Quote:
Originally Posted by cicadalex
The owner's manual recommend 0w30, 5w30, 0w40 and 5w40... The local dealer and service center here uses 0w40...
The mechanic claims that due to marketing and other reason, bmw would like you to use the less protection with higher performance, so at the same time you feel their car is good and you need to pay a lot to them to maintain your engine in few years later. Conspiracy..
They gave me a local brand "Astroboy" oil which in compliance to API and bmw LL...i am thinking to go back to Shell ultra helix or some other budget plan because i am just a moderate driver... (No track here in hk)
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The only BMWs that use a thicker oil are the M-engined ones, and they're a much different engine designed to operate on racetracks. They have different oil scavenge systems, different pumps, different bearing clearances, etc.
BMW has specced LL01 since ... 2001! And the spec includes viscosities of 0 cold to 40 warm. Guess what - in those 13 years, there haven't been failures of BMW engines due to viscosity or other oil-related problems (yeah, oil pumps have failed, oil filters have failed, etc.) Non-failure isn't marketing, it's reality.
Why don't you use the BMW OEM Castrol 5W-30 or one of the 40 or so BMW LL-01 oils rather than something NOT APPROVED.
If you want to know a bit more (and probably more than that hack mechanic), read this:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-102/
Also, the API spec is complete junk - don't even bother. ACEA (BMW LL01 is similar to ACEA A3/B4, btw) is the only specification that's worth looking for.