of oils..... - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

vics · 8th December 2004, 22:51

OK; so after digesting hundreds of posts here, I went armed to Foreign Motors West (Natick Mass) with the intention of purchasing BMW specific, "long life", 5W-30 full synthetic, possessing the knowledge that all 2000 M5s manufactured "after" 7/00 employ this whereas "prior", it's 10W-60. Mine's a 8/00 build.

All went well until I spoke with Mr. parts guy who said, "nope" - All M3s and ALL M5s take 10W-60 ( very confidently might I add ).
I countered with a resounding "nope" (right back at cha) & maintained that "post" 7/00 M5s indeed require 5W-30.

Strangely, he backed down & suggested that I was right. (?)… which struck me as odd due to the fact that he was so forthright while flip-flopping on his original statement (confused Kerry supporter perhaps?)…

Moral of the story? Who knows…. However, I'm beginning to feel that the forum collectorate possess far more knowledge than most of the individuals we typically encounter @ the dealerships! More; how scary a proposition could the incorrect application here be for uninformed consumer?
Anyone else fell similarly? Do these service reps read their tech bulletins?

An aside… if my next series of posts revolve around thrown rod bearings, we'll then know who's truly "right" concerning oil types eh'?

Wrightsville Beast · 8th December 2004, 23:06

Well - the sticker under the hood on mine says 5w30 - but I run 10w60 and that is what my SA and Dealer recommend.

My beast is a 2002 build.

MAH · 9th December 2004, 00:45

Of course this is the never ending oil debate. I have been using 5-30W oil from the very beginning in my MY01, with a 8000RPM level red line and no problems or unusual oil consumption. Of course I do not go to that very high RPM level too often. I had a MY00 that required the 10-60W oil, but it had the earlier designed rings. Overall I have not heard of a single failure due to strictly to the 5-30W oil.

Mark

Need4Spd · 9th December 2004, 04:26

Not to start up this debate again, but the later cars stickered for 5w-30 don't "require" that oil. It is more appropriate to say that they "can use" 5w-30 or that 5w-30 is "recommended." Saying that 5w-30 is "required" suggests that it would be improper to go to 10w-60 oil. I don't think anyone has ever suggested it would be wrong to use 10w-60 in a car with a 5w-30 sticker under the hood. To prevent bearing failures at high temps, 10w-60 might actually be a good idea even if your ring design can tolerate 5w-30.

vics · 9th December 2004, 16:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Need4Spd

Not to start up this debate again, but the later cars stickered for 5w-30 don't "require" that oil. It is more appropriate to say that they "can use" 5w-30 or that 5w-30 is "recommended." Saying that 5w-30 is "required" suggests that it would be improper to go to 10w-60 oil. I don't think anyone has ever suggested it would be wrong to use 10w-60 in a car with a 5w-30 sticker under the hood. To prevent bearing failures at high temps, 10w-60 might actually be a good idea even if your ring design can tolerate 5w-30.

Good point; 10w-60 for warmer weather applications then...
But then there's "THIS" from the E34 board & Simon:

I got this off www.e30zone.co.uk where it was posted by a guy who is a large supplier of engine oils in the UK.

Interesting reading I thought...

I have seen a BMW document issue (10/2004) dated 01.11.04 concerning the correct oils for use in BMW M3/M5 cars.

It states the following:

BMW Longlife 01 oils to be used in all M series engines except

M43/CNG
S54
S62/E39 (up to 02/2000)

Where Castrol 10w-60 is recommended.

BMW Longlife 01 Oils are of the following viscosities/specifications:

LL01 SAE 0w-30, 0w-40, 5w-30, 5w-40 ACEA A3/B3, API SJ/SL/CD ECII

I have a list of approved oils.

There is also a Technical Bulletin to Dealers dated 03/11/2004 concerning ALL M5's S62/E39

from 02/2000 onwards use 0w-30, 0w-40, 5w-30 or 5w-40 BMW Longlife Approved Oils

up to 02/2000 use Castrol 10w-60

This is stated very clearly and is the definative answer from BMW, your Dealer should be aware of these recommendations.

Cheers
Simon

SC'dKellenersM5 · 9th December 2004, 17:09

10-60...

jjc1843 · 9th December 2004, 19:49

My 06/00 build indicated 10W/60 all over the place. Thats all I use.

DaveK · 10th December 2004, 02:03

A couple months ago I looked over the paperwork from the dealer for an oil change I had a few months before that, and noticed that they had used 5W30. I took the car in and insisted that they change the oil to 10W60, and they came back to me with paperwork from BMW that indicated that 5W30 was the recommended oil from 03/00 on, and my car was built in 03/00 (going by memory, I could be off by a month). I said that everything I heard about this car was that model year 00 required 10W60 and a lot of M5 owners used that even in their newer cars, and I wanted to play it safe with such an expensive engine. Then they looked under the hood and saw the 10W60 sticker, and said that the paperwork from BMW indicated that the stickers were not changed over for a few months after the oil requirement changed, so the sticker was not consistent with the engine, but they gave me the benefit of the doubt and went ahead and changed the oil to 10W60 free of charge anyway. The situation with the changeover mid-year and the inconsistent stickers seems to have created a lot of confusion. From now on I intend to use 10W60 even if it's not strictly necessary, since it can only help (with lubrication that is, I suppose thicker oil may cost a couple HP).

- Dave

mottati · 10th December 2004, 02:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjc1843

My 06/00 build indicated 10W/60 all over the place. Thats all I use.

Interesting, my 6/00 build M5 had 5.30 sticker under the hood, until i peeled it off and pasted a 10.60 sticker in it's place!
Mike

pkarmouche · 10th December 2004, 05:53

Once upon a time I had read or was told that you should not switch oil viscosity -or if you do- that you should run the engine & change the oil again because even a small mixture of different viscocity oils can cause the oil to thermally "break-down".

Same with switching brands of oils because slight chemical differences in additives can cause an earlier "oil viscocity break down".

Can anyone debunk or elaborate? I'm still waiting for the detailed records from the dealer who sold me my M5 last weekend to see which oil they had been using.

Paul