WHICH OIL FOR E39 M5??

Spot on Stephen, the bulletin you refer to is very clear in it's wording and BMW are aware that incorrect advice may have been given or at least the correct advice was misunderstood or not read.

Look at your manual, it doesn't mention 10w-60!

The difference between sae 60 and sae 30 is huge!

Sae 30 is 11cst at 100degC and sae 60 is 24cst at 100degC, that's more than twice the recommended thickness! This is important as an oil this thick in the wrong application causes friction, heat and wear plus wastes BHP and increases fuel consumption.

Cheers

Simon

Good news!

I tried to call Jeff Abbott today but he is on his hols, so I spoke to another technical adviser, Alex Mead.  Explained the situation to him mentioning the bulletin that was issued, within an hour head of BMW customer services rang me back to confirm that the wrong oil has been put into my car and that they instructed wollaston BMW head of aftersales to ring me back to rectify the matter, result.

However he got one someone else to ring to say there was some miscommunication between service advisers and that they were willing to do the oil change free of charge but I was told ''by mistake'' in very definite terms I had to pay for the oil change.   I guess it would kill them to admit that they were wrong.  I have never liked dealing with BMW service advisers but a kick up the a*** from BMW UK has given me the result I wanted.

Thanks for all help I have received.

Simon,

Far be it for me to challenge you on anything, but I have a feeling the current E46 M3 is still supposed to use 10w-60.........???  Can't think it's a good thing though - they have had a lot of problems with big-end shell recalls!

Regards

STEPHEN B

Andy,

BMW TIS dated 17/07/04 stated that 10w60 TWS Motorsport should be used in all E46 S54 (M3) engines, and E39 S62 (M5) up to 02/2000.  Maybe the recommendation changed with the newer M3s since July 2004, especially if they are working on an extended oil drain period which TWS is not approved for - probably, as I understand it, because it is not a true synthetic oil - but "hydrocracked"!!!

Oilman may expand on this!

Regards

STEPHEN B

Me again

Even though me dealer is now willing to change the oil free of charge, I am concerned about the state of my engine.  After all it has been running on the wrong oil for over 10 months.  I have spoken to BMW Uk technical services about my concern and I am waiting for their reply, I will post their response when I receive it.

The more I think about it, the more it p*sses me off, why should I be made  to pay for my dealers imcompetence and negligence.

Got my oil changed today.  The killer is they are still saying that the car can both use 10w60 and 0w30. 

I think deep down they know it's bull what they are saying, sheer arrogance stops them admitting they were wrong or else why would they change my oil for free if like they said it could use one or the other. 

I am still waiting to hear back from BMW UK regarding any potential damage that may have occurred in the 10 months of using the wrong oil though.  It will interesting to hear what the offical line on this will be.

guess what now?

after i got home from getting the oil changed to 0-30 slx

i checked the level and it was way above the max on the dipstick,so

i had to drain 1 liter of oil in order to reach the maximum level !

how bad is that for the engine?

yea i will have to report them for that one!

over 1 liter above the max level,i did 30 miles like this!

what damage can occur from this type of stupidity?

i thought they would at least change the filter,ive now got

0w 30 with 10w 60 cocktail! no wonder bmw have to supply

new engines to there customers,i just feel sorry for those m5 owners who dont have a bmw warranty!

I think BMW should look harder into the reasons for engine failures and they may find that Dealer incompetance is a major factor.

An oil that is too thick can cause damage long term through additional friction, heat and wear but in the short term the worst case scenario is cavitation causing oil starvation on start-up.

The vanos problems could very well be caused by temporary oil starvation as the thicker oil takes longer to circulate around the engine and oil pressures being too high at temperature.

These threads sadden me and although I'm sure there are some perfectly competant Dealers out there, unfortunately there are too many that just don't read or understand BMW's technical bulletins.

I can only say once again:

"Your handbook is an important document and is very specific about the correct viscosity oil for your car, READ IT!"

If you don't understand it, email me the relevant page and I'll do the work for you.

sales@opieoils.co.uk

Cheers

Simon

Sorry to add to the dismay at BMWs seemingly endless ability to actually give a straight answer on the oil for M5s topic....

I have been very concerned about whether I had the right oil in my car since the last service (just prior to when I purchased the car) - I have a 2001 M5 - thus my thoughts are that it should have a BMW LL01 oil - like Castrol SLW 0W30.  I have discovered that it has had TWS put in it by a dealer in the NW.  They are adamant that this is correct.  I checked with BMW GB who confirmed that I was correct and that LL01 must be used.  I spoke to the dealer who were not impressed at all.

I then decided to refer back to BMW GB and spoke to cust services who informed me that whoever told me that LL01 is the right oil should NOT have told me that and had no authority to do so.  I nearly lost it there and then.  This chap was so unhelpful and said that as he wasn't allowed to talk to people like Jeff Abbott, then I certainly wouldn't be able to.....

He said he had to refer it back to the dealer - what a joke....meanwhile what I am meant to do with my car when it's got the wrong oil in it...?

I rang another dealer more local to me - and they insisted that TWS was the right oil....and that wait for it......Castrol RS 0W40 must be used on M5s up to 2000.....

I await the outcome from BMW GB.....how frustrating is this...?

Chris