Correct oil for Mini Cooper?

[Mike Tomlinson]

BMW Mini Cooper 1.6, 2003, 50k miles.

Need to top up the oil, but unsure what to get. The handbook recommends
BMW oil, no mention of a spec and refers me to the stealer.

Tesco offer fully synth 5w/30 and 5w/40.

The /30 is "API SM/CF ACEA, C3, Low SAPS/Low ash" and "Suitable for
modern vehicles including VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Citroen, Peugeot,
Renault, Vauxhall, Seat and Skoda".

Which should I get? Inclined to go for the /30 but thought I'd check
here first.

Garage that services the car tells me they always use fully synth.

Ta.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

[Chris Whelan]

Any help?

http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?faq=faq_maintenance

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

[Mrcheerful]

the BMW oil is a special long life oil.
for this country 0/w30 or 40 synthetic are suitable (if you don't use the
longlife stuff).

opie oils are quite often a useful resource for oil recommendations.

[steve robinson]

Is there really any difference though i cant see BMW or any of the
other manufacturers having special oils blended just for thier
vehicles, the cost would be prohibitive when you can set oils off the
shelf that will more than fit the bill

[David]

>
> Is there really any difference though i cant see BMW or any of the
> other manufacturers having special oils blended just for thier
> vehicles, the cost would be prohibitive when you can set oils off the
> shelf that will more than fit the bill

Are you kidding ????

Nearly every manufacturer have their own oil specs which are on top of
the viscosity spec.

EG:

VW: 504.00 507.00 for their latest cars.
503.00 not to be confused with 503.01 which are not cross
compatible, BAM engines need 503.01 not 503.00, unless NOT on extended
service schedule, then 502.00 is OK.
506.00 the list goes on and on.

BMW: LongLife 98 LongLife 01 LongLife 01 FE LongLife 04

Ford, FIAT, Citroen / Peugeot, Porsche, MB ( the list goes on) all have
their own oil requirements.

You will find that oil makers offer the same grades for different
vehicle manufacturer specs.

Castrol, Total, Shell, Mobil, Comma, Fuchs, Motul all offer the same
viscosity grades with different car manufacturer specs on them.
What I am trying to state is that they all offer the same viscosity oil
(say 5w/30) in a range of different vehicle requirements.

Total offer the 5w/30 for a BMW, a different 5w/30 for Citroen / Peugeot.
Castrol offer a 5w/30 oil for VW and a different 5w/30 for Ford

These are just examples and not limited to.

HTH (but it won't)

David

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <xn0hvte2f...@reader80.eternal-september.org>,

steve robinson <st...@colevalleyinteriors.co.uk> wrote:
> Is there really any difference though i cant see BMW or any of the
> other manufacturers having special oils blended just for thier
> vehicles, the cost would be prohibitive when you can set oils off the
> shelf that will more than fit the bill

BMW often use high spec oils which are developed for them, and may come
into general use later on. As do other makers.
However, genuine BMW spec oil is available as Castrol, but not likely from
Halfords. A little Googling will find the exact one.

--
*Could it be that "I do " is the longest sentence? *

Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <5273629...@davenoise.co.uk>,

Dave Plowman (News) <da...@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:
> However, genuine BMW spec oil is available as Castrol, but not likely
> from Halfords. A little Googling will find the exact one.

LL01 spec is Magnatec Professional A3 5W-30 or Magnatec Professional A3
5W-40.

--
*If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments *

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo <5273629...@davenoise.co.uk>, Dave Plowman (News)
<da...@davenoise.co.uk> escribió:

>However, genuine BMW spec oil is available as Castrol, but not likely from
>Halfords. A little Googling will find the exact one.

I stuck in the Tesco 5/30 and while doing that noted that there is a
"MINI recommends Castrol" sticker in the engine bay.

Thanks all for the replies. Needed about 0.75l to get the oil up from
just above MIN to just below MAX.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo <VeY9r.11928$sn1....@newsfe19.ams2>, Chris Whelan
<cawh...@prejudicentlworld.com> escribió:

>Any help?
>
>http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?faq=faq_maintenance

That's great, bookmarked. Many thanks.

[Rob]

I've got 'Castrol Edge 5W-30' for my Mini - it was on offer at Halfords
a while ago. Still bloody pricey. I had a pre-56 that got through a bit,
the latest hasn't used any - except when the turbo oil pipe leaked.

Rob

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo <4f68b768$0$20112$c3e8da3$33a0...@news.astraweb.com>,
Rob <rep...@gmail.com> escribió:

>I've got 'Castrol Edge 5W-30' for my Mini - it was on offer at Halfords
>a while ago. Still bloody pricey.

Wasn't going to bother with the expensive stuff just for a top-up,
especially as it'll get a change in a few weeks.

> I had a pre-56 that got through a bit,
>the latest hasn't used any

It's gone from max to a bit above min since last April (last oil/filter
change) without needing a top-up. That seems OK to me, especially as I
drive the car hard.

[clai...@gmail.com]

[newshound]

Synth isn't the issue, you need to confirm the API or ACEA code that BMW
specifies. And the viscosity, obviously.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[RJH]

On 01/06/2019 21:50, newshound wrote:
> On 01/06/2019 20:06, clai...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 8:38:30 AM UTC, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
>>> BMW Mini Cooper 1.6, 2003, 50k miles.
>>>
>>> Need to top up the oil, but unsure what to get.  The handbook recommends
>>> BMW oil, no mention of a spec and refers me to the stealer.
>>>
>>> Tesco offer fully synth 5w/30 and 5w/40.
>>>
>>> The /30 is "API SM/CF ACEA, C3, Low SAPS/Low ash" and "Suitable for
>>> modern vehicles including VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Citroen, Peugeot,
>>> Renault, Vauxhall, Seat and Skoda".
>>>
>>> Which should I get?  Inclined to go for the /30 but thought I'd check
>>> here first.
>>>
>>> Garage that services the car tells me they always use fully synth.
>>>
>>> Ta.
>>>
>>> --
>>>   (\_/)
>>> (='.'=)
>>> (")_(")
>>
>
> Synth isn't the issue, you need to confirm the API or ACEA code that BMW
> specifies. And the viscosity, obviously.
>

OOI is it 'allowed' to use a later spec oil?

I've a motorbike that says SF 10/40 in the manual. Could I use some 'SL
CF' 10/40 I have? I get the impression it's OK from:

http://www.pqiamerica.com/apiserviceclass.htm

--
Cheers, Rob

[newshound]

Yes "higher" ratings should be fine.

[AJH]

On 02/06/2019 17:38, newshound wrote:

>
> Yes "higher" ratings should be fine.

Unless the higher rating includes friction modifiers and the bike has an
oil immersed clutch

AJH

[newshound]

Possibly (that's why I said "should"). I believe the oil companies try
fairly hard to avoid shooting themselves in the foot like that, in the
same way that they try to avoid using additives that are incompatible
with those of other manufacturers, in case otherwise equivalent oils get
mixed.

If that were a possibility, I would expect to see warnings from the bike
manufacturer, and certainly if it was a common issue there would be
plenty of discussion on the web.

It was a well known issue decades ago that EP additives in gear oils can
cause corrosion of some types of brass or bronze found in gearboxes.

Another thing you need to avoid is mixing *some* types of synthetic with
mineral oils.

[RJH]

On 02/06/2019 19:55, AJH wrote:

Thanks both. It is a wet clutch. Wonder how I know if the oil has
friction modifiers - it's Halford's own brand cheapest.


--
Cheers, Rob

[newshound]

Don't expect Halfords to tell you! The oil will of course be made either
by one of the big oil companies, or an independent blender. Even if you
managed to get into the right technical department I doubt if they would
tell you anything useful.

Castrol recommends Edge 0W-30. Since it is potentially a "classic car" I
would be looking for advice online in car forums.

I'd be very surprised if you *did* run into a problem with a
"supermarket" synthetic, but presumably you don't need much. Do you
*really* need to minimise the cost?

[alan_m]

On 03/06/2019 14:20, newshound wrote:

>
> I'd be very surprised if you *did* run into a problem with a
> "supermarket" synthetic, but presumably you don't need much. Do you
> *really* need to minimise the cost?

Will it be any different from the oil used if you put your car in for a
service at a local independent or main dealer? They also would be
attempting to minimise their costs (not necessarily their cost to you).



--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

[newshound]

On 04/06/2019 08:21, alan_m wrote:
> On 03/06/2019 14:20, newshound wrote:
>
>>
>> I'd be very surprised if you *did* run into a problem with a
>> "supermarket" synthetic, but presumably you don't need much. Do you
>> *really* need to minimise the cost?
>
> Will it be any different from the oil used if you put your car in for a
> service at a local independent or main dealer? They also would be
> attempting to minimise their costs (not necessarily their cost to you).
>
>
>

My independent is very careful to avoid risks by using exactly the oil
specified by the manufacturer. Since this is more expensive and they
charge the retail price, they make more on their margin that way.