Ghost Chip 188 Report post Posted September 30, 2021 (edited) Time to do some more maintenance for now on the car, which means fluids! What are people’s recommendations for fluids for a m52+zf swapped e30 - Brake fluid - Engine oil + filter. Tossing up between the 20L Penrite HPR 5w-40 or racing 10w-40 (couldn’t find any non-racing 10w-40) - Coolant (already replaced it but keen to know what people think) - Transmission oil (probably not needed but keen to hear people’s thoughts) - Diff oil?? - Any others that I’m missing, fluid-wise but also for maintenance? (Won’t be replacing gaskets until the car gets stripped for panel + paint. Will also be doing a cooling overhaul at that point.) Cheers! Edited September 30, 2021 by Ghost Chip Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zero 1162 Report post Posted October 1, 2021 5w30 long life fully synthetic. If your car has done over 200k kms you could consider 5w40. I use castrol edge, but alot of people really rave about the penrite. Hengst oil filter from fcp euro. Tests have shown this is the best oil filter for our engines, although the mann filter is also very good. If you add a few to your next fcp order they work out at only around $5 each, which is waaaay cheaper than the shitty repco or supercheap ones. For coolant ONLY use bmw blue from the dealer. Mixed 50/50 with distilled water. 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1680 Report post Posted October 1, 2021 Penrite Superdot4 for street usage. Available in 4L if required. HPR in 20L box on special at Repco etc. Think i paid ~170 odd a year or so back. Penrite Green as it's cheap and easily available, but any HOAT type that meets BMW specs is fine. Needing to use BMW stuff is nonsense with the options around out now days. I've always used Redline oils in BMW manual transmissions as its always given me good results in regards to shift quality. Plenty of other decent full synthetic options though. Penrite Progear 75W-90, but It's a open diff im guessing so what ever you feel like putting in\spending. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4016 Report post Posted October 1, 2021 In general I'm a dissenter when it comes to public opinion on fluids so many will disagree with me but here you go... Coolant: any G28 coolant is fine, that's all the BMW stuff is, don't pay a premium. Oil: w30 is fine, w40 if you drive it hard occasionally. Objectively, in an Auckland climate where it never drops below freezing you want the smallest gap between the two viscosity numbers so 10w40 is better than 5w40 (for example). Always fully Synthetic and a reputable brand (Penrite is reputable). Brake fluid: I've only ever used Castrol Dot 4 and it's never failed me, even at track days although I hear from others that their SRF formula is very good. No idea on gearbox or trans. Good luck! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites