BMW, in their infinite wisdom, try to make you buy their own brand of oil by grading the variants differently to all other oil brands (or so it seems to me).
Can anyone recommend what oil I should be putting in my 330d other than what BMW want me to buy?
Also, with the extended service intervals (20k plus for my usage), has anyone had any problems occuring between services, oil consumption etc?
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This subject has been discussed many times on this forum, and you would be well advised to read H.J`s advice in the FAQ section :- www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=13
Quite frankly I agree entirely with H.J. in that 20k oil changes, even with modern synthetic oils, is far too long. I notice the oil (Castrol SLX) in my own 320dSE resembles tar after 7k miles, which is when I change.
Although BMW recommend Castrol SLX, Mobil 1 fully synthetic is also on their approval list, and is often more competitively priced.
I have changed oil at 7k intervals from new and am glad to report that my car does not burn a drop between changes.
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Lets look at engines that are really looked after properly to get a feel for sensible oil change intervals.
Aircraft/Helicopter piston engines .... oil change intervals are normally 25 hours (no filter) or 50 hours (with a filter).
Assuming 100mph average speed these equate to 2,500 or 5,000
mile oil changes.
The misconception is that: 'aircraft engines are highly stressed so oil needs changing more often'.
Not true a 5 litre aircraft engine is often rated at about 140 BHP (5 litre car engine 300BHP) the same aircraft/helicopter engine full throttle RPM is 2,450(car engine 6,000 to 8,000).
Conclusion = Honest John knows best, change your oil at 5,000 miles (7,000 miles tops).
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