Recommend me some engine oil

[greg81]

I like Petronus Syntium. To be fair it's partly because I can get it cheap with my Halfords Trade Card

[Thrustyjust]

seeing as you disagree with all of us thrusty i think your on your own mate

No disagreeing Mr Warrior , just the complete service history for the car , it has never had an annual oil change and is BMW throughout. So, although there is a grumble here on BMW servicing being ' not the best' the car is 11 years old and it hasnt broken
So, if I was ragging it on track days and autobahns, then yes, more changes. But for the distance it does and I will be filling in the service history with 'additional' oil changes alongside the BMW schedule visits , its probably going to be in a more rude health than a lot of cars.
I will get 5W30 oil, which seems the oil , albeit on various online places , Eurocarparts et al, they give options.
My neighbour is popping in this weekend , as works part time as a road womble and other times in a workshop as seems keen to get the works done, including the CDV and wishbone bushes , with the oil change, so should all be good.
Next week it will be 3 months of ownership and had more done than the original plan.

[road warrior]

We all have a right to our own opinion and I'm sure you look after your cars, but, the reason we change every 12 months is to prevent sludge Build up in the "arteries " you will see things like noisy Cam followers - there is one floating around the forum right now I notice, or noisy tappets for a second on startup, all clues of oil starvation, im mot saying it will happen to you, but it might, this is about prevention. I don't see the point of deliberately depriving the car of fresh oil and regular removing of crud as being a good tactic.
The valvotronic likes clean oil around it, again caused by long or infrequent oil changes. So say what you like and do what you like., its your car. But you asked and we told you.
Long service intervals is sales hype nothing more, you have just bought it, you have no idea of its past treatment, and you rightly say we are not enamoured with BMW servicing, and yet many buy cars with full service history as some sort of gold ticket evaluation.in the same way some prize low mileage cars. And yes 5-30. But there is no point in putting good oil in if your going to leave it in too long and sludge builds up, which it will if you don't use the car very often

[QUIKSTER]

Firstly apologies for resurrecting this old thread,
I've just hit 85k miles and have used Quantum Platinum 5w 40 in the last two oil changes.
Oct 2019 @ 82,464
June 2021 @ 83,351
Now as I plan to drive the car through this winter was looking to change oil again in Dec.
Is 85k considered as high mileage, should I just continue with 5w 40 or go with 5w 30 until I get to 100k miles and then switch back to 5w 40.
Not sure if the slightly thicker oil is doing any damage.

[B21]

The 40 bit is how the oil flows at operating temperature…damage due to poor oil flow when cold is covered by the 5w…

So the 40 relates to hot engines..depends where you live, what the ambient temperatures are and how you drive..

Currently BMW recommends either 0w-30 or 5w-30 but many owners prefer 40 versions…

Good to see the frequent oil changes

[QUIKSTER]

The 40 bit is how the oil flows at operating temperature…damage due to poor oil flow when cold is covered by the 5w…

So the 40 relates to hot engines..depends where you live, what the ambient temperatures are and how you drive..

Currently BMW recommends either 0w-30 or 5w-30 but many owners prefer 40 versions…

Good to see the frequent oil changes

Daily driver in the UK, so based on recent UK summer temps, this could be max 40 degrees and sub zero in winter months.

[B21]

I’d go for a 0w-30 or a 5w-30 personally….40 weight oils MAY reduce oil consumption a little on a high miler..

[smorris_12]

I think I'm doing something wrong. My 320d has had nothing but the cheapest 5w30 LL04 spec (usually Halfords or TRIPLE QX) for the last 150k miles (currently at 276k) and still fails to consume any, suffer from turbo failure or break anything that's lubricated. And I change it at the full 18k interval.

Please advise.

[kis]

Think you're lucky, assuming you have an e46. My e46 320i used to guzzle oil. Around 1/2 a litre every 2k -ish miles.
Was a lovely super smooth M54, more so than the Zed. The Zed also has problems with oil consumption, but not as bad as the e46.

[smorris_12]

Yes, late E46. Backing off the turbo vane actuation after an EGR delete improved the oil consumption. It was never terrible but I barely have to think about checking it now.

Had a friend with an M54 530i and that was fairly thirsty until we changed all the PCV system. Seemed a common theme. I think part of it was that they came along just as there was a big switch to fully synth oil. Being super slippy the piston rings didn't get bedded in properly unless the engine was worked hard which resulted in high oil consumption. Vauxhall suffered this quite badly. And it's very easy to give a 6-pot an over easy time, particularly the 3.0s.

Not sure how N52 squares up yet. Not sure how many miles I've done since April.