Engine oil
 

The car was due for oil change and i used Mobile 1 15W-50 synthetic oil.. Is it ok or what you guys think. I used conventional up to now, but wanted to make the move to synthetic, i can feel the difference too, i think the engine feels like it gives more power or something, , could be my imagination though, i am too tired today.

haven't seen leaks ...yet :shades

i was about to switch to that from castrol syntec fully synthetic 5w-30 but i didnt know if i should or not

I'm using Mobil1 10W40. Works excellent for me even though I've been tempted to change to Castrol Syntec 10W40.

I ran synthetic in the 318, ran beauifully. i did how ever get a valve cover gasket leak right after doing this..heh.

I would say run conventional oil, seeing how it was originally designed for it?

15W-50 is a little on the thick side for winter, but it's still good down to about 15 degrees F. You'll be fine.

thanks all, i keep reading up and down on different forums, and articles how synthetic is better or what not, and i keep thinking that's the least i can do for the littile bavarian beast (just looking for an excuse to switch to synthetic i guess), i recently replaced the valve cover, but i am checking carefully for any leaks, if any i may have to switch back to conventional.

today i parked in a clean spot at work, see how it looks when i get off:confused

I am in Phoenix, AZ. in the winter you get maybe only few days where temp. will fall to/ below freezing points,up in the north though it gets cold alright.

I still use conventional in my 318, i like a 15w40.

I would never switch from regular to synthetic. Ive heard stories and actually seen an incodent where it blew up my neighbors oil pump and put a hole through his oil pan.
This is a real tricky question but everyone I ask always says if you use regular oil then say with that.
From what I put together, when you use regular oil a black gunk build up occurs on all the gaskets that touch oil. In other words it creats even more of a seal. When you switch over to synthetic, it cleans all that gunk off off the seals and starts to deteorate the seals untill you get an oil leak. IE: valve cover.
In my neighbors case, it cleaned all the gunk off the seals, cluged up the pick up screen in the oil pump and it caused such back pressure the pump exploded and blew out the oil pan.

I change oil on these cars daily and BMW reccomends any vehicle 1999 or below gets castrol 15w40. If you buy it from your dealer it should have a green lable on the front. The synthetic has red. For both my cars I put 15w40 in year round with no problems.

But like I said, eveywhere I go, parts stores, friends, co workers they all say the same thing. If your running regular oil, dont change to synthetic. But nobody knows why.

are you serious man, dont scare me now, you going to make me change my oil as soon as i get home, i hope the pump don't explode by the time i get home though, geez :shoot

below is from the BMW TIS, as provided by a local bmw forum member:

LL98 for all engines except:
M43/CNG, M54 (from 09/2001), N40, N42, S54, N62, N73, S62/E39 (till 02/2000)

BMW Super Power Plus 5W-30 is substituted by
BMW Quality longlife-01 5W-30
BMW Super Power Oil 5W-40
76 Pure Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-40
Castrol Formula RS Power and Protection 0W-40
Castrol Formula RS Road and Track 5W-40
Castrol GTX7 Dynatec 5W-40
Castrol Performance 5W-40
Castrol Syntec 5W-40 <-- This is what I use
Castrol TXT Softec 5W-40
Castrol Softec LL98 5W-30
Castrol Softec Plus 5W-30
Chevron Supreme Synthetic 5W-40
Mobil1 5W-30 (not the same 5W-30 SS or Tri-Syn sold in the US)
Mobil1 5W-40
Mobil1 Rally Formula 5W-30 and 5W-40
Mobil1 Turbo Diesel 0W-40
Mobil Super S 5W-40
Mobil Synt S 5W-40
Quaker State Full Synthetic European Formula 5W-40
Valvoline Durablend MXL 5W-40
Valvoline SynPower 5W-30 and 5W-40
Valvoline SynPower MXL 0W-30
Valvoline SynPro 5W-30 and 5W-40

Hi. I am with the 15/40 brigade.Used it in my 316i and it kept the tappets nice and quite,use it in my 320i now.I use cheap diesel oil to flush the engine then put in Castrol 15/40.

10W40, just like elsabor... did you do the oil change at ATU?

anyways, 10W40 is recommended for my car, but motor oil is a little bit different here I've heard it's of a better quality than in the US... it cost's like 5 times more than in the US, as well