Hi
Am still having the oil and filters on my car changed every 5K and is booked into local garage next week. Question is, what oil should the garage be using as i am aware that they just have one big barrell that they use for every oil change (well one for Petrol and one for diesel)
Does my engine need special oil..being commonrail diesel i was wondering whether run of the mill stuff is doing any damage..this will be the 5th change this year and everything has been ok so far but dont want to cause any long term damage
thanks in advance
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E-mail oilman at www.opieoils.co.uk for a definitive answer, he is a regular contributor to this and many other motoring forums with regard to oils and you should get an accurate answer.
Most garages/main dealers bulk buy 10W40 semi-synthetic oil (such as Castrol Magnatec/Esso Ultra etc) as it is cheap. Best to ask the sevicing garage exactly what they use and see if it matches oilmans recommended grade/spec (the brand of oil is irrelevent if it meets the grade/spec)
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As you are changing the oil every 5k it probably doesn't matter what oil you are using,but your car uses the old BMW 320d engine. I dont know about that engine but the later 320d 150 engine can only use synthetic LL01 spec oil (0-40 i think), but this is probably only because the computer service intervals work out at about 15k miles between oil services.
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Popping up like a bad penny again, I do so just to point out the Castrol Magnatec is not a semi-synthetic oil but a mineral oil. Check other threads, one of which contains Oilman's definitive confirmation of this.
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Castrol Magnatec is not a semi-synthetic oil but a mineral oil.
Curious how the email reply I had from Castrol themselves suggested otherwise when I asked about the 5w/30 magnatec. Unless you mean a different grade?
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=32...1
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Magnatec is a hydrocracked mineral oil. A small percentage of synthetic, and enough by law to enable castrol to call it semi - synthetic.
Still superior to mineral though. But not as good as pure syntheic.
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Mineral oil can be modified to give a uniform molecule size oil by hydrocracking: Group III in API parlance. I believe there are different degrees of "severity" with which unwanted bits like waxes etc are removed. My point is that the base oil is only part of the package: nearly all "fully-synthetic" oils contain 10% to 20% Group I or II oils as a carrier as most Group IV oils dont hold the additives in the mix too well. BTW. magnatec also contains a proportion of esters, Group V, so its able to claim that the polarity of ester based oils, lacking in group IV, is of benefit during cold starts. Here is an interesting snippet frmo BITOG: theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=ge...0 Its not as straightforward as synthetic GOOD, mineral BAD.
To come back to the question: its the engine mfrs call on this. What do BMW or Rover say is the required spec in ACEA terms, or BMW standard? Follow that!
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I do so just to point out the Castrol Magnatec is not a semi- synthetic oil
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roger jones - you should take care not to make broadbrush statements. as has been discussed in the castrol-magnatec thread, there are various different grades of magnatec.
remember, the oil companies have won their case in court, unless of course you can afford to take them on to prove otherwise.
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