[JEM]

Hmmm.

The issue of 5W-30 vs 10W-60 rears its head again.

My car was 3/00 production, sticker says it uses 5W-30.

When Kelleners did the 1200-mile service on it, they put a tag on that said they used 0W-30, which seemed close enough, and I'd commented on that on another topic on this board.

Volker from Kelleners sent me a letter stating that I had misunderstood, that BMW still specifies 10W-60 for all M5s and that's what they had used.

Now, reports are surfacing of later MY2000 production that have stickers specifying 10W-60 oil.

So...do we have any newer information at this point? Has BMW backed down on the change to 5W-30?

 

[TD]

Weird! I have a 05/00 production with a 10W-60 sticker.

Last week I called another dealer, other than the local one, who has a top mechanic (national recognition, trips to Germany, ect.). I was asking about using 5W-30 oil in my car for occasional use during winter months - I live in the midwest snowbelt.

He said to only use 10W-60 in my engine with the origional rings. He did confirm that BMW did change the M5 engine to allow for the use of lighter oil.

That information is consistant with credible posts on this board.

As for the mix of engines, I wonder if BMW had some unfinished "origional" engines waiting for parts while they were starting to push out engines with different rings.

Makes me wonder how much difference there may be between the two.

TD

 

[KnightRider]

Our dealer always recommended 10W 60 and never even mentioned 5W 30.
it all depends on the climate where you drive. With 10W 60 oil you shouldnt use the car if driven in the time of the year with outside temperature below -15. for that purpose you should use 5W 30.
otherwise it doesnt make any difference which to use, i guess 10W 60 would allow to drive the car at higher outside temperatures than 5W 30.


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SL

 

[KnightRider]

forgot to state the production date for those who are interested...it's summer '99 build.

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SL

 

[gmb]

Hello
I am a small question and I really want some info on that from someone who knows..
What the H^## is that 5W-30 10W-60 or whatever means? what are those numbers for?
GMB

 

[RogerA]

For what it's worth, I have a May '00 build and my engine compartment sticker says 10/60. Of course my trusty dealer part guy says I don't need 10/60 and that the 10/40 is just fine. Why is this so difficult?

 

[AndyMenard]

All,

check out this web site.. it explains in great detail what all of those numbers and letters mean...
http://web.hudsonet.com/~fedo/oil.html

 

[Parkerfe]

Originally posted by Russ:
The Vanos timing system also uses the crankcase oil. One mechanic I spoke to was adamant about only using 10W-60 for that reason... (He "learned" this in the BMW S62 engine class.)

One can only guess how/if oil viscosity would affect that system...

Anyone know of a good web-site that details the internal working of the M5/Z8 engine?

Just use what oil the factort recommends on the sticker in the engine compartment. Nothing else. Case closed!



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[Russ]

The Vanos timing system also uses the crankcase oil. One mechanic I spoke to was adamant about only using 10W-60 for that reason... (He "learned" this in the BMW S62 engine class.)

One can only guess how/if oil viscosity would affect that system...

Anyone know of a good web-site that details the internal working of the M5/Z8 engine?