wtbdeath

I have heard good words on Penrite, I am not against it. Actually I was using Envro+ 5w30 wichi is LL-04 approved oil for the last 20L oil changes, they are good, no doubt about that. On noise side, thick oil can elimates certain noise, like the most common tapping noise, maybe some rattling from VANOS as well? Thinner oil on the other hand, can reduce friction and can elimates some other noise, like Mobil 1 0W40 is thinner than Castrol 0W40 which makes Mobil 1 very quiet. Penrite is good, it is even better they have 100% PAO and ESTER oils, the only consern is they are not LL-01 approved. I have sent them an email asking about if their full synthetic VANOS safe. I will keep you all updated. Edit: Hack, My Nissan SR20DE engine sounds like BMW once I put Envro+ 5W30 in it, very nice. It had Castrol cheap 20W50 in it before that.

I am no gruru but did a lot of research on this topic. The "Full synthetic" lable does not mean it is 100% synthetic oil, well, striclly speaking, none of the oil on the market is 100% synthetic as they need to add additives. But, there are two kinds of "Full synthetic" oil out there: 1. Group III base oil with additives that have synthetic properties , 2. Group IV or Group IV base oil true synthetic oil The difference is quite big and easy to understand: When oils are new, they are almost the same, say 5w30, they all provide same protection layer at operation temperature. The difference comes in when you put miles on the oil, as BMWs are long drain , typically 250000km, (I change more often than that), oil gets heat, cooled and thinned. Now, when oil has , say around 10000km, they do not have same chemical property as when they were new, Group III will be thinned, called "shear", which does not provide good protection layers between metals, or , not as good as new protection layers. Lets say HPR 5 have Viscosity 15.0 at 100C, when new, but would be around 10.0 when drained out (NOTE: I do not know what the value will be at the end of the drain interval, it can only be found out if you are doing oil sample anylisys, this is just an assumption) Group IV or V oils, which are chemically engineered, all oil elements are the same, they don't require too much additives to get to the required viocity, often, it is the additives that get old, poision, and problematic. Which means, at the end of your drain interval, if you have group IV or V based oil, they still provide as good as new stated Viscosity. From Penrite website, if you look under their full synthetic range, namely racing and premium range, you will see they state that they are SHEAR FREE Now look at my oringinal post, the oil I posted there are real synthetics, not Group III blends, they are not easy to find, and there are not many of these as they are expensive to make, compare to blends. Hope it helps and hope we can find reasonable priced oil in NZ.

Just got back from Penrite support: Premium (full synthetic) 0W-50 has been deletePremium (full synthetic) 0W-50 has been deleted and replaced by Premium (full synthetic) 0W-40. I might get 20L of these instead...

I hope you all realise none of the oils are full synthetic? They are all group III blends.

The reason it did not require top up is because it is too thick. Notice from their spec sheet Viscosity, Kinematic, cSt at 100°C 15.0 Mobie 1 0W40 at 100 C is only 12.x and Castrol is around 13.X I guess the reaon why VANOS holds better is because most of the current second hand cars need the VANOS seals done, a little bit thick oil will fill up the worn seal gaps nicely. Penrite is designed for AUS but not quite NZ IMO, we are not that hot.

Me ? HPR5 doesn't look good to me, it is too thick, they call it extra ten, it is 5w-30 "replacement" in their sense, but not to me. I know I know, it is meant to run in hot climate, but 20 degrees is not really hot.

This is yet another thread about engine oil, only recently found full synthetic in NZ! Penrite 10TH looks good, full gourp IV and V blend, perticually the preimum 0w40 , is not tooooo thick BUT the problem is it is only BMW LL-98 approved. but hey it is only $298 / 20 L from repco. When I was at repco, there is no 10TH 0W40 but 0W50, tooooo thick! Racing oil has too much zinc to my liking and not even BMW LL-98 approved. Or I could go for redline 5w30 from BNT, which is $28+GST /qt Or Castrol 0W40 which is a little bit thick but still thinner than penrite 0w40 , at $9x / 5L and they don't stock in bulk Mobile 1 0W40 is thin enough , at $100/5L , no bulk package. From paper, Penrite HPR0 looks good, but again, it is not BMW LL-01 approved, only HPR5 is, but tooooo thick. LL-01 added VANOS compability, otherwise I would risk it using LL-98. It is a shame cannot get reaonable priced full synthetic and LL-01 approved oil publicly, Maybe I will try trade discount at repco for Mobil 1s

I have two spare Solenoid to give away, they were giving fault code, I heard you could clean them up and see if it fixes problem, I just didn't bother, they are free, drop me a message.

AA check is not important, it is as good as you, or worse if you know what you know what you are looking at.

The truth is , if your BMW is more than 60k , it is time to get VANOS seals replaced, yes, it will still function at 200k but not the way they are designed, if you are happy with performance drawbacks, you can leave it, the DIY only costs below $200

looks like oil filter gasket is leaking.