Does anyone know if the BMW High Performance synthetic 5w-30 motor oil is a Group III hydro-cracked oil, or a Group IV PAO oil? Practically everyone on this forum is of the firm opinion that the BMW 5w-30 is made from a Group III base stock. This appears to be based on the belief that the BMW 5w-30 oil is the same as the Castrol Softec TXT 5w-30 sold in Europe, which I guess is a Group III hydro-cracked oil. The BMW oil is now made in the U.S., so maybe it has been upgraded to a Group IV PAO. Does anyone know for sure; and if you do, how do you know? I used to be of the opinion that oils meeting the BMW LL01 spec were all Group IV, but after reading some of the threads on this forum, I found a number of oils labeled as meeting the the LL01 spec being made from Group III base stocks (according to their MSDS).
BMW synthetic 5w-30 not a Group IV?
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Sadly, nobody on this forum has a way to find out for sure - you'd have to ask the formulator and they're not sharing that information. You just have to rely on the performance spec of the oil.
Originally Posted By: glennc
Whatever the case it does not seem to give particularly good UOA results.
Huh? I got a very good UOA with 13K on it. I have seen several others that have had similarly good results. Care to share what leads you to think it's not particularly good?
It is believed to be predominately grp. III with a slug (10-15%) of PAO. AFAIK, its always been blended/sourced in the US. Probably uses specs of the Softec since that is a known entity for Castrol and makes sense from a cost standpoint.
Whatever the case it does not seem to give particularly good UOA results.
Huh? I got a very good UOA with 13K on it. I have seen several others that have had similarly good results. Care to share what leads you to think it's not particularly good?
It is believed to be predominately grp. III with a slug (10-15%) of PAO. AFAIK, its always been blended/sourced in the US. Probably uses specs of the Softec since that is a known entity for Castrol and makes sense from a cost standpoint.
Originally Posted By: glennc
Whatever the case it does not seem to give particularly good UOA results.
Care to share the data you are evaluating to come to that conclusion?
I'm not saying you are wrong, but I'd want to see some sort of sample size large enough to the population of BMWs using the oil before I concluded that it is a bad oil, produced subpar UOAs, etc..
Whatever the case it does not seem to give particularly good UOA results.
Care to share the data you are evaluating to come to that conclusion?
I'm not saying you are wrong, but I'd want to see some sort of sample size large enough to the population of BMWs using the oil before I concluded that it is a bad oil, produced subpar UOAs, etc..
Of the BMW Synthetic UOA's I've scrounged from that subsection:
For 10 samples on M54 engines (plus one on the very similar M56) ranging from 5000 to 15,592 mile OCI's, results are comparable to other synthetic oils. That is, variations both high and low appear to be indicative of individual vehicle characteristics rather than a trend in oil performance.
In one sample on an M62TU engine at a 5000 mile OCI and 90,000 miles on the engine, wear metals seem abnormally high. I do not have any other UOA's on this engine type.
In one sample on an N53 engine at a 5000 mile OCI and 23,000 miles on the engine, wear metals seem slightly high and TBN was already down to 3. I do not have any other UOA's on this engine type.
For 10 samples on M54 engines (plus one on the very similar M56) ranging from 5000 to 15,592 mile OCI's, results are comparable to other synthetic oils. That is, variations both high and low appear to be indicative of individual vehicle characteristics rather than a trend in oil performance.
In one sample on an M62TU engine at a 5000 mile OCI and 90,000 miles on the engine, wear metals seem abnormally high. I do not have any other UOA's on this engine type.
In one sample on an N53 engine at a 5000 mile OCI and 23,000 miles on the engine, wear metals seem slightly high and TBN was already down to 3. I do not have any other UOA's on this engine type.
I have to agree with the positive comments regarding the BMW 5w-30. I've had nothing but very good UOA's (wear metals only) so far with OCIs of 3500-4000 mi. on an '04 330i zhp BMW. With next oil change I'm switching to Blackstone in order to get a fuller spectrum. I only posed the question re base stock out of sheer, dumb curiosity (like those State Dept contractors who surfed the Presidential candidates passport files!). It really makes no difference to me at this point whether its grp III or IV. But, it is impossible to get any information about the BMW oil out of the dealers or BMW NA (who simply refer you back to the dealers). Thanks for your interest and comments. This is a great forum.
Originally Posted By: Jett Rink
Care to share the data you are evaluating to come to that conclusion?
Jett, I was hoping to go back and dig up some UOAs but can't get the search feature to work right now.
I've always followed the BMW oils UOAs with particular interest because they were the oils I'd been using, both the conventional 15W-40 and the "synthetic" 5W-30, when I first found BITOG. Back then I encountered the opinion here that the BMW oils were pretty ordinary oils and that there were better options available at the price levels they sell at. I eventually came to that conclusion myself and wound up switching to Delo 15W-40, an oil that at the time seemed to give excellent UOAs in virtually everything it was used in.
Over the years my opinion has been somewhat corroborated as it has seemed to me that UOAs using the BMW oils have very rarely been stellar and often seem to show wear a bit on the high side compared to what we are used to at BITOG. On the other hand I have seen UOAs of BMWs running other oils that could well have been Toyota UOAs (most Toyotas put out extremely low wear metals in UOAs,) with wear metals extremely low across the board, etc. At times these were plain old conventional oils although I'm sure some were higher-$ synthetics.
If you are really curious you might look yourself at some historical UOAs to get an idea what oils work best in your particular application. I am personally of the opinion, from what I've read here in general as well as from the UOA results I've seen, that the BMW 5W-30 "special" oil is an adequate oil blended to a modest cost point and sold at a somewhat elevated price point, which is exactly what I would expect from a dealer oil. I personally believe you can do better. Just my humble opinion of course.
HTH.
Care to share the data you are evaluating to come to that conclusion?
Jett, I was hoping to go back and dig up some UOAs but can't get the search feature to work right now.
I've always followed the BMW oils UOAs with particular interest because they were the oils I'd been using, both the conventional 15W-40 and the "synthetic" 5W-30, when I first found BITOG. Back then I encountered the opinion here that the BMW oils were pretty ordinary oils and that there were better options available at the price levels they sell at. I eventually came to that conclusion myself and wound up switching to Delo 15W-40, an oil that at the time seemed to give excellent UOAs in virtually everything it was used in.
Over the years my opinion has been somewhat corroborated as it has seemed to me that UOAs using the BMW oils have very rarely been stellar and often seem to show wear a bit on the high side compared to what we are used to at BITOG. On the other hand I have seen UOAs of BMWs running other oils that could well have been Toyota UOAs (most Toyotas put out extremely low wear metals in UOAs,) with wear metals extremely low across the board, etc. At times these were plain old conventional oils although I'm sure some were higher-$ synthetics.
If you are really curious you might look yourself at some historical UOAs to get an idea what oils work best in your particular application. I am personally of the opinion, from what I've read here in general as well as from the UOA results I've seen, that the BMW 5W-30 "special" oil is an adequate oil blended to a modest cost point and sold at a somewhat elevated price point, which is exactly what I would expect from a dealer oil. I personally believe you can do better. Just my humble opinion of course.
HTH.
Gentlemen,
You just can't type the letters BMW (particularly on this forum) without getting into a discussion with the factory suggested approximate 15,000 mile OCI with their dealer supplied oil. Without it, we BMW drivers would be reduced to only discussing the cooling system and the control arms / bushings.
My car had 3 runs on this regimen when I got it. Either out of paranoia, curiosity about the Auto Rx phenomenon, or what have you, I took the Auto Rx plunge. On Thursday evening I completed the 3,000 mile rinse phase. So I changed the oil and filter. It has Mobil 1 0w-40 in there now. I'm planning on leaving it in there until the service indicator tells me to change the oil again, which currently is about 10,100 miles. We'll see what comes of that, I'm probably going to send it to get analyzed then.
So what are the results of Auto-Rx? Well, the oil itself looked pretty good after a 3,000 mile rinse of Chevron dino. For any BITOGers out there who get irritated about an oil turning black soon, I'll suggest this Chevron dino oil. It stayed its original clear color for practically the whole 3,000 miles. Now this doesn't prove anything, but I still thought it was kind of interesting. No obvious impurities, sludge, or foreign matter came out in the drained oil.
I changed out the oil filter, of course. It is cannister type filter, for anybody reading this, who is unaware of how BMW oil filters work. Inside the oil filter housing, it all looked great. The filter looks...perfectly normal. Nothing but oil in there. I've looked closely at the pleats, and I can't find any specks of foreign matter or any evidence of sludge.
Just looking at the drained oil and filter there is no obvious sludge problems with this car after going through BMW's suggested oil change procedures for 3 years and 46,000 miles or so. Perhaps the Auto-Rx treatment liquified whatever gunk there might have been in there.
Now I didn't have any oil analysis done, so I can't comment about that. But from what my results indicate, following BMW's suggested routine with their oil does NOT result in a sludged motor--at least through 45,000 miles. I'm aware that there are posts out there for people followed this and have major sludge problems. I have no explanation for this difference. Local BMW mechanics have informed me that they have only seen problems on cars that just don't get driven much out on the highway, don't get up to operating temperature much, etc. You know, really severe service.
I'll probably do intermediate oil changes after I finish the expected 10K MObil 1 0w-40 run, instead of the whole 15,000 mile distance (just because I am a BITOGer and get a perverse kick out of studying oil).
The car drives great. For all the accusations out there that BMW is trying to destroy your car with this service routine, I am not convinced by the evidence I have seen on my car. Maybe the benefits of shortening the OCI only shows up when it gets older, to 100,000 miles and beyond? Possible.
Incidentally, there is alot of bandwidth taken up around here complaining of noises or racket from using Mobil 1. I can only report that after a few days of using it, I'm not hearing any strange sounds, or just a louder engine. But then again, I'm the sort of guy who often drives without a radio on because I LIKE listening to the sound of the symphony coming from a great running inline 6 internal combustion engine.
You just can't type the letters BMW (particularly on this forum) without getting into a discussion with the factory suggested approximate 15,000 mile OCI with their dealer supplied oil. Without it, we BMW drivers would be reduced to only discussing the cooling system and the control arms / bushings.
My car had 3 runs on this regimen when I got it. Either out of paranoia, curiosity about the Auto Rx phenomenon, or what have you, I took the Auto Rx plunge. On Thursday evening I completed the 3,000 mile rinse phase. So I changed the oil and filter. It has Mobil 1 0w-40 in there now. I'm planning on leaving it in there until the service indicator tells me to change the oil again, which currently is about 10,100 miles. We'll see what comes of that, I'm probably going to send it to get analyzed then.
So what are the results of Auto-Rx? Well, the oil itself looked pretty good after a 3,000 mile rinse of Chevron dino. For any BITOGers out there who get irritated about an oil turning black soon, I'll suggest this Chevron dino oil. It stayed its original clear color for practically the whole 3,000 miles. Now this doesn't prove anything, but I still thought it was kind of interesting. No obvious impurities, sludge, or foreign matter came out in the drained oil.
I changed out the oil filter, of course. It is cannister type filter, for anybody reading this, who is unaware of how BMW oil filters work. Inside the oil filter housing, it all looked great. The filter looks...perfectly normal. Nothing but oil in there. I've looked closely at the pleats, and I can't find any specks of foreign matter or any evidence of sludge.
Just looking at the drained oil and filter there is no obvious sludge problems with this car after going through BMW's suggested oil change procedures for 3 years and 46,000 miles or so. Perhaps the Auto-Rx treatment liquified whatever gunk there might have been in there.
Now I didn't have any oil analysis done, so I can't comment about that. But from what my results indicate, following BMW's suggested routine with their oil does NOT result in a sludged motor--at least through 45,000 miles. I'm aware that there are posts out there for people followed this and have major sludge problems. I have no explanation for this difference. Local BMW mechanics have informed me that they have only seen problems on cars that just don't get driven much out on the highway, don't get up to operating temperature much, etc. You know, really severe service.
I'll probably do intermediate oil changes after I finish the expected 10K MObil 1 0w-40 run, instead of the whole 15,000 mile distance (just because I am a BITOGer and get a perverse kick out of studying oil).
The car drives great. For all the accusations out there that BMW is trying to destroy your car with this service routine, I am not convinced by the evidence I have seen on my car. Maybe the benefits of shortening the OCI only shows up when it gets older, to 100,000 miles and beyond? Possible.
Incidentally, there is alot of bandwidth taken up around here complaining of noises or racket from using Mobil 1. I can only report that after a few days of using it, I'm not hearing any strange sounds, or just a louder engine. But then again, I'm the sort of guy who often drives without a radio on because I LIKE listening to the sound of the symphony coming from a great running inline 6 internal combustion engine.
Jett, was there any perceptible difference before/after A-RX?
For what it's worth I have complained about BMW's maintenance schedule here and elsewhere, but for the record I see little if anything to disagree with in your post. If anything BITOG has been able to show that 15k OCIs are perfectly appropriate for the right oils, and the BMW oils whether or not they produce excellent wear results do appear to hold up reasonably well.
My issues with BMW maintenance requirements have to do with long-CI or lifetime fluids in other systems, with the standard OCI in instances where the car is subject to unusual conditions, and with the obvious effects should maintenance intervals be ignored when they are so long to begin with. I suspect that most of the truly hideous "sludge" issues have been caused by the latter of the three.
I do recall hearing that after pervasive transmission failures on "lifetime fill" trans fluids BMW eventually came out and effectively defined the "lifetime" as 100k miles. Something of an embarrassment to have to say that, I imagine, and yet still a face-saving position as it allowed them to recommend fluid changes at that interval while maintaining the "lifetime fill" semantic. Perhaps that has since changed. My E32 740i does contain one of the affected transmission units as well as a Nikasil V8, making the car a potential liability such that it might be in my best financial interest to pay a random stranger several thousand dollars to just drive it far away where I will never see it again.
For what it's worth I have complained about BMW's maintenance schedule here and elsewhere, but for the record I see little if anything to disagree with in your post. If anything BITOG has been able to show that 15k OCIs are perfectly appropriate for the right oils, and the BMW oils whether or not they produce excellent wear results do appear to hold up reasonably well.
My issues with BMW maintenance requirements have to do with long-CI or lifetime fluids in other systems, with the standard OCI in instances where the car is subject to unusual conditions, and with the obvious effects should maintenance intervals be ignored when they are so long to begin with. I suspect that most of the truly hideous "sludge" issues have been caused by the latter of the three.
I do recall hearing that after pervasive transmission failures on "lifetime fill" trans fluids BMW eventually came out and effectively defined the "lifetime" as 100k miles. Something of an embarrassment to have to say that, I imagine, and yet still a face-saving position as it allowed them to recommend fluid changes at that interval while maintaining the "lifetime fill" semantic. Perhaps that has since changed. My E32 740i does contain one of the affected transmission units as well as a Nikasil V8, making the car a potential liability such that it might be in my best financial interest to pay a random stranger several thousand dollars to just drive it far away where I will never see it again.
I've only put about 100 miles on the car after draining out the rinse oil. So far, I have not been able to detect any difference at all with this car before/during/post Auto-Rx treatment.
Auto Rx cleaning with BMW Castrol oil, for 2,500 miles
Auto Rx rinse phase with Chevron Dino oil (mixture of 5w-30 and 10-40) for 3,000 miles
New oil is Mobil 1 0w-40.
The filters after the clean and rinse phase looked fine. Nothing in the pleats but oil.
Gas mileage is always a little over 26 miles per gallon. Now if I make a conscious effort to use the cruise control at 60 mph or so on the highways over a whole tank of gas, I can increase this up to over 28 mpg. I'd say I do about 80% highway, 20% city over a whole tank. This is a manual tranny, by the way.
So what do I think about Auto-Rx? Either there wasn't much to clean up, or it has zero effect. Now I've read enough success stories with pics before and after on here to know that it WILL clean up engines that have problems. I can only conclude that the previous driver who leased this car and followed BMW's oil change schedule didn't leave the engine with a whole lot left to clean.
Furthermore, I couldn't tell any difference when I had the Chevron dino oil in there, either. For anybody wanting to do Auto Rx, using the dino oil for 3,000 miles isn't going to cause any problems. There is that sticker under the hood warning you to only use a BMW approved synthetic oil. That's probably a very good idea if you are planning on going the whole 15,000 miles, but with these short runs I kind of doubt that it matters.
I think the BMW oil is probably holding up, on average, the way the engineers have intended. There are alot of BMWs out there following this regimen, and most seem to be handling it fine. We may eventually see most automakers doing this. This kind of long drain doesn't seem nearly as controversial over in Europe as it does here.
I do agree with you that there might be better oils out there for a full 15,000 mile run. I'm planning on going 10,000 with the Mobil 1. We'll see how it goes.
I changed out the differential and manual tranny fluid at 45,000 miles. That was the factory fill. I replaced it with redline fluids and have no complaints. For what it is worth, the fluid did not look brand new, but it wasn't black as ink, either.
My wife's Volvo is an automatic with a really expenseive fluid that is supposed to last a long time. I had the Volvo place flush that out at 60,000 miles. So far, so good. I really like having a manual. Sure is easier to drain and fill the fluid in a manual transmission in my garage.
Auto Rx cleaning with BMW Castrol oil, for 2,500 miles
Auto Rx rinse phase with Chevron Dino oil (mixture of 5w-30 and 10-40) for 3,000 miles
New oil is Mobil 1 0w-40.
The filters after the clean and rinse phase looked fine. Nothing in the pleats but oil.
Gas mileage is always a little over 26 miles per gallon. Now if I make a conscious effort to use the cruise control at 60 mph or so on the highways over a whole tank of gas, I can increase this up to over 28 mpg. I'd say I do about 80% highway, 20% city over a whole tank. This is a manual tranny, by the way.
So what do I think about Auto-Rx? Either there wasn't much to clean up, or it has zero effect. Now I've read enough success stories with pics before and after on here to know that it WILL clean up engines that have problems. I can only conclude that the previous driver who leased this car and followed BMW's oil change schedule didn't leave the engine with a whole lot left to clean.
Furthermore, I couldn't tell any difference when I had the Chevron dino oil in there, either. For anybody wanting to do Auto Rx, using the dino oil for 3,000 miles isn't going to cause any problems. There is that sticker under the hood warning you to only use a BMW approved synthetic oil. That's probably a very good idea if you are planning on going the whole 15,000 miles, but with these short runs I kind of doubt that it matters.
I think the BMW oil is probably holding up, on average, the way the engineers have intended. There are alot of BMWs out there following this regimen, and most seem to be handling it fine. We may eventually see most automakers doing this. This kind of long drain doesn't seem nearly as controversial over in Europe as it does here.
I do agree with you that there might be better oils out there for a full 15,000 mile run. I'm planning on going 10,000 with the Mobil 1. We'll see how it goes.
I changed out the differential and manual tranny fluid at 45,000 miles. That was the factory fill. I replaced it with redline fluids and have no complaints. For what it is worth, the fluid did not look brand new, but it wasn't black as ink, either.
My wife's Volvo is an automatic with a really expenseive fluid that is supposed to last a long time. I had the Volvo place flush that out at 60,000 miles. So far, so good. I really like having a manual. Sure is easier to drain and fill the fluid in a manual transmission in my garage.
Nice post! My car is 05 330i w/ 35k miles. I bought it used. Jet, rigth now im in my 300 miles of Autorx cleaning phase w/ bmw 5w30 synthetic oil from the dealership. Im planning to use the same oil on my autorx rinsing phase w/c other use dino oil. As what you have described, Im kind of hesitant to continue doing the cleaning phase if theres no difference or benefits that will do on my car. What do you think? Do you think it is okay just doing the autorx cleaning phase w/out doing the autorx rinse phase or post autorx treatment? Did you use Redline MTL or D4ATF in your manual transmission?
thanks,
thanks,
orics,
I have Redline MTL in the manual transmission. On cold winter mornings when it is below freezing, I have to give it a little more muscle to move the gearshift (particularly from first into second). But after these first few shifts and a few miles down the road, it seems to warm up, and shifts easily afterwards. Since spring has come around here, it always shifts pretty easily. I'm satisfied with the MTL.
The factory fill fluid seemed to work pretty well, too. I only drained it out because it had 45,000 miles and 3 years on it. If I was able to get a good deal on that or the Amsoil tranny fluid, I'd give them a try, too.
Auto-Rx? I'm satisfied it won't hurt the car, and helps clean up engines. There just wasn't any obvious sludge or obvious impurities that came out in my clean or rinse oil (or in the filters). I'll continue to watch my oil and filters when I change them. Maybe some other stuff will come out when I drain the Mobil 1?
My main conclusion is that all these people saying a BMW that has already seen 2 or 3 15,000 mile OCIs will be sludged and choked with impurities, so stay away, do not know what they are talking about. Just typical mouthing off on the internet.
Based on my experience,I doubt you have any big sludge or lubrication problems. A 2004 with 45,000 miles versus a 2005 with 35,000 miles. Mine is just a year older on similar mileage pattern, it seems to me.
If I were you, I'd just continue on in the clean phase with the BMW oil until you had 2,500 miles on it. I mean, you've already put the Auto-Rx in there, I'd want to stick with it to find out what comes out. Then change to your rinse oil. I only threw the dino oil in there because the people who sing Auto-Rx's praises so loudly seem to indicate it will clean even better with dino oil. You may or may not have some stuff come out in the clean and rinse. Follow the procedure to the end, I say, and tell us what you find.
I guess it is possible that Auto-Rx liquified whatever hard deposits I might have had in there. But if so, that wasn't something that was caught in the filter. I don't plan on putting any more Auto-Rx in there again until I get well over 100,000 miles.
I have Redline MTL in the manual transmission. On cold winter mornings when it is below freezing, I have to give it a little more muscle to move the gearshift (particularly from first into second). But after these first few shifts and a few miles down the road, it seems to warm up, and shifts easily afterwards. Since spring has come around here, it always shifts pretty easily. I'm satisfied with the MTL.
The factory fill fluid seemed to work pretty well, too. I only drained it out because it had 45,000 miles and 3 years on it. If I was able to get a good deal on that or the Amsoil tranny fluid, I'd give them a try, too.
Auto-Rx? I'm satisfied it won't hurt the car, and helps clean up engines. There just wasn't any obvious sludge or obvious impurities that came out in my clean or rinse oil (or in the filters). I'll continue to watch my oil and filters when I change them. Maybe some other stuff will come out when I drain the Mobil 1?
My main conclusion is that all these people saying a BMW that has already seen 2 or 3 15,000 mile OCIs will be sludged and choked with impurities, so stay away, do not know what they are talking about. Just typical mouthing off on the internet.
Based on my experience,I doubt you have any big sludge or lubrication problems. A 2004 with 45,000 miles versus a 2005 with 35,000 miles. Mine is just a year older on similar mileage pattern, it seems to me.
If I were you, I'd just continue on in the clean phase with the BMW oil until you had 2,500 miles on it. I mean, you've already put the Auto-Rx in there, I'd want to stick with it to find out what comes out. Then change to your rinse oil. I only threw the dino oil in there because the people who sing Auto-Rx's praises so loudly seem to indicate it will clean even better with dino oil. You may or may not have some stuff come out in the clean and rinse. Follow the procedure to the end, I say, and tell us what you find.
I guess it is possible that Auto-Rx liquified whatever hard deposits I might have had in there. But if so, that wasn't something that was caught in the filter. I don't plan on putting any more Auto-Rx in there again until I get well over 100,000 miles.
jett,
Thanks, Yup! I'll continue with my autorx cleaning phase till 2,500 miles. What do you mean by rinse w/dino oil? Do I have to drop another bottle of autorx in their w/ the dino oil? If thats the case I'll go w/ the dino oil route. Im planning to use Mobil clean 10w40 or castrol GTX 10w40, because it is available in my neigborhood auto store.
As soon as I bought the car, I decided to change all the fluids; coolant(BMW brand), differential(redline 75w90) and the transmission fluid w/ the factory filled from the dealership. It is kind of expensive though, but decided to go w/ the factory filled because the car is still under warranty. I'm planning to use Redline MTL or Royal Purple synchromax as soon my warranty expires w/c is the end of this year.
thanks again
Thanks, Yup! I'll continue with my autorx cleaning phase till 2,500 miles. What do you mean by rinse w/dino oil? Do I have to drop another bottle of autorx in their w/ the dino oil? If thats the case I'll go w/ the dino oil route. Im planning to use Mobil clean 10w40 or castrol GTX 10w40, because it is available in my neigborhood auto store.
As soon as I bought the car, I decided to change all the fluids; coolant(BMW brand), differential(redline 75w90) and the transmission fluid w/ the factory filled from the dealership. It is kind of expensive though, but decided to go w/ the factory filled because the car is still under warranty. I'm planning to use Redline MTL or Royal Purple synchromax as soon my warranty expires w/c is the end of this year.
thanks again
Originally Posted By: orics
I'll continue with my autorx cleaning phase till 2,500 miles. What do you mean by rinse w/dino oil? Do I have to drop another bottle of autorx in their w/ the dino oil?
There are two phases for the Auto-Rx treatment, as I understand it.
Phase 1: Drive your car 2,500 miles with a bottle of Auto-Rx added to the oil of your choice. This is typically called "the clean phase." I used the BMW Castrol oil for this part.
Phase 2: Do an oil and filter change, and drive 3,000 miles. This is what they call the "rinse phase". I used the Chevron dino oil here, but apparently it is okay to even use synethetic, as long as it is not a group IV or V synethetic (which would exclude Mobil 1 0w-40 or Castrol Syntec 0w-30). It has been suggested that using a dino oil in this rinse phase will work better, but I'll leave that to the Auto-Rx experts.
You don't have to pour in another bottle of Auto-Rx. Rinse phase is just a 3,000 mile run, where supposedly the sludge/impurites/gunk will move from the engine to the filter. Supposely, the clean phase (the 2,500 mile run with the Auto-Rx in the oil) just sort of loosens it all up. The rinse is supposed to be where the real cleaning takes place.
Mobil, Valvoline, Pennzoil or Castrol dino 10w-40 ought to all work fine for the rinse phase. I just used the Chevron dino because I already had it in my garage and this seemed like a good opportunity to get rid of it.
Let us know how it goes.
I'll continue with my autorx cleaning phase till 2,500 miles. What do you mean by rinse w/dino oil? Do I have to drop another bottle of autorx in their w/ the dino oil?
There are two phases for the Auto-Rx treatment, as I understand it.
Phase 1: Drive your car 2,500 miles with a bottle of Auto-Rx added to the oil of your choice. This is typically called "the clean phase." I used the BMW Castrol oil for this part.
Phase 2: Do an oil and filter change, and drive 3,000 miles. This is what they call the "rinse phase". I used the Chevron dino oil here, but apparently it is okay to even use synethetic, as long as it is not a group IV or V synethetic (which would exclude Mobil 1 0w-40 or Castrol Syntec 0w-30). It has been suggested that using a dino oil in this rinse phase will work better, but I'll leave that to the Auto-Rx experts.
You don't have to pour in another bottle of Auto-Rx. Rinse phase is just a 3,000 mile run, where supposedly the sludge/impurites/gunk will move from the engine to the filter. Supposely, the clean phase (the 2,500 mile run with the Auto-Rx in the oil) just sort of loosens it all up. The rinse is supposed to be where the real cleaning takes place.
Mobil, Valvoline, Pennzoil or Castrol dino 10w-40 ought to all work fine for the rinse phase. I just used the Chevron dino because I already had it in my garage and this seemed like a good opportunity to get rid of it.
Let us know how it goes.
Straight dino for rinse, the most important stage
Is this likely do much good on cars with such low milage, or are we being OCD here?
Originally Posted By: Brandon26pdx
Is this likely do much good on cars with such low milage, or are we being OCD here?
My 1998 528 is pretty OCD, and it benefited at 114,000km. I didn't expect much of anything because of the maintenance history but I was pleasantly surprised.
Is this likely do much good on cars with such low milage, or are we being OCD here?
My 1998 528 is pretty OCD, and it benefited at 114,000km. I didn't expect much of anything because of the maintenance history but I was pleasantly surprised.
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