oil. My local main dealer is happy to have the oil supplied to them when the car is serviced as long as it meets BMW LL01 standard. They think Mobil 1 is great stuff, and they have told me before (off the record) that a lot of VANOS problems are down, in their opinion, to crap/wrong quality oil being used.

Also, I have friends who can get oil analysed for me. Last time I took a few drops of the old oil out before it went in for the service, and the report that came back was all good. The oil was doing its job big time, with no metal particulate wear detected. Happy with that indeed.

Good luck with your choice.

[[TW]Fox]

I use Castrol Edge 0w30 in my 530i, which has the same M54B30 engine as your 330i. This is the oil my local BMW uses for servicing - although they still receive it in bulk branded as Castrol SLX Longtec.

Edge is the consumer replacement for SLX.

I paid £70 for 8 litres from Opie Oils, and left it in the car for them to use when I had an Inspection 1 at my local main dealer. This knocked £100 off the bill and left me with a litre and a half of oil for topup purposes.

[gazsharp]

£35 for a Kwik Fit mobile 1 oil service including filter. I know that it is full of muppets but worth the risk. Just be carefull as they snapped by sump plug in 2 by using too big a spanner on the bolt.

For me though I 'll never be back.

[CIS121]

gazsharp said:

£35 for a Kwik Fit mobile 1 oil service including filter. I know that it is full of muppets but worth the risk. Just be carefull as they snapped by sump plug in 2 by using too big a spanner on the bolt.

For me though I 'll never be back.

I think you've put me off them for life!

Edited by CIS121 on Monday 3rd September 20:20