10w60 Top Up 1litre oil

nickw6666 · Post by **nickw6666** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 9:54 am

I'm doing a Euro driving trip and am thinking about 1l top up oil in case I need to top up. I have a 1l Castrol TWS Top Up bottle from 2007 that is open and came with the car but which I haven't used in 15 years of ownership. The car doesn't seem to consume any oil!

So my question really is, do you think it's OK to top up with that if I need to? The car has Shell Racing 10w60 in it from BMW main dealer.

Or would it be better to buy new but the issue there is hardly anyone stocks this and I leave tomorrow! Doh!

If I walk into a Shell fuel station they won't have 10w60 on the shelf, but they may have Shell helix Ultra Racing 5w40.

If I had to, do you think it's OK to top up with 5w/40 whilst on the trip? e.g. the Shell Ultra Racing same type just different viscosity etc.

I have often wondered anyway if 10w/60 is a little 'gloopy' as many S54 engine owners have had to change their conrod bearings at 80-100k miles+. Is this because of the lack of flow at cold start from the 10w oil used over the engines lifetime?

So I'm wondering if I had to top up with 5w/40 for. small amount, would this be ok?

Or would it be better to use 'old' TWS 10w/60 for top up if I need to?

Would be interested in thoughts on this..

mmm-five · Post by **mmm-five** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 10:02 am

Do you have a local BMW dealer, Halfords, EuroCarParts, or A.N.Other motor factors nearby?

One of the should stock a 10w60 of some sort...and that would be a safer/cheaper plan than using old/incorrect oil...as you'd then probably want to drain & refill as soon as you came back.

You probably won't have TWS in there, nor Castrol Edge Supercar. If it has had an oil change in the last couple of years it will be the Shell variant anyway...and there will have been some mixing anyway.

I always carry a spare 1L, but I've also never required any top-ups between services. It usually gets used by one of the other cars in our group when we go over to Germany (either the e34 M5 or the GT-R33)...and I buy another when I get home.

plenty · Post by **plenty** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 10:31 am

nickw6666 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 9:54 am
I have often wondered anyway if 10w/60 is a little 'gloopy' as many S54 engine owners have had to change their conrod bearings at 80-100k miles+. Is this because of the lack of flow at cold start from the 10w oil used over the engines lifetime?

Assuming you are doing your trip in summer or at least 10+ degrees temperatures then 10w60 will be fine. It's only if you use the car frequently in extremely cold weather that a thinner oil might be beneficial.

nickw6666 · Post by **nickw6666** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:33 am

Thanks guys for your prompt feedback.
It does make sense with such a high performance engine that it's best to use exactly the same oil and that's Shell Helix Ultra not Castrol TWS for my car now with 10w/60.
By luck, I have just seen that there there is actually 1 bottle of top-up oil available at my local EuroCarParts. So going to get down there and buy that before I go to be on safe side. I'm likely to be doing more than 2000 miles on this trip through Europe so having the right top-up oil does make sense... My car will wonder what is happening with such a long journey!

plenty · Post by **plenty** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:59 am

If you're an Amazon Prime customer you can have 1 litre of 10w60 delivered tomorrow for the same price as ECP

Seems lots of Z4M owners are doing Euro trips this summer. There are a few owners on the Z4 UK Facebook group doing trips. I'll be doing 4,000+ miles in 4 weeks starting July.

mmm-five · Post by **mmm-five** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 12:22 pm

plenty wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:59 am If you're an Amazon Prime customer you can have 1 litre of 10w60 delivered tomorrow for the same price as ECP

Have tried that with Amazon in the past...and despite not leaving until 6pm, the parcel (only a replacement Logitech mouse that I could have bought the same day from the local Currys/PCWorld for twice the price) had still not arrived* so had to use an e-waste Dell one at the office

* it eventually turned up just after 9pm, by which time I was 30 mins away from my hotel in London.

DevonPaul · Post by **DevonPaul** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 4:41 pm

If it hasn't used anything in 15 years, chances are you will be fine this year

If the old TWS has been sat with the lid tight then take that, however a bit of 5/40 on with the 10/60 won't be the end of the world, and certainly better than running it low on oil.

I'd be far more concerned with why it had suddenly started using oil if it did start needing a top up.

Mr Tidy · Post by **Mr Tidy** » Tue Jun 06, 2023 5:08 pm

My BMW Indy still uses the Castrol Edge 10W/60 in BMW "S" model engines so I keep a litre of that in the car, although it doesn't seem to use any between services despite being on 86K miles - unlike the N52 engines I've had.

I did a 2,000 mile round trip for the NC500 last month and didn't need to open my top-up litre, but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry!

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