Recommended Engine Oil for 2009 E90 335i?

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

On 3/8/2019 at 6:49 PM, M3AN said:

 BMW officially moved to Shell years ago (and made a big song and dance of it, as did Shell), I can't imagine the circumstances (or supply chain) under which some dealers still use Castrol.

Seems to me to be some confusion that BMW should front-foot to clear up. If your oil cap says Shell and the dealer uses Castrol what do you do?

No confusion at all, quite simple really, BMW Group uses Shell oil for the factory first fill, and recommends owners (and dealerships) also use Shell.

However, as most dealerships are seperate businesses to BMW Group, it cannot be mandated what they use. Each dealership has its own seperate supply agreement for oil, provided they use products which meet BMW Group standards, ie are approved products, so can be Castrol or Shell, or possibly even others.

None of the oil is supplied by BMW NZ, it is supplied by the local distributors for whichever brand the dealer chooses to use.

[M3AN 4016]

47 minutes ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

No confusion at all, quite simple really, BMW Group uses Shell oil for the factory first fill, and recommends owners (and dealerships) also use Shell.

However, as most dealerships are seperate businesses to BMW Group, it cannot be mandated what they use. Each dealership has its own seperate supply agreement for oil, provided they use products which meet BMW Group standards, ie are approved products, so can be Castrol or Shell, or possibly even others.

None of the oil is supplied by BMW NZ, it is supplied by the local distributors for whichever brand the dealer chooses to use.

I wasn't suggesting you were confused but it's undeniable that there's room for some confusion.

Does BMW still issue approvals for new Castrol lubricants? My understanding of the previous Castrol relationship was that only Castrol lubricants were "approved" and assumed the same with the new Shell relationship (i.e. new Castrol oils couldn't get "approved" status), is that not the case?

NB: I'm excluding silly "Long Life" "approvals" from this, industry standards trump OEM waffle here.

 

 

[Olaf 3318]

and yet in the USA, BMW sells its own branded oil... and they've recently changed from 5W30 to 0W30.

 

https://blog.fcpeuro.com/why-bmws-switch-from-5w-30-to-0w-30-doesnt-matter

[M3AN 4016]

That "article" and the "Catalog Manager" are both useless.

A lower viscosity winter weight offers no net benefit unless your climate demands it (well below zero), indeed it can even make you worse off. 

Nobody should ever listen to a vehicle manufacturer about oil unless they specifically tell you something will break. Listen to the oil people instead.

 

Edited March 9, 2019 by M3AN

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

12 hours ago, Olaf said:

and yet in the USA, BMW sells its own branded oil... and they've recently changed from 5W30 to 0W30.

Pretty sure that is the Shell produced oil, packaged for BMW. As to whether it is the same as another Shell product in a different bottle... that is a whole nother thread!!

Fun fact.. the Shell oil used is actually manufactured from natural gas!

[Olaf 3318]

12 hours ago, M3AN said:

Nobody should ever listen to a vehicle manufacturer about oil unless they specifically tell you something will break. Listen to the oil people instead.

 

the court in Auckland disagrees; thinking of that punter and his Maserati...

[M3AN 4016]

9 hours ago, Olaf said:

the court in Auckland disagrees; thinking of that punter and his Maserati...

What happened? As I said above, if the manufacturer says you have to use a specific oil then you'd be silly to diverge from that advice. But this is highly unusual and in all other cases they're simply looking to line their own pockets.

Example: BMW mandated 10w60 Castrol TWS (which you couldn't buy from a regular store) for e46 M3's after they realised they'd designed the engine poorly... now, you'd be stupid to use anything other than 10w60 having received that notice but I find it hard to believe you'd be on the wrong side of the courts if you used Shell 10w60 instead.

So yeah, what happened with the Maserati???

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by M3AN

[Olaf 3318]

1 hour ago, M3AN said:

What happened? As I said above, if the manufacturer says you have to use a specific oil then you'd be silly to diverge from that advice. But this is highly unusual and in all other cases they're simply looking to line their own pockets.

Example: BMW mandated 10w60 Castrol TWS (which you couldn't buy from a regular store) for e46 M3's after they realised they'd designed the engine poorly... now, you'd be stupid to use anything other than 10w60 having received that notice but I find it hard to believe you'd be on the wrong side of the courts if you used Shell 10w60 instead.

So yeah, what happened with the Maserati???

 

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/man-fails-to-get-90-000-maserati-refund-after-wrong-oil-wrecks-engine/

[M3AN 4016]

Okay, so the court in Auckland actually agrees with me (or I with it). I'm amused that people actually liked your post. ?

The Maserati owner used the wrong (grade) oil, against the manufacturers recommendation and you're doing your best to screw yourself if you do that.

Now, if he'd used (or rather if the shop used) Fuchs 5w40 as opposed to 5w30 then the article implies the court would have ruled differently. And I say fair enough.

NB: I am surprised the 30 v 40 thing made a difference in such a short timeframe and actually think the story sounds like BS - "shaking, rattling" after a month? Unless he had 40 track hours in that month that sounds pretty implausible. You could use olive oil for a month without your engine shaking apart.

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by M3AN

[Olaf 3318]

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by Olaf