170,000 km n52 - which oil?

I

ionofchios

Member
Hi board,

I just got an e86, n52 3.0si, with 170,000 Ikm on the clock, and am replacing the fluids as a matter of course. I live in Finland, which means that winter temperature is normally somewhere between 0 and -10, but it can very occasionally get as low as -25, but that’s like one or two driving days a year, max.

I was thinking Castrol 0w-30 - any thoughts or recommendations? How important is it that the oil be BMW LL04 compliant?

For coolant, I’m going to flush out the clean-looking long- life orange and replace with BMW blue, but I guess that is not a controversial decision.
 
Hi, I don’t think a non LL04 oil will damage the car but it won’t keep as clean internally-I think that spec was originally designed for Diesel engines to remove as much carbon as possible. It’s suitability for petrol engines was realised later on.
Rob
 
Re: LL04, the requirement for BMW LL04 oil is based on the year of manufacture and market the car was supplied to due to ultra low sulphur fuel (ULS) being introduced at different times in different countries even within Europe. This explains why there is contradictory info out there about which oil to use, for example the UK introduced ULS petrol in about 2004/5 so cars from then on require LL04. The US and some other European countries took longer, some Euro markets as late as 2009.
You can use LL04 in any BMW car back to about 1992, but not before then as valve and other seals were made of a material that degraded in LL04.
The handbook supplied with the car specified the oil requirement depending on market, you should use LL04 in any car that is used in an ULS fuel market (i.e. all of Europe now) so it's best to stick to LL04 per the book.
 
ionofchios said:
I was thinking Castrol 0w-30 - any thoughts or recommendations? How important is it that the oil be BMW LL04 compliant?
Click to expand...

i've used Castrol edge 0w30 5w40 0w40 , theyv'e all been grand and are all LL04
 
I have been using Castrol Edge 5W-30 LL04 in my 4 years of ownership.
Temperatures where I live vary from -5 to +5 in winter with occasional -15 Celsius Degrees.
I don't use it as a daily though..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom