Engine oil recommendations?
- Thread starter Scotty_Z4
- Start date
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Fred Smith said:
Just to add my pence-worth Fred, I do not subscribe to the view that engine oil needs to be changed religiously, every year regardless of mileage. I agree absolutely with the statement “regular oil changes prevent engine wear”, but so does not using your engine. It is a fairly inert substance and will not significantly degrade just by sitting in the engine. Temperature, pressure and contamination (water, petrol, combustion products) are the key determinants of oil degradation. These in turn are driven by usage (hours/mileage), usage profile (e.g. short journeys vs motorway miles vs track days/competition) and engine tolerances/condition. If you are only doing 5k a year or less, changes every 2 years are fine, hey you are not going to be doing 200k miles anyway. But changing the oil is actually quite therapeutic so, if you enjoy it changing it more often, why not?
BTW it was probably me on record as saying I couldn’t recall any instances of M54/N52 engine problems on here related to engine wear as a result of poor maintenance.
Indeed. "What is the best oil?" has to be the most commonly-asked question on any car-related forum. Followed closely "what's the best tyre" and "what's the best brake pad".Zedebee said:
But no matter how many times it's asked, it's guaranteed to yield lots of replies, because everyone's got an opinion
I guess for me the real question is why would you NOT be more aggressive with oil and filter changes than absolutely necessary?
For me it's once a year regardless of milage and I get a kick out of looking after the car and doing some of my own maintenance.
It's cheap, easy and good insurance.
For me it's once a year regardless of milage and I get a kick out of looking after the car and doing some of my own maintenance.
It's cheap, easy and good insurance.
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Here's a helpful guide to frequency of oil changes:
Option 1: your priority is maintaining the car as well as you practicably can, to prolong the life of the engine. Change oil as frequently as seems sensible, e.g. every 12 months or perhaps 5k miles - whatever you want. You do you.
Option 2: it's just a car, manufacturer must know best. Go with whatever they recommend.
Option 3: you bought it for £900, who cares? Never change the oil - having fresh engine oil doesn't increase the scrap value.
Option 4: being sustainable and saving the world is your priority. You bought the wrong car (i mean, you shouldn't even have a car, call yourself an eco warrior?!). But that aside, do some calculations as to what frequency of oil changes results in the optimal (most sustainable) balance between not unnecessarily discarding oil and not having to unnecessarily discard the car due to premature wear. Or just spend that time picking up litter of the beach, it'll probably make more of a difference.
Option 5: what's a car? Does it really need servicing? How do I know it needs an oil change if the dealer doesn't call me? What's that funny light on the dashboard? Don't worry about it, the lease ends in a year so it's really not your problem.
Please choose whichever option seems most appealing to you.
Option 1: your priority is maintaining the car as well as you practicably can, to prolong the life of the engine. Change oil as frequently as seems sensible, e.g. every 12 months or perhaps 5k miles - whatever you want. You do you.
Option 2: it's just a car, manufacturer must know best. Go with whatever they recommend.
Option 3: you bought it for £900, who cares? Never change the oil - having fresh engine oil doesn't increase the scrap value.
Option 4: being sustainable and saving the world is your priority. You bought the wrong car (i mean, you shouldn't even have a car, call yourself an eco warrior?!). But that aside, do some calculations as to what frequency of oil changes results in the optimal (most sustainable) balance between not unnecessarily discarding oil and not having to unnecessarily discard the car due to premature wear. Or just spend that time picking up litter of the beach, it'll probably make more of a difference.
Option 5: what's a car? Does it really need servicing? How do I know it needs an oil change if the dealer doesn't call me? What's that funny light on the dashboard? Don't worry about it, the lease ends in a year so it's really not your problem.
Please choose whichever option seems most appealing to you.
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Special Kay
Active member
I think a choice of oil always seems to throw up a lot of questions, many of them lead to brand loyalty for personal historical reasons, some believe the marketing, others seem to focus on mechanical engineers logic and deviate from the norm, while others trust the manufacturers recommendations. All of which are fine by me, I fall into the category of an annual oil change/service, or sometimes twice if I accumulate more than 8k miles. I've also used engine flush's in the past on certain cars that have more miles on the clock. All subjective ofcourse, and mostly marketing hype that I love to believe :roll:, and peace of mind to the point that I believe I've taken a positive step towards the maintenance and reliability of the engine
Special Kay
Active member
Maybe another way of looking at oil recommendations would be to get your old engine oil analysed by a specialist company that you send a sample off too. Choose your oil based on the results, i.e choose a thicker or thinner grade of oil based on wear and tear of your internal components.
Attleborough, Norfolk
Wow! So many replies to my initial question, I have read through them all! What a great forum! Cheers Guys/Girls! @Zedebee i did do a search but i must have cocked it up! I think i have settled on Millers XF Premium 5/40 or Shell Helix Ultra 5/40, I will be using a Bosch oil filter as i already have one, My E86 is going to be lucky to do 2K miles a year as it is on a Classic car insurance policy being my 2nd car that i just take out for a blast at weekends so it will be getting oil changes every 18 months i reckon.
I think i have settled on Millers XF Premium 5/40 or Shell Helix Ultra 5/40, I will be using a Bosch oil filter as i already have one, My E86 is going to be lucky to do 2K miles a year as it is on a Classic car insurance policy being my 2nd car that i just take out for a blast at weekends so it will be getting oil changes every 18 months i reckon.Scotty_Z4 said:Wow! So many replies to my initial question, I have read through them all! What a great forum! Cheers Guys/Girls! @Zedebee i did do a search but i must have cocked it up!
That should be fine.
Mine is a daily and will do 13/14k a year. Like my last few cars (130i, 335i and my wife’s cars) I’ll change the oil at 8k intervals. To date I’ve stuck with 5W 30.