[johnscales]

Hi all.

So I go to buy my usual Castrol Edge 5w30 from my usual supplier for my 335i and they say that they only have 0w30.
Not wanting to change from what I've always had in the engine I ask if they can order some in and am told that they have it but it's not Castrol.
Off to somewhere that I can see for myself on the shelf and blow me down Castrol Edge 5w30 does indeed no longer say "BMW" on the list of cars for which it is suitable. 0w30 however does.
Seems as though I have to make the change which I'm not really happy about but will do. I gather that there shouldn't be much change unless startup them is a lot colder than with the 05w30 but that at operating temperature they should be the same. Is that about right?
Also I'm not really willing to change brands or to another type (Magnatec for example) in order to get 5w30.
Just wondered about othe people's thoughts on this And whether we should be concerned in the least.
Also surprised that I haven't read any threads on this change. I can't be the only person to have run into this?

[Soul_Glo]

Just because the bottle no longer has BMW on it does not mean that it is no longer recognized or endorsed by BMW. Dealerships tend to have their own selection of bottles used for marketing purposes. Nine times out of ten you can pick up the exact same oil off the shelf in Halfords or somewhere and it won't say BMW on it. It was way worse back in the days where some dealerships had a monopoly over particular oils and you could not buy them off the shelf e.g. Castrol SLX III was very hard to get hold of anywhere other than a dealership parts dept.

Sometimes dealers have realized the error of their ways and changed the recommended oil for some cars... other times it makes no sense why they push an oil that is probably not suitable... I had some cock womble at Rybrook Warwick telling me how they had success in reducing oil burn with 10w40! Yes that is right... a 10w and not a 5w... I let him carry on as he looked quite excited to share his knowledge.. or lack of...

Secondly, if your car is a 2007-2010 335i then 0w30 is the correct spec of oil for your car according to the Castrol Oil Selector. The 0w30 will do absolutely no harm to your engine and in some ways it may be better if you happen to make short journeys. Thirdly, there is better stuff than Castrol out there now although some will argue and say that oil is oil... Castrol is not even Castrol anymore as it is owned by BP. Better oils to look into being Liqui Moly and Mobil 1. I don't have time to go into oil debates but there are tonnes of articles online explaining why 0w30 is not as bad as people make it out to be. The common misconception is that as we do not live in Siberia we don't need it but the short of it is that 0w30 offers more protection at start up than 5w30. Given that 90% of engine wear occurs at start up the 0w30 is a good choice.

That is my two pence worth.

[dy63]

when I put my details on euro a week or two back and on someone elses car Castrol 4w30 edge didn't show up and I was confused aswell

[MAN15H]

I would have thought that this would have some bearing on the fact that the name BMW has been dropped from the side of castrol oil.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...W+drop+castrol

[johnscales]

Ok. I guess I just wanted to keep the engine running with what it's always run with (at least since 2010 when I bought it).
I'll phone my local BMW parts dept and see whether they're aware and if so then what reason they give (if any). Only difference I see on the newly designed bottles is that they say LL and not LL04.
I seem to remember there being a lot of debate around the need for the oil to be LL04 on way back when I was checking out what oil I should be using for my first oil change but can't remember why now.

[dy63]

same here. I wanted to run mine on 5w30 Castrol edge as Ive always used it but was a nightmare getting it from euro with my reg so I just went with mobil1

[Dann]

Look here instead

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/

[johnscales]

popped into my local dealership today and asked the parts guy. He just said that they'd changed supplier recently to Mobil 1. No reason why and that any fully synthetic 5w30 will be fine his exact words. I asked about the Castrol 5w30, he said yup, is fine but that they recommend 0w30 and that there's practically no difference in terms of use. When I passed by later in the afternoon there was a Mobile 1 oil tanker backing into the service yard.
My take is that there's most likely a financial reason behind it but hey ho, there you have it from the horses mouth. I think I'll continue to buy Castrol 5w30.
Is a bit unnerving especially since the BMW name is dropped from the bottle but the main thing I've learned is that the formula hasn't changed so should be fine for anyone interested.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by johnscales

popped into my local dealership today and asked the parts guy. He just said that they'd changed supplier recently to Mobil 1. No reason why and that any fully synthetic 5w30 will be fine his exact words. I asked about the Castrol 5w30, he said yup, is fine but that they recommend 0w30 and that there's practically no difference in terms of use. When I passed by later in the afternoon there was a Mobile 1 oil tanker backing into the service yard.
My take is that there's most likely a financial reason behind it but hey ho, there you have it from the horses mouth. I think I'll continue to buy Castrol 5w30.
Is a bit unnerving especially since the BMW name is dropped from the bottle but the main thing I've learned is that the formula hasn't changed so should be fine for anyone interested.

From what I have read on Bobistheoilguy, Mobil 1 oil is actually considered superior to the Castrol.

Whatever you use it doesn't really matter, more important is to change every 8000 miles.

[johnscales]

I've got 3 litres left from my last buys so will stick with the Castrol until next time. I change every 7000 (no particular reason, there are too many arguments out there on what's a good change length and what's not).

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by johnscales

I've got 3 litres left from my last buys so will stick with the Castrol until next time. I change every 7000 (no particular reason, there are too many arguments out there on what's a good change length and what's not).

7/8...it doesn't really make a lot of difference. The BMW oil service comes at around 16k, so at least once interim oil change per "BMW oil change" is the minimum recommendation.

[gaza01]

Bmw alway switch between mobil1 and castrol. Suppose its down to business rather than one being better than the other.

As for the oil grade, ive run both 0w30 and 5ww30...i found 5w30 to run smoother