Help - 2011 BMW: AMSOIL 5W40, GC, or M1 0W40

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My car has the BMW N55 DI Turbo and calls out BMW LL01. It has 18,000 mile oil change interval. I may do 10,000 mile instead.

Which oil do you recommend? AMSOIL 5W40 European car formula is cheapest for me.

With cold weather and many short runs I am getting white mayonnaise under oil cap. Any resist moisture better?
 
If Amsoil is cheapest I would not hesitate to run it one bit.
Just know its a non approved oil only recommended by Amsoil
 
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Wow, Amsoil is cheaper! Any oil will work fine.
I myself would not go 10000 miles though. How many miles
will you be putting on the car in a year?
 
I would run the cheapest oil that meets the LL01 spec.

To get rid of the white stuff under the oil cap, take the car out on the hwy once a week and drive it like it was meant to be driven.
 
If Amsoil is the cheapest, that's what I would run. Although as dave mentioned it's not officially licensed. But according to Amsoils website, their oil will not void warranties because of the Magnuson-moss warranty act. I believe it states that the oil must be proven to be the cause of failure(highly unlikely), if a failure occurs. I'm sure others know the specifics of it though.

Take it for what it's worth, do what makes you happy!
 
Looking at the specs, it appears as though the M1 and GC have much lower pour points.

Based purely on published data, it looks like M1 0W40 is superior. Any idea how these oils hold up for the extended BMW oil change interval? We don't drive hard, so I'm not concerned about HTHS or flash point. However, I understand the direct injection leads to slight piston leakage and oil thinning over time.

Thoughts - or am I overthinking it? I plan to just change in between the manufacturer specified 18,000 mile changes myself. Since they use Castrol should I go that way for consistency?
 
The fact that they carry the LL01 spec means they were designed to handle extended OCIs. 18K miles might be pushing it, but if you're going to cut it in half, any of them should handle it just fine.

How long does it take you to rack up 9K miles? If it takes you more than a year, I would consider annual oil changes instead, considering you're doing a lot of short trips and get moisture accumulation.

FYI, my 10K mile 8-month OCI UOA looked a lot better than my 6K mile 16-month OCI UOA. That's why I'm hesitant to run any oil longer than about a year or so.
 
I recently sold my '99 BMW 740iL with 340,000 km on it. The majority of the time I owned it, I used German Castrol Ow30. I tried Mobil 1 Ow-40 which has great specs, but my engine seemed a little noisier. When I sold the car, it had no oil consumption - ever- between oil changes. My oil changes were every 15,000 km max or 9,300 miles. Absolutely no signs of any sludge and the engine was running as smooth and strong as when I first got the car. GC is a great oil IMHO.
 
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