engine oil

Domvr6 · 05-06-2006, 06:51 PM

not long ago i switched to full synthetic and bought mobil 1 extended life 15w-50. it says its good up to 15,000 miles. i need opinions on how long i should wait to change my oil. Also is 15w-50 a good choice or should i be running something more like 10w-30? not sure whats the best for the m50 motor.

propr'one · 05-06-2006, 06:55 PM

15W50 is good to use on bmw's, personally i wouldn't use it on my m52. 15W50 is for high stress applications. If your car is generally driven hard, lots of high RPM driving, etc, its fine. (aka if you're bouncing off the rev limiter all the time, this is a solid product)

for more regular driving, i'd use 0W40. I believe this is what's recommended for my m52, if so its likely recommended for your m50 aswell.

If i were you,i 'd probably use 0W40. Unless you get a turbocharger, in which case use 15W50

Domvr6 · 05-06-2006, 07:08 PM

how often should i be changing my oil?

propr'one · 05-06-2006, 09:20 PM

On new cars, bmw recommends 24000KM. That's wayy too far by my standards.Most people change it around 12000. i like to change it between 8-10. some really hardcore people will change synthetic at 5000. If you dont know what to do, every 10K km's is usually good if you have a decent number of highway KM's out of that 10000. The more city driving you do, the more often you should change your oil. Dont forget to change the oil filter

Darkness95m3 · 05-07-2006, 10:48 AM

I would change the oil every 12,000km or every 6 months. That's what I have done with a few of my vehicles without any engine problems.
However My M3 I change the oil every 5,000Km or every 4months.

djcontra · 05-07-2006, 10:53 AM

Depending on how much you drive your car, you may be even safe enough to just change it out twice a year, once in spring to summer oil, and again in fall to winter oil. At most twice in the warmer months is all you should need I think...

BennyL · 05-08-2006, 10:12 AM

hey Domvr6, how many clicks did you have on the car when you made the switch to synthetic? and what oil were you using before?

I've been running Castrol GTX non-synthetic 10W30 in my M44, and I just bought Mobil 1 full synthetic 10W30. I'll be switching over soon, and wanted to know if you had any oil leaks show up since you made the change.

Domvr6 · 05-08-2006, 01:03 PM

i had about 92000 miles, so somewhere around 147,000 kilometers. I have no idea what was run in the car but i highly doubt it was full synthetic as the condition of the car wasnt the best when i got it. so far i havent noticed any leaks and ive had it in the car for about 1000 miles. i think since it is the first time my car has been running full synthetic, im going change it after about 3000 miles and then keep it for whatever 6000-10000 miles

ClayMan · 05-10-2006, 02:04 AM

Where do you guys get your 0w-40? I can't find Mobil 1 0w40 anywhere...

JS328 · 05-10-2006, 07:51 AM

I bought Mobil 1 0W40 at Parts Source.. its the only place I've been able to find it..

ClayMan · 05-10-2006, 03:30 PM

Do you remember how much it was?

propr'one · 05-10-2006, 05:20 PM

Mobil 1's all 38.95 i think. I just put 5W50 in, mobil 1 (thanks chris). Its not really what i wanted, but they dont make 15W50 anymore, and 0W40 was nowhere to be found.

My idle's settled down a lot