Stupid Oil question

Hey Guys,

Not aware that BMW introduced a new Oil more than a year back, dumb me, I ordered the Castrol Edge 10w60 from Amazon to do a oil change. Now when i am ready to do the oil change for the first time I read about the new oil. So a stupid question - Can I use the Castrol Edge 10w60 or should I return it (if Amazon accepts it) and buy the new oil? I am still under factory warranty for a few more months and this change I am doing is at 7500 mile interval. Can the dealership find out which brand of oil is in there (forgive me if that's a dumbass question) and will I run into warranty issues if the dealership finds out? Please help as I am lined up to do the oil change tomorrow in a friends garage with access to lifts.

M'EM wrote

Hey Guys,

Not aware that BMW introduced a new Oil more than a year back, dumb me, I ordered the Castrol Edge 10w60 from Amazon to do a oil change. Now when i am ready to do the oil change for the first time I read about the new oil. So a stupid question - Can I use the Castrol Edge 10w60 or should I return it (if Amazon accepts it) and buy the new oil? I am still under factory warranty for a few more months and this change I am doing is at 7500 mile interval. Can the dealership find out which brand of oil is in there (forgive me if that's a dumbass question) and will I run into warranty issues if the dealership finds out? Please help as I am lined up to do the oil change tomorrow in a friends garage with access to lifts.

If it were my car and i had been running Castrol i would stick with it. You will not run into warranty issues as Castrol Edge 10w60 has BMW certification for M motors. Make sure to keep all receipts for oil, filter and labor (if applicable).

They won't know which oil you used just by staring at it, no. You'll be fine.

RoundelObsession wrote

If it were my car and i had been running Castrol i would stick with it. You will not run into warranty issues as Castrol Edge 10w60 has BMW certification for M motors. Make sure to keep all receipts for oil, filter and labor (if applicable).

Thanks for the response. Now here is my next confusion - the oil change was done in Sep 2015 by a BMW dealership so most likely they used the New oil from Shell. Is it ok to mix it? Actually I poured in a litre of the Castrol two times in the last 3-4 months when the low oil warning came up - not sure if I fucked up if I was not supposed to mix them..

About a month ago I did an off cycle oil change using Liquid-Moly (still under original warranty) because I'm trying to determine if LM will perform better during the summer months vs. what BMW now recommends. Last summer, I found myself needing to top off a bit sooner than before with this new stuff. Thankfully, the dealer accommodated me.

In all fairness, I relocated down south end of July from the tri-state area and it does get hot as shit down here.....so that may be the big difference.

Fingers crossed LM helps reduce what I feel is a slight consumption issue during the summer months.

it is supposed to be the same weight. you're going to be fine using either, and a little mixing isn't going to hurt anything.

roastbeef wrote  

it is supposed to be the same weight. you're going to be fine using either, and a little mixing isn't going to hurt anything.

This

M'EM wrote

Thanks for the response. Now here is my next confusion - the oil change was done in Sep 2015 by a BMW dealership so most likely they used the New oil from Shell. Is it ok to mix it? Actually I poured in a litre of the Castrol two times in the last 3-4 months when the low oil warning came up - not sure if I fucked up if I was not supposed to mix them..

Both oils are miscible and will not cause any problems.

BMW has a new oil partnership with Shell.. it's still the same oil, just different manufacturer.

Me'm, I will even stay with Castrol for as long as the local guys have it in store. Working fine so far and seen no evidence of that Shell will do better (other than making more money for BMW that is..).

Cheers

Thanks every one for your replies. Onto my first self oil change now.

Helmsman wrote

Me'm, I will even stay with Castrol for as long as the local guys have it in store. Working fine so far and seen no evidence of that Shell will do better (other than making more money for BMW that is..).

Cheers

Thanks again Helmsman. BTW off topic but I saw your post on another thread that you did your coolant change recently. I plan on doing that as well ( want to get as much as possible done while I have access to those lifts:D.). Did you locate the block drain plugs and drained it to do a full flush or just the Radiator drain plug? Any significant differences between doing the two, I mean mechanically? If others can chime in on this please..

kb9uwu wrote

BMW has a new oil partnership with Shell.. it's still the same oil, just different manufacturer.

It is not the same oil. It has the same approvals and is very similar, but those are proprietary formulas and Shell is not simply making the Castrol stuff with a different label/bottle. Shell and Castrol are different companies (competitors).


OP: you're fine to use the Castrol stuff. Pour it in and go drive!

M'EM wrote

Thanks again Helmsman. BTW off topic but I saw your post on another thread that you did your coolant change recently. I plan on doing that as well ( want to get as much as possible done while I have access to those lifts:D.). Did you locate the block drain plugs and drained it to do a full flush or just the Radiator drain plug? Any significant differences between doing the two, I mean mechanically? If others can chime in on this please..

M'em, I only did the radiator drain/fill a few times. There are DYI/pictures on where to locate the engine drain but I figured this will do for me. Car is 5 years old, coolant fluid at least looked new. (as a comparison I had the same fluid in my boat for 15 years without worry so not even sure why I did it..).

Cheers

M'EM wrote

Thanks for the response. Now here is my next confusion - the oil change was done in Sep 2015 by a BMW dealership so most likely they used the New oil from Shell. Is it ok to mix it? Actually I poured in a litre of the Castrol two times in the last 3-4 months when the low oil warning came up - not sure if I fucked up if I was not supposed to mix them..

API-certified oils are required to be mixable with all other API-certified oils. It's not exactly optimal but you won't cause any problems.

Also, the sump is huge so it's not exactly like you did 50-50 (even that is probably fine).

dparm wrote

It is not the same oil. It has the same approvals and is very similar, but those are proprietary formulas and Shell is not simply making the Castrol stuff with a different label/bottle. Shell and Castrol are different companies (competitors).


OP: you're fine to use the Castrol stuff. Pour it in and go drive!

If it's made to the same BMW specs as the last oil, how would it be different? It's like comparing Dasani and Aquafina bottled water.

just to add, I haven't even seen anyone do a sample analysis on the contents of clean Twinpower Turbo oil (new oil) and the Castrol Edge Pro (old oil). So we're not sure if BMW even improved the oil's addititives and such.

Helmsman wrote

M'em, I only did the radiator drain/fill a few times. There are DYI/pictures on where to locate the engine drain but I figured this will do for me. Car is 5 years old, coolant fluid at least looked new. (as a comparison I had the same fluid in my boat for 15 years without worry so not even sure why I did it..).

Cheers

I guess that's because your boat doesn't have the M badge on it and surely doesn't rev upto 8400 rpms.. Anyways I will attempt a full flush, if it looks too difficult I will just follow your method.

dparm wrote

API-certified oils are required to be mixable with all other API-certified oils. It's not exactly optimal but you won't cause any problems.

Also, the sump is huge so it's not exactly like you did 50-50 (even that is probably fine).

Dint know that..good info, thanks. Also to confirm I bought Castrol Edge 10w60 and not the Castrol edge Professional. From what I read they are the same and approved for M models except that the edge professional was available only at the dealerships. Is this correct or are there other differences?

M'EM wrote

Dint know that..good info, thanks. Also to confirm I bought Castrol Edge 10w60 and not the Castrol edge Professional. From what I read they are the same and approved for M models except that the edge professional was available only at the dealerships. Is this correct or are there other differences?

They are not the same, IIRC. The spec sheets are different.

M'EM wrote

Dint know that..good info, thanks. Also to confirm I bought Castrol Edge 10w60 and not the Castrol edge Professional. From what I read they are the same and approved for M models except that the edge professional was available only at the dealerships. Is this correct or are there other differences?

There are slight differences between the two:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=926080

kb9uwu wrote

If it's made to the same BMW specs as the last oil, how would it be different? It's like comparing Dasani and Aquafina bottled water.

It's not like BMW comes up with an oil formula and just says "make this for us". They rely on the blenders who have the expertise to craft the product. BMW isn't in the motor oil business.

BMW has some basic requirements/specs but it is up to the individual blender to create the complete formula. Motor oil formulas are highly-guarded secrets. It's their intellectual property and has millions of dollars worth of R&D in it.

So I stand by the above post: the two oils are not the same.