Suggested oil for BMW Z4

[mike87]

Hi all, I'm new here and thought I'd start off with a question. I have a BMW Z4 with a warranty that just expired and thought I'd ask you guys for recommendations regarding oil.

The car has been serviced its entire life by the dealer with oil changes, using BMW's high-performance full synthetic 5w30 oil. I did the last oil change with Mobil 1 5w30 15,000 miles synthetic about 6,500 miles ago. It has recently come to my attention that Mobil 1 is not fully synthetic, and that this oil is not recommended by the dealership as a long-life oil.

I want to do my next oil change using Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30. Is it okay going from Mobil 1 5w30 to the recommended Castrol euro fully-synthetic 0w30? I don't want to have any lower or upper engine block gasket leaks, because I have read in the past that going from a dino oil (well partially dino in this case) to a synthetic oil can cause that.

Just as a heads up, the oil needs to be fully synthetic; and I guess price isn't really a big deal, but nothing out of control.

1. What kind of vehicle you have
BMW Z4 with 50k miles, M54 engine
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
"BMW Long-life rating LL-01 Approved Synthetic Oils for the US Market", "Use only oils with an API rating of SM or higher."
taken from the BMW website: BMW recommended oil list
Change internal is 15,000 miles, but I usually change it around 7,500 miles or at least once a year
3. Where you live
NJ, USA
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
About 80% of the time I'm cruising, 20% of the time I like to drive hard
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
Short trips, mostly city
6. Whether your car has any known problems
No known problems

Thanks in advance!

 

[addyguy]

In that engine, you need an A-3 rated oil, ie, and oil with a HT/HS value of 3.5 or greater.

'Regular' M1 5W-30 does NOT have that - you want to use the GC 0W-30 you are using, or M1 0W-40 for that car.

 

[hate2work]

Originally Posted By: mike87

I want to do my next oil change using Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30. Is it okay going from Mobil 1 5w30 to the recommended Castrol euro fully-synthetic 0w30?


Yes, it's OK to switch to GC from M1. GC would be a good oil for your car.

 

[CivicFan]

I have a Z4 and I use either Mobil1 0w-40 or German Castrol 0w-30. Mine is an M54 2.5l engine and no issues at 94k miles with similar driving habits as yours.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Mike:
!!What model year and engine are in the car?!!

Castrol 5w-40 is also and option, as is Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40, Motul X-MAX bmw LL01 5w-30, Maybe M1 5w30 ESP, cITGO Mystik JT4 0w-40

 

[mike87]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
In that engine, you need an A-3 rated oil, ie, and oil with a HT/HS value of 3.5 or greater.

'Regular' M1 5W-30 does NOT have that - you want to use the GC 0W-30 you are using, or M1 0W-40 for that car.


Dang... is it bad that I’ve been using the “wrong” oil for the past 6,500 miles? I guess I’ll have to order my new filter today and change my oil this weekend.

Originally Posted By: hate2work
Originally Posted By: mike87

I want to do my next oil change using Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30. Is it okay going from Mobil 1 5w30 to the recommended Castrol euro fully-synthetic 0w30?


Yes, it's OK to switch to GC from M1. GC would be a good oil for your car.


Most likely going with GC for my next oil change.

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
I have a Z4 and I use either Mobil1 0w-40 or German Castrol 0w-30. Mine is an M54 2.5l engine and no issues at 94k miles with similar driving habits as yours.


Awesome! Good to know. Mobil1 0w40 SAE is a BMW long-life oil.

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Mike:
!!What model year and engine are in the car?!!

Castrol 5w-40 is also and option, as is Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40, Motul X-MAX bmw LL01 5w-30, Maybe M1 5w30 ESP, cITGO Mystik JT4 0w-40


2003 2.5i M54 engine, probably going to stick with GC for my next change.



Also, since I’m going with a thinner oil, my engine wouldn’t be more “rattley” would it?

 

[hate2work]

Originally Posted By: mike87
Also, since I’m going with a thinner oil, my engine wouldn’t be more “rattley” would it?


GC is one of the thickest 30 weights available at 12.1 Cst @100C. Doubt it will cause any rattle.

 

[cchase]

Just for records sake, the Mobil 1 in your car right now is still a "full synthetic" oil. It's as much "partial dino" as just about all the other off-the-shelf "fully synthetic" oils.

 

[Trajan]

Use the same oil I do.

108,000 miles and no problems.

 

[Audi Junkie]

5w-30 seems to work fine in Euro cars as long as oil temps do not exceed +200f. Mostly, that would be a winter solution in a moderately driven car. So, you didn't do any damage.

Going forward, I'd use an approved BMW oil or step up to a 5w-40 HD if you drive hard. Keep changes to 10k / 6 months.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: mike87

Also, since I’m going with a thinner oil, my engine wouldn’t be more “rattley” would it?
0w-XX has mostly nothing to do with 'thickness' at operating temp unless your sump never gets above 90deg C. Even then the GC would be thicker. Some PAO base synthetics have unique acoustic properties. Some show 2x wear some do OK. Its all up to the OIl Forumlator or Magician as I call them

 

[Craig in Canada]

Warranty approved:
GC
M1 0W40 (you might find this noisy in your M54, it was in my M52)

Not warranty approved but still excellent:
Rotella T6 (5w40)
Redline 0W40
Redline 5W40
There are probably a ton of other 5W40s well suited

Do you drive the Z4 year round? Or do you have something else for the extreme cold/winter?

ACEA A3 is your primary concern. BMW LL-01 is of secondary importance - in a nutshell it starts with A3 and then ensures that it's up to the task for the full BMW extended change intervals. If you don't plan on doing extended intervals, LL-01 is not a must but A3 ALWAYS is.

 

[mike87]

Originally Posted By: Craig in Canada
Warranty approved:
GC
M1 0W40 (you might find this noisy in your M54, it was in my M52)

Not warranty approved but still excellent:
Rotella T6 (5w40)
Redline 0W40
Redline 5W40
There are probably a ton of other 5W40s well suited

Do you drive the Z4 year round? Or do you have something else for the extreme cold/winter?

ACEA A3 is your primary concern. BMW LL-01 is of secondary importance - in a nutshell it starts with A3 and then ensures that it's up to the task for the full BMW extended change intervals. If you don't plan on doing extended intervals, LL-01 is not a must but A3 ALWAYS is.


Thanks everyone for your insightful replies. I drive the Z4 year-round, but moreso during the summer. During the winter, I only drive when there is no snow out.

Gonna be changing my oil to German Castrol euro formula 0w30 this weekend. Any objections, please let me know!

Thanks again!

 

[mike87]

To confirm, this is what I'm going to purchase this weekend, it's German Castrol, correct? Since it says "European Formula" on the bottle.

Click to view product

(Can not hot-link copyrighted data. Thx, Bill)

 

[Robenstein]

Yes it is German Castrol.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Good in summer and winter.

I still like to change for seasons, GC being a summer oil to me, doing mostly short trips.

 

[sprintman]

0W30 'summer oil' would raise a lot of eyes here. 0W30 'winter oil' would raise just as many.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: mike87

Thanks everyone for your insightful replies. I drive the Z4 year-round, but moreso during the summer. During the winter, I only drive when there is no snow out.

Gonna be changing my oil to German Castrol euro formula 0w30 this weekend. Any objections, please let me know!

Thanks again!


I only asked because in your area, if you only drove in the summer you could run a 15W40 HDEO - very inexpensive but durable and will keep things nice and clean.

If you tend to not be starting from outdoors in sub-zero *F weather, you can probably run a 5W40 year-round if you wanted (even then, 5W would probably be fine, but 0W oils would be better suited).

BMWs like things a little heavier, which is why I'm mentioning some 40 weight options. That being said, there's nothing wrong with GC all year round in the M54. Look for "Made in Germany" on the back. There may be some ancient bottles of "Made in USA" Syntec 0W30 hanging around which is not "GC".

Enjoy!