Pennzoil Platinum too thin?

[GhostFlame]

I had my oil changed the other day at Pep Boys. I wasnt thinking and they put PP 5 30 in my bmw x5. When it was already done I thought how bad could it be.
I drove off and when I came to a stop and rpm dropped the low oil pressure light came on.
Today I changed to castrol 5 40. No more low pressure warning light.
Has anyone else experienced PP not holding viscosity when at operating temp.

 

[jrustles]

Really? An X5 2002 vintage can't even maintain critical oil pressure on 5w30? Unless there is something wrong with the engine, that says more about BMW than PP

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Originally Posted By: GhostFlame
I had my oil changed the other day at Pep Boys. I wasnt thinking and they put PP 5 30 in my bmw x5. When it was already done I thought how bad could it be.
I drove off and when I came to a stop and rpm dropped the low oil pressure light came on.
Today I changed to castrol 5 40. No more low pressure warning light.
Has anyone else experienced PP not holding viscosity when at operating temp.


Sounds like the engine not the oil.

 

[dparm]

It has nothing to do with "not holding viscosity".

PP 5w30 has an HTHS (aka operational viscosity) of 3.2ish. Castrol Edge 5w40 is in the 3.6-3.8 range, meaning it's about 15% thicker.

You ran the wrong oil, plain and simple. BMW wants an ACEA A3/B4 oil, which has an HTHS of 3.5 or higher. The car is designed for an oil of that viscosity.

 

[Falken]

I'll have to be different here and say it is spec'd for Euro oils that are thicker compared to North American fake syns.

I bet if you put Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5W30 in the X5 you wouldn't have an issue.

I don't think Pennzoil Platinum is the greatest thing for your BMW.

Personally, I'd use Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5W30 and call it a day.

No reason to panic if you used the wrong oil in your Bimmer and it let you know

Remember, the oil pump sends oil based on engine RPM, and thicker oil gives greater oil pressure, thinner oil gives low oil pressure, but has greater flow.

The problem is the person who dumped the oil in your BMW should have known better.

 

[GhostFlame]

I'll keep you posted. I now have about 100 stop and go miles on the 5 40.and so far no oil light.
I have used other 5 30 and never had a problem with this engine. The PP was the one and only time that the oil light has ever come on.
Tomorrow i'm going to get the oil pressure tested.
That will rulle on the engine as the culprit.
164000 miles.tons of power and otherwise flaw less

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Falken

Personally, I'd use Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5W30 and call it a day.



Except that it's virtually impossible to get in the United States.

 

[FZ1]

PP is a thin 5w-30. Gotta use what your car "Likes".

 

[Falken]

dparm, can't you order it through NAPA?

I got mine on sale, and was wondering if next time I should try ordering PU Euro 5W30 and see if I get the same sale price.

The guys at NAPA had my 3 jugs of Ultra in the next day.

NAPA is really upping it's game up here in Canada anyway. I plan on dealing with them more.

I just cringe when people have to resort to using Castrol.

 

[Clevy]

GC is an easy find and I think it was the right spec for your engine when it was originally built. Belgian castrol is another safe bet and easy to find

 

[GhostFlame]

Originally Posted By: Falken
I'll have to be different here and say it is spec'd for Euro oils that are thicker compared to North American fake syns.

I bet if you put Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5W30 in the X5 you wouldn't have an issue.

I don't think Pennzoil Platinum is the greatest thing for your BMW.

Personally, I'd use Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5W30 and call it a day.

No reason to panic if you used the wrong oil in your Bimmer and it let you know

Remember, the oil pump sends oil based on engine RPM, and thicker oil gives greater oil pressure, thinner oil gives low oil pressure, but has greater flow.

The problem is the person who dumped the oil in your BMW should have known better.

Overall my experience with my pep boys has been ok to good. The pep boys computer actually speced the PP. NEVER again I usually changed my own oil. I wasted $70ish dollars. Never again.

 

[pbm]

What would Dr. Haas say about this?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Falken
dparm, can't you order it through NAPA?

I got mine on sale, and was wondering if next time I should try ordering PU Euro 5W30 and see if I get the same sale price.

Even if you could, I don't see why you'd want this oil in a non-DI gas engine. It's a low SAPs oil, so you'd just be limiting yourself in terms of max OCI that you could run with it.

 

[antiqueshell]

I don't feel that the major oil companies have done a good job when it comes to providing aftermarket products for the needs of a very large European car market in the USA. That includes oil and other lubricants like gear oil ATF.

Often times the products are not clearly labeled to identify them as EU specs ACEA, and when they are around in the USA and Canada, often times they are difficult to find and buy easily.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Originally Posted By: pbm
What would Dr. Haas say about this?


He'd say the PP 5W-30 was too thick.

Then he would say he used a 0W-20 that actually was more like a 40-weight, but says 0W-20 on the bottle, even though HTHS would beg to differ, and put it squarely in thic 30, even close to a 40-weight category.

Then he would say that it was absolutely a 0W-20 when questioned.

Just remember, when reading Dr. Haas's articles: he uses what it says on the bottle.. the HTHS of the oils he uses are a LOT more favorable to the engines they are in, and are more like mod-30 *mid weights and such. He just doesn't call them what they actually are, and it leaves a lot of Dr Haas technical data readers going out and buying things like PP 5W-20 and such.... which may or may not do things like it did in their BMW, which clearly say HTHS 3.5 or higher like Porsche.

Basically, Dr. Haas's 0W-20s have HTHS 3.5 or higher. How that is possible, I don't know.. but, hey, he says so. Then, when examined closely, the oil is actually thicker in HTHS than he will ever admit.

And yes, I imaging he will be the first to put the new 0W-16 in a Rolls Royce. It will probably be Motul or Fuchs or something, and that 0S-16 will probably a light 30 lol, which will make the engine run smoother than an BMW RR FF... ...maybe he will drain all the oil out so that the heard metal-on-metal for 11 seconds, like he did with a Ferrari 599.. If you ever read what he says...

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: Falken
I'll have to be different here and say it is spec'd for Euro oils that are thicker compared to North American fake syns


Keep in mind that BMW's own A3 rated oil is a "fake syn", and it performs quite well.

And the oil pressure light has nothing to do with the oil viscosity if the story happened as the OP said. He could have put in 0W10 and would have still been thicker than ideal after a couple minutes of driving?? Something else is going on.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: GhostFlame



Overall my experience with my pep boys has been ok to good. The pep boys computer actually speced the PP. NEVER again I usually changed my own oil. I wasted $70ish dollars. Never again.


You should have returned and complained. I'm think they would have provided a change with the correct spec oil free of charge.

Why did you not do this?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: TechnoLoGs
Originally Posted By: pbm
What would Dr. Haas say about this?


He'd say the PP 5W-30 was too thick.

Honestly, even though PP 5w-30 was not the best oil for this car, I don't think it should have caused the oil light to come on. I suspect the OP's engine has some problems brewing.

 

[simple_gifts]

I think Mini has a 5W-30 that is LL approved.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I think Mini has a 5W-30 that is LL approved.

Yes, it's the same oil as BMW 5w-30, just different label.