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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Mechanical Maintenance: Break-in / Oil & Fluids / Servicing / Warranty > Castrol 0w-30 or Mobil 1 0w-40



View Poll Results: Which oil for my 2008 335i?
Castrol Edge Syntec SAE European Formula 0w-30 (known as german castrol) 127 55.22%
Mobil 1 SAE European Formula 0W-40 103 44.78%
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      03-25-2012, 03:23 PM   #23
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Nice. Generally AZO and PEP are the only places that sell GC in CA. I usually wait till it's on sale and buy a bunch
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      04-01-2012, 09:24 AM   #24
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Both are good oils. M1 0w-40 meets all current specs, GC does not...if that matters to you. I believe M1 is better oil, but have used GC for years with never a problem.
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      10-23-2012, 05:09 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FCBuff View Post
Both are good oils. M1 0w-40 meets all current specs, GC does not...if that matters to you. I believe M1 is better oil, but have used GC for years with never a problem.
Dug this thread up in a google search.
Which specs does GC not meet?
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      12-27-2012, 05:56 AM   #26
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currently in my N54 I'm using M1 0W-40 and I've notice the oil burns a little b/c our motors suck oil lol I just got some GC 0W-30 and will try that out next from my reviews I think the GC 0W-30 is a higher quality oil and AutoZone had it on sale!
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      12-27-2012, 06:00 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stucks View Post
So far, the GC 0w-30 seems to be smoother when then engine is at full operating temperature than the oem 5w-30 bmw synthetic oil i was using before. I am pleased with it.
have you noticed any other benifits/negatives with the GC 0W-30? any burning, smoking, fuel mileage....etc?
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      02-05-2013, 08:27 PM   #28
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Just wanted to give you all an update . I just put in GC 0w-30 about a week ago and the car is so much smoother and quieter. I have also noticed lower temps when driving which is always a good thing.
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      02-06-2013, 09:12 AM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTstunna612 View Post
Just wanted to give you all an update . I just put in GC 0w-30 about a week ago and the car is so much smoother and quieter. I have also noticed lower temps when driving which is always a good thing.
That's the placebo effect....
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      02-06-2013, 09:15 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David1
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTstunna612 View Post
Just wanted to give you all an update . I just put in GC 0w-30 about a week ago and the car is so much smoother and quieter. I have also noticed lower temps when driving which is always a good thing.
That's the placebo effect....
Lol what oil are you running?
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      02-06-2013, 09:22 AM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTstunna612 View Post
Lol what oil are you running?
OEM when the dealer does it and Mobile 1 when I do it.
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      02-06-2013, 09:26 AM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David1
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Originally Posted by GTstunna612 View Post
Lol what oil are you running?
OEM when the dealer does it and Mobile 1 when I do it.
I'm gonna run the GC 0w30 and see how it holds up then decide for next oil change. I'm coming from Mobil 1 0w40
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      02-06-2013, 09:39 AM   #33
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You won't notice a difference with any good oil. I have cars that go 200k miles with cheap dino oil with 10k oci's.
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      02-06-2013, 07:52 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David1
You won't notice a difference with any good oil. I have cars that go 200k miles with cheap dino oil with 10k oci's.
So I should just stick with OEM, Mobil 1 or GC...
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      02-07-2013, 12:43 PM   #35
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Both are LL-01, both are high quality, but M1 0W40 shears really easy and is lighter weight than GC 0W30 in less than 5000miles. Yes, I have my own lab reports to back this up.

People with Direct Injection should be even more cautious as the North American tune on DI engines tends to dilute the oil with fuel from running more rich than is necessary.
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      02-07-2013, 01:02 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Surly73 View Post
Both are LL-01, both are high quality, but M1 0W40 shears really easy and is lighter weight than GC 0W30 in less than 5000miles. Yes, I have my own lab reports to back this up.

People with Direct Injection should be even more cautious as the North American tune on DI engines tends to dilute the oil with fuel from running more rich than is necessary.
by shearing you mean the actually oil breaking down? Should I stay with GC 0w30 since I change my oil every 3500-4000 miles? What do you use?
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      02-07-2013, 03:13 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTstunna612 View Post
by shearing you mean the actually oil breaking down? Should I stay with GC 0w30 since I change my oil every 3500-4000 miles? What do you use?
You will not experience this in the real world. That testing is done on a bench. Mobil 1 is not number 1 for nothing. I have also been using it since it came out and I use to be an Amzoil dealer while I drank that cool aid.
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      02-08-2013, 07:46 PM   #38
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With over 60000 miles of use of both M1 0W40 and GC 0W30 on multiple cars, I can say for sure that Castrol is a better fit for BMW engines. Yes the M1 does shear down to a 30 weight within 2000 miles. That being said, my own analysis shows that GC is actually thicker than M1 0W40 at engine operating temp when both oils are new, by just a little bit.

M1 will re-thicken with time, and at around 7000 miles will be pretty close to a 5W40 oil.

Both are officially approved oils by BMW and meet all warranty requirements, even though GC does not meet 'current specs', meaning API SN.

Nissan V6 engines also run very well with GC, oil analysis had extremely low contaminant numbers even after 8000 miles, whereas the dealer stock oil would be trash after 3000 (Murano with CVT, revs higher for longer than standard trans)

Currently running a 50/50 mix of GC and Redline 5W30 to up the turbo and camshaft protection, it performs very well, and I ran the same mix in my E34.

If you have a dirty engine, 50/50 M1 0W40 and Redline 5W30 plus AutoRX is the magic formula to clean it.
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      02-08-2013, 07:54 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BillionPa
With over 60000 miles of use of both M1 0W40 and GC 0W30 on multiple cars, I can say for sure that Castrol is a better fit for BMW engines. Yes the M1 does shear down to a 30 weight within 2000 miles. That being said, my own analysis shows that GC is actually thicker than M1 0W40 at engine operating temp when both oils are new, by just a little bit.

M1 will re-thicken with time, and at around 7000 miles will be pretty close to a 5W40 oil.

Both are officially approved oils by BMW and meet all warranty requirements, even though GC does not meet 'current specs', meaning API SN.

Nissan V6 engines also run very well with GC, oil analysis had extremely low contaminant numbers even after 8000 miles, whereas the dealer stock oil would be trash after 3000 (Murano with CVT, revs higher for longer than standard trans)

Currently running a 50/50 mix of GC and Redline 5W30 to up the turbo and camshaft protection, it performs very well, and I ran the same mix in my E34.

If you have a dirty engine, 50/50 M1 0W40 and Redline 5W30 plus AutoRX is the magic formula to clean it.
Thanks for the info. I have noticed with the GC the car temps is down and runs better and quiet. Will keep an eye on the oil level.
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      02-08-2013, 08:11 PM   #40
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I have not had to add oil to my cars ever with either GC or M1, at least with an OCI under 9K, which is the longest I have gone... I want my dipstick back
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      02-09-2013, 06:41 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by BillionPa View Post
I have not had to add oil to my cars ever with either GC or M1, at least with an OCI under 9K, which is the longest I have gone... I want my dipstick back

lol
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      02-09-2013, 03:17 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTstunna612 View Post
by shearing you mean the actually oil breaking down? Should I stay with GC 0w30 since I change my oil every 3500-4000 miles? What do you use?
The general term "shearing" refers a reduction in viscosity due to mechanical shearing in the engine, transmission, whatever unit the fluid is used in.

One thing that's important to know is that oil grades (like 30 or 40) are wide bands of measured viscosities. There is a whole range of true viscosity covered by "40", for instance.

GC is a very thick 30, just a couple of fractions off of being a 40 (specs say 12.1 cSt@100C I believe), "40 weight" starts at 12.5. M1 0W40 is a thin 40. It's not right on the edge, but is thinner than most 40s. It's specified as 14.1cSt@100C IIRC.

After 6000km (not miles) in my M52, M1 0W40 was in the high 11s or low 12s as measured by a lab. After 8000-10,000km GC in the same engine is still in the 12s. All of these samples were lab tested. M1's wear protection was just fine, but I like oils which stay at the viscosity they are supposed to be.

Further, I found all of the engines I had around the early 2000s (BMW M52, Acura Integra with the B18A1, Porsche 968 with the Variocam 3.0L) were all noisy on Mobil1 (0W40 in the BMW, 5W30 in the Integra, 15W50 in the Porsche). If you google "Mobil1 noise" you'll get all kinds of stuff. It affects some people, others don't seem to notice. My M52 was so much quieter on anything that didn't come in an M1 bottle that I switched and am not likely to ever switch back. YMMV. For me the difference in engine noise both idling in the garage and winding it out on the street was unmistakable and dramatic.

Something to keep in mind - dino oils are WAY better than they used to be. Unless you have extreme cold temperatures where you need an oil that's thin in very cold temperatures but still "tough enough" for European specs when up to temp, or you want to run long dealer-style change intervals synthetics aren't truly necessary in most cases. Direct injection engines cause concern as well because in North American tune most of them run rich and contaminate the oil with fuel (basically pouring a solvent into your motor oil). If you're under warranty, don't fool around and just use something that says BMW LL-01 on the bottle (I recommend GC).

My favourite oil in my M52 was Shell Rotella-T 15W40 dino HDEO. Smooth, quiet, cheap, great lab results. I could only run it in the summer, and you couldn't run a full CBS oil change interval but the lab confirmed great results and lots of oil life left changing between 8,000km and 10,000km. Second favourite was Rotella T6 5W40 group III synthetic. That I can run all year round though it's not quiet as smooth and quiet as T.

I'll probably start running Rotella in my N52 this summer (extended warranty expires). Right now I'm running GC.

Some people really like the BMW dealer oil. My dad ran that in his mostly-highway M62TU at half the dealer interval (an extra oil change mid-way between when the car said it needed changing). There were red deposits and staining all over, top end ticking, bottom end knocking, VANOS noises - the thing sounded like a diesel. We did a driveway oil change to GC and on restart 75% of the noises were gone. We had to run a bit of a cleanup regimen but we eliminated the VANOS and all other noises and it purred like a kitten within a few months.
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      02-09-2013, 03:18 PM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David1 View Post
You will not experience this in the real world. That testing is done on a bench. Mobil 1 is not number 1 for nothing. I have also been using it since it came out and I use to be an Amzoil dealer while I drank that cool aid.
My lab results say otherwise.

Mobil1 is "#1" because they have the most marketing.
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      02-09-2013, 03:27 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BillionPa View Post
With over 60000 miles of use of both M1 0W40 and GC 0W30 on multiple cars, I can say for sure that Castrol is a better fit for BMW engines. Yes the M1 does shear down to a 30 weight within 2000 miles. That being said, my own analysis shows that GC is actually thicker than M1 0W40 at engine operating temp when both oils are new, by just a little bit.

M1 will re-thicken with time, and at around 7000 miles will be pretty close to a 5W40 oil.

Both are officially approved oils by BMW and meet all warranty requirements, even though GC does not meet 'current specs', meaning API SN.

Nissan V6 engines also run very well with GC, oil analysis had extremely low contaminant numbers even after 8000 miles, whereas the dealer stock oil would be trash after 3000 (Murano with CVT, revs higher for longer than standard trans)

Currently running a 50/50 mix of GC and Redline 5W30 to up the turbo and camshaft protection, it performs very well, and I ran the same mix in my E34.

If you have a dirty engine, 50/50 M1 0W40 and Redline 5W30 plus AutoRX is the magic formula to clean it.
We're mostly on the same page here (not that you needed my endorsement ).

I have lab results showing M1 0W40 shearing and GC staying more stable, as I suspect you probably do too. I've heard lots of success stories with GC in Nissan VQ35s.

Where I would be careful is mixing GC with ANYTHING. GC has enough esters in it that it can cause some interesting reactions with other oils and especially with AutoRX. Redline is very high in esters and if you're using ARX I wouldn't touch Redline. Use one or the other, IMO.

I actually had deposits accumulate pretty rapidly when running ARX maintenance dose in GC. At first Frank (of AutoRX) said GC was just fine for maintenance dose. After posting some stuff at BITOG about rapid deposit build up his story changed to more of a 'you didn't say you were using GC! You can't do that!'. At any rate, My theory is that ARX and the esters in GC nullified each other and severely compromised the ability of either GC's original adpack or ARX to do any cleaning. I even observed a weird reaction when I rinsed a measuring cup which contained ARX with GC - the GC surrounded the ARX and made a ball of ARX suspended in the middle of the oil. I haven't seen any oil but GC do that. That was my first clue that I was doing something stupid.

Later I found more horror stories out there of people cooking turbos while running ARX in ester-containing oils etc...etc... Same problem, I suspect.

I wasn't going to get into it in this forum, but: 1/ I support ARX as a cleaner when used properly. The Internet tide has turned against it but it's worked for me. 2/ Redline has lots of esters and cleans quite well on its own without any help. 3/ I won't even attempt to mix GC with anything that might contain esters. I've seen weirdness first hand, and read lots of reports of problems out there.

For BMWs, I like to use TWO bottles of ARX in Rotella T 15W40 or Esso XD3 15W40 (only available in Canada). This seems to clean up VANOS really nice.
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