ok, im getting ready to make a relativly long first drive to get my car home, and i am trying to prepare as best as possible. this means im going to change the oil (again). now, i have seen the commercials and what not for so called "high milage motor oils" and was wondering if they are worth a crap. anyone use them?

i use valvaline high milage 10w-40 and its keeps my car running clean and smooth

helps keep it from smoking like the ads say?

Just use the BMW recommended oil of 20w-50 or 15w-50.

I have been using Mobile 1 Extended Performance 15w-50. I still change the oil at intervals of 3k miles, even though it says 15k...

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=407230&highlight=oil

I got a 5qt jug of 20w50 "high mileage" oil from walmart for $6.38 + tax for the e21, heh.

supertech (walmart brand) is valvoline btw.

I got a 5qt jug of 20w50 "high mileage" oil from walmart for $6.38 + tax for the e21, heh.

supertech (walmart brand) is valvoline btw.

sorry spelling bee wizard

im from central texas... as long as i can spell beer truck and cow, i can make it in life

im from central texas... as long as i can spell beer truck and cow, i can make it in life

durka, durka

i use castrol high mileage 20/50 only oil ive used in my e30 and she seems to like it...i even went bout 500 miles over on my normal oil change and everything was fine and dandy...I use 4qts or castrol and 1 can of restore *that shit really works*, before i change the oil I usually do a motor flush on it aswell

dont listen to any of these guys...if you want your car to last for 100k's of miles, you need to get mobile-1 full synthetic. remember though--you can NEVER use regular motor oil again!

its more expensive to buy the oil, but it is less expensive to maintain the car. you might also gain marginal performance increases

dont listen to any of these guys...if you want your car to last for 100k's of miles, you need to get mobile-1 full synthetic. remember though--you can NEVER use regular motor oil again!


Yeah dont listen to us, its not like we know a damn thing about the M10. And its not like I would dare tell you to use Mobile 1. And its odd how 98% of us use all kinds of motor oil and yet we still have upwards of 200k with just regular maintenance. Hell, mine went to 254k before I rebuilt it, and I used 20w-50 dino oil. I dont even want to list the cars we have had using regular dino oil that saw beyond "100k's" miles.

:rolleyes

sorry spelling bee wizard
I'm sorry you took offence, I didn't know you misspelled anything, I simply quoted the oil type of what the jug of oil had on its label...

dont listen to any of these guys...if you want your car to last for 100k's of miles, you need to get mobile-1 full synthetic. remember though--you can NEVER use regular motor oil again!

its more expensive to buy the oil, but it is less expensive to maintain the car. you might also gain marginal performance increases

my car lasted 275k miles on crappy oil.

im from central texas... as long as i can spell beer truck and cow, i can make it in life

You from Austin ?

I now use Shell Rotella 15w-40 diesel oil in my 323i.
Go Surf bobistheoilguy.com...lots of tribologists on that board w. plenty of oil samples on this stuff.

In all honesty, oil has improved so much...it doesn't matter what brand you use, just change it (& filter) frequently...that's the age old secret to long life.

no actually im from the moody/belton area

i think im gonna try the wally world brand...

dont listen to any of these guys...if you want your car to last for 100k's of miles, you need to get mobile-1 full synthetic. remember though--you can NEVER use regular motor oil again!

its more expensive to buy the oil, but it is less expensive to maintain the car. you might also gain marginal performance increases

synthetic oil will not really benefit cars like these with their larger tolerances when they were built hence that is why dino oil is the only way to go on an M10. Synthetic is a waste of money on most older cars, this one included. 20W50 for summer and 10W40 for winter, done.

What larger clearances?? All bearing clearances as well as piston skirt and ring gaps are the same in the M10 as ANY modern engine.... They were NEVER assembled with larger clearances than a garden variety Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Honda, Mitsubishi, or Fiat. Some have gone enough miles to have slightly larger clearances but that's another topic.

I strongly believe in synthetic oil and have used it in all my cars for years regardless of miles. My '82 has nearly 100,000 hard miles on it and when I pulled the head at 90,000 I could still see the cross hatch in the bores and it doesn't burn any oil between changes. My 3.0L Mitsubishi v6 popped a head gasket at 145,000 mi when I opened that engine it still had some cross hatch showing and used no oil and it lead a VERY tough life in a minivan often crossing the entire U.S. fully loaded... Synthetic is GOOD stuff for ANY engine.

Having said that, most enthusiast have strong opinions on oil... it's up to everyone to figure out what they want to spend their $$$ on.

ken

I'm sorry you took offence, I didn't know you misspelled anything, I simply quoted the oil type of what the jug of oil had on its label...

lol, dude dont trip i was playin! :)

i just passed the 226,000 mark and she is still running strong

synthetic oil will not really benefit cars like these with their larger tolerances when they were built hence that is why dino oil is the only way to go on an M10. Synthetic is a waste of money on most older cars, this one included. 20W50 for summer and 10W40 for winter, done.

:rofl

Yes, you are informed. To add to what Ken Danielson said, even if there were tolerance differences they have nothing to do with the differences between dino and synthetic. A 20W50 synthetic is the same visc as a 20W50 dino. The difference is that wide viscocity range dino juices will have polymers added to get that range, and these break down sooner. Besides the improved lubricating properties, synthetics will run cleaner longer and won't sludge up like dino oil will.

Sorry guys, I said what I said because I thought I had been properly informed by a few experienced mechanics (BMW technicians). Apparently, after doing some research here (scroll to bottom) (http://www.imperialoil.ca/Canada-English/Products/Lubricants/PS_L_Synthetic_myths.asp) it seems that most if not all of the properties of synthetic oil are better than that of conventional oil and would not affect the makeup of an older engine because the seals or tolerances are different. I gathered this from other sources as well: Linked from HowStuffWorks.com (http://www.micapeak.com/info/oiled.html), First Fives (http://www.firstfives.org/faq/oil/oilartcl.html), and InformationSavvy.com (http://www.informationsavvy.com/motor-oil/). It feels good to be informed properly, but I thought I was; sorry about the misinformation.