Your Oil Questions answered

I go with the oilman (but then I'm biased I bought my oil from him).

I use the Pro S in my 5, I don't race it or rag it but I do use the full rev range from time to time (keeps engines healthy).

I can't claim any miracles have happened but then considering you are relying on this substance to protect the very core of the car which costs 1000's to replace, if it cost me a £100 per oil change for oil I would pay it (and oilman doesn't charge anywhere near this for a single 5 litre by the way), considering I replaced it in October last year and it likely won't get replaced until October next year the way the LED's are looking - still got 4 !!. As a full synthetic it has to be OK up to 10k.

Cheating on oil is like cheating on tyres and brakes ... false economy and not worth it.

UDHI,

For your car I would stick with the recomended grade of 5w-40 full synthetic.

For best results go for a bmw approved one and at the top of the scale is the Silkolene Pro S 5w-40 ester/pao synthetic followed by the Motul 8100 excess 5w-40 and the mobil 1 0w-40.

Your engine is not really old enough to suffer from excessive wear to the point you need to step out of grade.

Most oils these days are for both diesel and petrol, so you will need an ACEA A3/B3 spec oil.

For a full price list, drop me a mail to sales@opieoils.co.uk

Cheers

Simon.

Hello

Ive been reading a lot of posts on oil grades and viscosity on this forum but I have a question.

What happens if I were to mix equal amounts of fully synthetic mobil 1 15/ 50 with a fully synthetic 5/40 grade oil. Would I have a 10-45 oil  or what.  The reason Im asking is that my m3 3.0 has noisy vanos gears when engine is hot. The mobil 1 15/50 helps reduce this noise. but makes the car rough on start up and warm up.  My idea is that if I mixed them together in equal amounts then Id have the befefit of a 5w for cold start and the added protection of the /50. Please can any one answer this.  Ive just changed to the mobil one 15-50 and im wondering if i can drain half of it out and add 3.5 liters of 5/40.  If not ill have to buy 8 liters of oil all over agian in the space of two weeks -Not Cheap!

micky_h wrote: Quick question. I've changed the oil and put in the Silkolene Pro S 5w40.What I've noticed,apart from the engine running quieter,is the oil temp gauge is 10-15 degrees hotter at running temp than it used to be.Is there any reason why this should be?

There's no logical one, what's it reading?

Cheers

Simon

I need to top up the oil on my 2001 520i 2.2 that has been BMW main dealer serviced from new.

In order to ensure that I add the same type of oil, could you let me know the oil BMW dealers are most likely to have used?

I'm not sure what they will have used but it should have been a 0w-30, 0w-40 or 5w-40.

Cheers, Simon

Indeed, I'm from the old school and although BMW Approved LL01 oils are supposed to cope with longer service periods than 12000 miles / 12 months due to narrow viscosities, synthetic technology and low shear rates, I've never been happy with the claims. My reasoning for this is based around the fact that addative packs get used up over a period of time and the oil becomes less effective as a package.

I am always more comfortable with the old school thinking of 12000 miles or 12 months as the maximum oil change period.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Simon

Nibs wrote: Hi Simon, First off I have to say that I have found this thread fascinating. How refreshing to have access to people who actually know what they're talking about! Keep up the good work! Here's a 'different one' for you. I have 3 E3s with the M30 engines - a '73 3.0Si (73k miles from new); a '75 3.3Li (manual (LHD) - mileage unknown) & a '74 3.0Si being restored with a brand new engine. The 1970s BMW handbook/s specify 20W40 or 50 for year-round use, with changes every 5k or, 6 months. My questions are:- 1. What 'modern' oils would you suggest for the first two? They don't do many miles per year (3-4k) and don't use a drop of oil, despite some 'enthusiastic' driving. The oil gets changed on average every 12-18 months and they've been using GTX Magnatec so far.  2. The third car has a factory-fresh unit with 0 miles. Is there a synthetic that you'd recommend for that? Presumably, the tolerances in these engines aren't as fine as modern units and I'm intrigued to know what you think would work best. Many thanks in anticipation. David

David,

Sorry for the delay, it appears my notification function must have been switched off!

Anyway, my recommendations:

Tolerances will be wider but the BMW recommendation that counts is the sae 40 and sae 50 which indicates the required viscosity at oil temps of 40 and 100degC.

20w is an old rating and oils have moved on since the 70's. The problem with 20w is the cold start flow which is essential to prevent engine wear as 90% of engine wear occurs when you turn the key!

I would suggest that so long as you respect the sae 40 and sae 50 viscosities (sae 40 = 14cst and sae 50 = 18.5cst) that you will be fine with a modern synthetic in the correct viscosity range.

My recommendations based on quality are for a BMW Approved product like Silkolene PRO S 10w-50 or PRO R 15w-50.

This will give you the sae 50 protection that you require and better cold start protection than a 20W.

Bear in mind that oil is around 40 times thicker at 0degC than it is at 100degC so you'll have plenty of vicosity when cold and the correct amount when hot.

On a newer engine with narrower tolerances I would look at using the Silkolene PRO S 5w-40 which is also BMW Approved.

Hope this helps

Cheers, Simon

It's a great oil and BMW Approved.

It's fine for a daily driver but more designed as a race oil which means top quality synthetic basestocks.

Cheers

Simon