Oil Viscosity?

[Romrog318is]

in the book it calls for 15w50 i always put 15w40 in mine and it was fine
i NEVER used synthetic and i still dont in my M52 unless i decided to spend the money and get ONLY redline which is the only synthetic i would even run! lol

[PumpItUp]

I do not have any experience with synthetics. Your car does not leak at all?? I am very jealous. haha.

don't be too jealous, it's leaking coolant :rolleyes:

[PumpItUp]

My mechanic who has a bmw with nearly a million miles swears by Castrol 20-50 (conventional) on all German cars

everyone has an opinion. i reckon his experience is worth more than mine, but at the same time it's not a scientific study.
how come i never hear the important things discussed on car forums, rather than the usual
"shell is #1!! ya boi" type responses

like which oil keeps an m42 the quietest

before i had my e30 i took a nb miata for a spin. quite a few spins in fact :p by the time i brought it back to the dealer 10 mins later the lifters were screaming. maybe the best oils would have kept the mazda's mouth shut...:rolleyes:

so which oil keeps the m42 the quietest at idle, as well as after abusing it.

which burns the least, and which oil looks the cleanest? :confused: when you drain it, not the color on the dipstick because Kendall would lose straightaway

[DesktopDave]

My engine runs nicely with the synth blend from the Wally World 5-qt jug.  Less cleanup too.

The oil is less important than the filter, IMHO.  I will go for the Pep Boys rebates because they usually toss in a free filter, especially if it's a Purolator PureOne.  I'm not sure of the Mobil1, even if they do carry a filter for our car.

I'd avoid the Fram because they might still be made from glued cardboard as in the past.  I've heard Wix and OEM are great too.

[tjts1]

^ just 50W?

tjts1: what do you think of synthetic vs. conventional....i've heard bad things about switching on an older engine.

I used synthetic because I'm lazy. It allowed me to go twice as long between oil changes compared to conventional. The engine never leaked, never gave me any problems. At $5/quart and 7k oil changes, synthetic comes out cheaper than conventional oil.

Stick with Mahle or MANN oil filters.

[BlueBMW]

I use oem filters when I change mine.  With 5w30 synthetic BMW oil I seem to consume more but the motor is nice and quiet all the time... even with my shark teeth cam gears...

[PumpItUp]

i think bmw oil = castrol, bmw synthetic = castrol rs/edge or even better and only available in europe under castrol name

[cristimm]

i think bmw oil = castrol, bmw synthetic = castrol rs/edge or even better and only available in europe under castrol name

There are a lot of good oils out there. No need to blindly follow bmw's reccomandation (Castrol) just make sure you use the right grade oil.

[seeohngee]

I used 5-30 for the winter and I'm going to be changing to Pennzoil Gold 15w-40 in a few days.