My car has been serviced using Mobil 1 since new and prior to me acquiring it, its service intervals, though variable, have been around the 15k mark.
I purchased the car in January just after the warranty expired and would like to carry out more frequent oil changes, about every 5k. It is a modern 2.5l common rail turbo diesel with 55k on the clock. Can I use fully synthetic oil of viscosity rating 5w/40, but of a cheaper brand, without causing any problems??
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not gonna make a difference if its a fairly reputable brand to be honest.
whats the vehicle?
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525d
{Added to subject header. DD}
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thinking of using chevron 5w40 synthetic at more frequent intervals - hoping this is a better bet than less frequent with Mobil 1. Just a bit concerned about wear at start-up and the corresponding protection from the different viscosities...
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Should be fine, it's a respected brand abroad where it's more readily availabel.
Check the API and ACEA ratings are as good as Mobil One's.
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yep totally agree, check teh apui spec is a good standard (at least cf)and teh ACEA b2 or b3 and it will be fine, the difference between a 5w and a 0w on start up is there but its not gonna give any damage
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The Chevron stuff meets all the specs for that car- £11 for 4 liters at Cost Co.
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pgg
what spec does your handbook say?
My car has been serviced using Mobil 1 since new and prior to me acquiring it, its service intervals, though variable, have been around the 15k mark.
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i believe most bmw dealers use castrol longlige slx2 0-30w for petrol engines.
i dont know if they use the same in diesels though.
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According to Millers oil and Comma's oil application guides, they recommend 5W-40 Fully sythetic oil in your car. If you change from mobil, just ensure the grade is the same.
The Comma oil/ Millers oil is about £15 for 5 litres and the quality is very good. It bears ACEA A3 B3, API SL CF on the bottle, which means it is a good spec at a low price.
These are the pages I am refering to:
www.millersoils.co.uk
www.commaoil.com
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And your question of using a cheaper oil causing damage to the engine. The answer is that as long as the specification shows it is of a good quality, it will cause no damage to the engine. It will, however, save you a lot of money.
The magazine car mechanics published an article which basically said that as long as the oil is ACEA A3/B3 and not A2/B2 and is better than API SJ then it is a good oil no matter what make it is. If you compare the specification of Mobil and Castrol oils to say Millers, Comma, Shell, Duckhams etc, you are given the same spec oil at a lesser price. You are paying for the brand and not the oil.
I would always recommend using the application guides and your car manual to get the correct oil for your car. I personally found Millers excellent, since I even asked them which oil I should use in my scooter and they recommended an oil through e-mail within one hour.
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I also use the same Chevron 5w-40 full synthetic, hard to beat that Costco price. It also meets the VAG 500.whatever specs which I understand to be quite high so I have no qualms about using it. I decided to try changing the oil using the service indicator lights as a guide and if I estimate correctly, I will be changing the oil after 8,000 miles. Judging by the colour of the oil after 3,000 miles, an extra 5k should be no problem.
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I agree with most of the reasonable comments above. I do sometimes think that oil has become a mysterious science, when it is very simple. The rules are...
1). What spec does your car need. Probably 10-12 local companies can easily meet or exceed it.
2). Go synthetic if possible. It now is very reasonaly priced.
3). Use a low priced oil if possible. It is all the same, but choose a good quality filter. Europarts are wonderful here.
4). Change the oil and filter very 6,000 miles.
My Mercedes 230E was serviced with Mobile and Esso synthetic from new. I have continued it with French Hypermarket own brand synthetic oil. It is well priced and well specked. Over 40,000 miles on, it now has 108K on the clock and is as sweet as ever. When I change the oil it is darkish, but never black, and that is with mostly urban driving.
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