Well, I got my 35iS at 2456 miles ... and it now has 4850. About half an hour into a bit of 'fun' driving I noticed the dreaded ' ! ' warning triangle had appeared. Now, with my luck not exactly being great with my Z4's I worried as I looked up the fault ... only to be relieved it needed oil. One litre to be exact as is the standard warning.
I popped into a local BMW dealer ... 'No sir, sorry, parts shut at 1pm'. Having a service pack I believe entitled me to top ups for free but nonetheless I am sure I can manage the £17 for a litre of oil - just a shame I missed them by an hour.
Finding the right oil was another matter ... 4 petrol stations later I have up and just went to Halfords. I am sure the correct grade of oil; i.e 0W30, 5W40 was fine but the Shell book, Mobil book and finally Castrol searches all indicated that what I needed was a slightly different version to that on the displays.
Now, the handbook says the grades ... but what are each oil manufacturer doing to make their oils each different but the same grade ? Shell Helix seems to come in about 5 types of the same thing - Shell Helix Ultra Professional Am-l 5w-30 was what their site suggested but I couldn't find it anywhere ... the Am-l bit was Ag, Ad - in fact anything but Am-l .... but what exactly are they doing to each one ?
Well, Castrol bought from Halfords in the end and I see the oil filler cap says Castrol anyway so I am happy.
I think I fall for all the oil marketing b***ocks every time and any old oil so long as it is the correct basic grade will do.
I popped into a local BMW dealer ... 'No sir, sorry, parts shut at 1pm'. Having a service pack I believe entitled me to top ups for free but nonetheless I am sure I can manage the £17 for a litre of oil - just a shame I missed them by an hour.
Finding the right oil was another matter ... 4 petrol stations later I have up and just went to Halfords. I am sure the correct grade of oil; i.e 0W30, 5W40 was fine but the Shell book, Mobil book and finally Castrol searches all indicated that what I needed was a slightly different version to that on the displays.
Now, the handbook says the grades ... but what are each oil manufacturer doing to make their oils each different but the same grade ? Shell Helix seems to come in about 5 types of the same thing - Shell Helix Ultra Professional Am-l 5w-30 was what their site suggested but I couldn't find it anywhere ... the Am-l bit was Ag, Ad - in fact anything but Am-l .... but what exactly are they doing to each one ?
Well, Castrol bought from Halfords in the end and I see the oil filler cap says Castrol anyway so I am happy.
I think I fall for all the oil marketing b***ocks every time and any old oil so long as it is the correct basic grade will do.
I am off in the Z4 on holiday to Bath next week so figure I don't want to run low on oil - not that it should use a litre that quickly but given I have got through one litre in 2000 odd miles I would rather have a spare in the boot.
