Factory Fills and CAFE, when FF is different

[tommygunn]

than what the owners manual calls for at service.

For example, the BMW M-cars that take 10w60 don't actually come from the factory with it. Their factory fill is/was a dino 5w30 with an initial OCI at 1500 miles.

Does BMW actually get some kind of penalty for this? I know that automakers get a credit for back-specing lighter oil on older cars (like Toyota and Ford now recommending 5w20 for 20-yo cars), so does that go the other way around too?

Or was the BMW FF 5w30 done for CAFE reasons? If so, that's a strange loophole! Factory fill all the cars with Royal Purple 3.1!

 

[sciphi]

Probably a break-in oil. Those high-strung M engines likely benefit from a short run with a high-moly break-in oil. But what do I know...

 

[Eddie]

sciphi comment makes sense to me. Ed

 

[Corvette Owner]

I know Corvettes come with factory fill of synthetic and after 50,000 miles you can still see the cross-hatched honing marks in the cylinders! So not much wear with synthetic.

 

[Shannow]

Tommygun, I doubt that BMW either get a credit, or a penalty.

From my reading of the NHTSA document, to get the credit, they have to make sure that they take endeavours to prevent the owners from "backsliding"...we see this through stampings on oil caps, single viscosity in manuals...make their best efforts to have the user use the grade that it was certificted on.

To fill with 5W30, and then recommend something heavier in manual/TSB would nulify the process...no credits

 

[tommygunn]

Awesome, thanks for the info!