Dealers put wrong oil in my M5

[mr sagman]

Im absolutely fuming at the moment as I think a BMW indy has put the wrong engine oil in my E39 M5, whilst in for a Insp 1 service today.. When booking the car in I explained that Iam a really fussy bugger etc etc and they assured me that they service M cars all the time and everything would be done right !! I was late leaving work and just managed to collect the car before they closed.. However I queried the fact that the oil on the receipt says fully synthetic 10/50 but was assured by the manager that it is the correct oil according to BMW... Having spent the evening trawling the M forums it is now obvious that 10-60 is the only oil recommended oil to use in an 02 M5 (pref Castrol edge).. I cant find a single mention of 10/50 being recomended in any of the forums at all.. I know the earlier engines are supposed to use 5w 30.
Am I worried over nothing or should I be on the phone to the Indy 1st thing in the morning.

Thanks in advance
Ian.

[b16a2_VTi]

id take it back to them, like most garages they will prob say ohh yeah its a miss print its 10-60 we put in.

Id ask for proof old oil container?
or
Since they service so many M cars they "should" have a barrel of oil. (which will clearly state what oil it is, take photo/details of any labels if your unsure).

If they have binned the barrel or container demand invoice of purchase.... and IF you still feel they are fobbing you off say you want a reprint of the invoice with 10-60. Since your really fussy (like me) id ring up opie oils and get them to send off your oil sample to be testing to see what oil it really was. I know this is going far but IM sick of garages taking the piss. (it will cost you no doubt).

Ive had it before when i clearly stated i want 5-40 motul oil in my track car and a certain garage assured me FULL well that thats what went in, i knew they were full off it as the motul oil has a distective colour and smell esp when new which my oil didnt. They even went as far as saying we have an account with XXXXX, i rang them up soon as i left the building and they confirmed they have never heard of them went back in presented them with my case along with some left over motul i had in the boot and in the end the guy just gave me the money back and said he didnt want to deal with the matter anymore. Therefore admiting he was wrong!!!!

its a shame as this happens day in day out to many punters, i recently took my daily beater to get the gearbox oil changed, the garage assured me that he was putting in the dealer stuff and orderd it a few days before i went in, went down and what i saw shocked me!!! Blog standard comma stuff it was your bog i quietly pulled him to one side and asked him to drain the stuff which he did and got him to send a lad to the dealer to get the proper stuff, had i came at the end of the day to pick up he would have bull stted me and there was little i could have done and over charged me for the oil!!!

Best bet is to use a trust worthy garage and supply your own stuff and ask you want to be there when the car is serviced, most garages are fine with this aslong as your not standing over there heads. i.e just hover around outside.

Dont assume dealers are any different!!! i had massive scratch down one side when i dropped the car off they took no liability for it, i asked to see cctv pictures and left it with them, got a call before i got home to say bring it in and we'll respray it and an letter to say sorry!

For this reason i try and do as much as poss to my own car using only the best consumables. A close friend of mine is in the process of opening a small garage for this very reason.

Sorry for going on, your experience(s) should like what ive had!!!

Thanks

[aponting389]

Sounds like a mis-print to me. 10W/50 engine oils are pretty rare, Usually motobike stuff, I doubt very much that they have put this in your car, mis-print for sure.

[Pothole]

aponting389 said:

Sounds like a mis-print to me. 10W/50 engine oils are pretty rare, Usually motobike stuff, I doubt very much that they have put this in your car, mis-print for sure.

Oh, you're no fun are you? It's a huge conspiracy to rip off the OP!! Misprint indeed.

[mmm-five]

So what's your post got to do with a DEALER putting the wrong oil in your car when you took it to an INDY?

I know I'm not the first to support the BMW dealer network, but at least I put the blame where it's supposed to be.

Personally, I'd have bought the oil myself from OpieOils and handed it over to them to ensure they had the correct oil, and possibly to reduce the bill a little too.

Although if you're doing the recommended (by enthusiasts & ///M specialists) interim oil services too (obviously doing them yourself as it's only a 30 minute job), then you'll probably already have plenty of oil around the garage.

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 8th June 13:06

[mr sagman]

mmm-five said:

So what's your post got to do with a DEALER putting the wrong oil in your car when you took it to an INDY?

I know I'm not the first to support the BMW dealer network, but at least I put the blame where it's supposed to be.

Personally, I'd have bought the oil myself from OpieOils and handed it over to them to ensure they had the correct oil, and possibly to reduce the bill a little too.

Although if you're doing the recommended (by enthusiasts & ///M specialists) interim oil services too (obviously doing them yourself as it's only a 30 minute job), then you'll probably already have plenty of oil around the garage.

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 8th June 13:06

My mistake in putting dealer... I was after advice which I got from the other posts rather than a pointless post from yourself stating the obvious.

[mmm-five]

mr sagman said:

My mistake in putting dealer... I was after advice which I got from the other posts rather than a pointless post from yourself stating the obvious.

My post might have been stating the obvious, but it's amazing how many 'enthusiasts' still get obvious things wrong.

My point was that as I don't trust most dealers/indies as far as I can throw them, I ensure that when I have to use someone other than my regular specialist I supply them with all the parts/oils they need so that I KNOW they're using the correct/genuine parts, and I will tell them that I've marked the current parts with a UV pen to check once I've got the car back (all the time telling them that it's not that I don't trust them, but I've had bad experiences in the past so it's just habit).

[M5Dave]

mr sagman said:

Having spent the evening trawling the M forums it is now obvious that 10-60 is the only oil recommended oil to use in an 02 M5 (pref Castrol edge).. I cant find a single mention of 10/50 being recomended in any of the forums at all.. I know the earlier engines are supposed to use 5w 30.
Am I worried over nothing or should I be on the phone to the Indy 1st thing in the morning.

Thanks in advance
Ian.

It's the earlier engines that should only use 10W60.

There's a bit of debate about the later engines. Some say 10W60, others say 5W30. It was debated at great length on the old BM5W/MTorque forums, I don't think they ever came to a diffinitive answer.

One things for sure though, it shouldn't be 10W50.

[mr sagman]

The indy is still adamant that 10/50 is in fact the correct oil that the factory recommends for the E39 M5.. And that it meets all BMW recommendations.. After 20 mins of us agreeing to disagree he has agreed to refund 70% of the cost of the oil (IE cost price to them presumably).. And will provide another oil filter FOC if I provide the oil and they will change it whilst I watch.. Im still not happy that I should pay anything towards the incorrect oil and may well go back on the bounce if it deems that I have a valid case.
How can I prove to him that the original oil is wrong? Is there something I can get printed out from BMW?.. My service handbook mentions nothing about oil viscosity.

Thanks
Ian.

[groucho]

mr sagman said:

The indy is still adamant that 10/50 is in fact the correct oil that the factory recommends for the E39 M5.. And that it meets all BMW recommendations.. After 20 mins of us agreeing to disagree he has agreed to refund 70% of the cost of the oil (IE cost price to them presumably).. And will provide another oil filter FOC if I provide the oil and they will change it whilst I watch.. Im still not happy that I should pay anything towards the incorrect oil and may well go back on the bounce if it deems that I have a valid case.
How can I prove to him that the original oil is wrong? Is there something I can get printed out from BMW?.. My service handbook mentions nothing about oil viscosity.

Thanks
Ian.

Doesn't it say in the engine bay?

[Quinten]

You can download the owners manuals (US ones, but should make no difference) here: http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/m5-e39-e60-tips-t...

Looking at mine (99 M5), it advices 10W60 (page 128), and looking at yours (02 M5) it advices 5W40/5W30 (page 117).

HTH

Q.

[Pothole]

According to Opie: CFS 10w50 is especially suited to modified, high performance vehicles, with or without turbochargers, for fast
road and track day use.

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/millersoils/CFS-10w...

so it's probably going to be ok. (or are you worried you won't go fast enough?)

[mmm-five]

According to a BMW technical document of October 2007 (the latest I have access to), the S52 in any e39 M5 from March 2000 should be using something that conforms to BMW LL01 or LL98 specification (and that can be anything from a 0w30 to a 10w40)

Before that (i.e. before Feb 2000) the S52 e39 M5 should be using a 10w60.

If he's put a 10w50 in then he's wrong either way.

Show him this BMW PDF and see what he says.



And in case you/he are interested, here's the list of LL98 and LL01 approved oils from the same database.

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 8th June 20:09

[mr sagman]

Many thanks for that Tony and everyone for all your help... I will print the PDF and show it to him when I call in to see him.. Be interesting to hear what he has to say.
Many thanks
Ian.

[Seesure]

Looks like a bit of mis-information kicking around...

E39 ///M5 has an S62 engine

Pre March 2000 Cars were advised to run Castrol TWS 10-60.

After that date it became a bit greyer although most dealers would still say use the TWS, but it did became an option to use Castrol Edge 5-30 (not the sport version).

However there has been a lot of debate on this over the years and many owners still prefer to use the TWS.

Edited by Seesure on Tuesday 8th June 22:33

[Pothole]

Wouldn't the definitive answer be forthcoming if you just called your local BMW main dealer and asked what they would recommend/put in if you brought it to them?

[ArmaghMan]

M5 Oil change.....what a hornets nest.

If you look in the handbook (for UK supplied cars at any rate) it's worse than useless, basically stating you can run anything from 0W to 10W depending on the weather,prevailing circumstances and probably the phase of the moon too.

I run mine on 5W 50 and she drinks it, but I'm told that if I changed to 10W oil use would be slightly less.

[Chicken Pox]

Pothole said:

Wouldn't the definitive answer be forthcoming if you just called your local BMW main dealer and asked what they would recommend/put in if you brought it to them?

they'd probably charge £40 for such a "diagnostic" phone call given downward spiral of BMW dealers round my way.

[Deva Link]

The information isn't very clear, is it. What earthly difference does it make anyway?

[Pothole]

Deva Link said:

The information isn't very clear, is it. What earthly difference does it make anyway?

What I wanted to ask.