engine oil choice for cold weather

[LeeMT]

Hi guys! Unfortunately, I will have to winter my M3 this year, running Fuchs 10W60 all the time but I know that could be the worst choice if I need to drive my car out of the garage and jump into -25C or even lower. Will have a long road trip from central Canada to West cost and end up wintering my car.

Does anyone here know which one should I go with? 0-40 or 10-50? I did research in the forum, but the thread was kinda out of topic.


Appreciate it

[pbonsalb]

I run 0W40 or 5W40 year round since 2014 when I changed the rod bearings. In the winter, I have driven in as cold as -20F which is -29C. Summers don’t get past about 95F.

I am thinking about changing to 5W50, but am not sure it matters for my street driving. For 0W40 and 5W40 brands, I use Mobil 1 or Castrol although I once ran Shell T6. For 5W50, I would probably run Redline though Mobil 1 has it also.

[bmwpower603]

Run the 10w 60 like bmw recommends.

BMW oil only. They use an special additive, it will prolong the life of your vehicle.

[Millie]

Had no issues with stock oil.



If you will be parking it outside though I'd get an oil pan heater. Also make sure your battery is healthy.

[LeeMT]

Originally Posted by Millie

Had no issues with stock oil.



If you will be parking it outside though I'd get an oil pan heater. Also make sure your battery is healthy.

Thanks, my neighbor!

[CarPoor]

Get a Wolverine oil pan heater. I use mine in CO on occasion and when get up to our property in AB in winter.

[amrazM]

5w50 amsoil redline motul.

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by bmwpower603

BMW oil only. They use an special additive, it will prolong the life of your vehicle.

[M43S7RO]

More info about special additive in the oil pls? Never heard this.

Originally Posted by bmwpower603

Run the 10w 60 like bmw recommends.

BMW oil only. They use an special additive, it will prolong the life of your vehicle.

[CarPoor]

This will be your best bet oil choice wise for cold weather per the published MRV.

https://www.mobil.com/English-GB/Pas...XMobil-1-10W60

LM has told me their 10w60 performes as good or better, but have not published tds indicating such.

There is no hard evidence Castrol or BMW branded Shell (or Shell branded) 10w60 will do any better than LM and certainly not better than M1 10w60 in cold weather.

[BimmerMan33]

This is a controversial topic....
You'll get several different answers....

Here's my take,

Winter weather:
5W40. 0W40 if frequent starts in cold weather. Prefer 5W40 if you'll be revving over 6000 rpm in winters (of course once up to operating temp)

Summer/Non winter weather:
5W50. 10W60 preferable if frequent or aggressive track use.

I prefer Redline since it claims to have extra ZDDP which lowers engine wear.

Rod bearing clearances in our engines are considered to be tighter than industry average, that's why you need a thinner oil in cold weather so it flows better on start up but also need thicker oil when revving high since the tighter clearance shears the oil and makes it thinner.
So basically the oil viscosity need changes based on ambient temperature and type of use.
BMW just recommends 10W60 based on the expectation that you'd track the car and a lighter oil for aggressive track use could damage the engine.
I feel most auto manufacturers try to stick to a single oil viscosity recommendation, maybe to avoid confusion for the non enthusiast drivers...

[oolas3]

Expect warm up to be long and feel terrible with 10w60 if it’s really cold. Try a 0w40 or 5w50 at those temperatures.

[pbonsalb]

if BMW recommended a lighter oil in winter than in summer, it would have had to do many more oil changes during the 4 years of free servicing. Rather than 1 per year, it might have been three per year for those in areas with significant temperature changes between winter and the other seasons.

I used 10W60 while my car was under factory warranty to keep the warranty valid. I have not used it in the 5 years since the warranty expired. I probably would use it if I lived in a hot area or tracked my car, or get oil analysis done if using a thinner oil.

[kskpsu]

Minneapolis exploits this issue....all the way down to -30F in winter and up to 100F in summer. Right now, for a year-round oil, I’m using Redline 5W-50. There isn’t a 0W oil that can provide the same summer coverage, particularly because I think Redline is on the thicker side. I daily mine, so I would consider using seasonal oils....

[SoCalRPM]

A lot of debate on this but I would advise not to run a different oil. Lighter weight oils are obviously thinner and can run the risk of loosing adequate oil pressure which can cause internal harm, too.

Just take your time (lots of it) and warm it up properly. Park it inside of you can!

[New2Roundel]

First off, I would trust the manual more than I would trust random people on the internet. I remember, at least back in the day, where manuals would recommend different weight oils depending on the temp where the car would be driven. Seems like a lot of people don't know how multi-weight oil works. I don't know of anyone running straight 60 weight oil, which would be a huge concern in cold weather. Instead 99.9% of us are running multi-grade oil, to which there are two numbers, as in 10 (W) and 60. The cold weight is the first number and the second number represents the weight of the oil with some heat in it. Personally, I don't see the point of going from 10w60 to 10w40, since the cold weight is the same. I suppose if you don't drive the car past like 5k rpms ever, 0w or 5w 40 would be easier on the car when the oil is cold. And since the S65 runs a bit hot and revs so high, why would anyone do anything that could possibly impact the ability of the oil to do its job? If BMW felt that thinner oil would stand up to the s65 as what they actually recommend, they likely would have used that.

If there's a 5w- or 0w- /60 oil, that's what I'd go with in colder climates. I have no idea if that exists however.

[pbonsalb]

Why the 5000 rpm limit if using 0W40? Porsche specified 0W40 for the 997.1 GT3 that revs as high as our cars. My limiter is set at 8600 and I have been using mostly 0W40 (5W40 a couple of times) for the past 5 years.

However, I did just buy some 5W50. I changed to a hotter thermostat last year and think the 5W50 will be a better match for the hotter running motor.

I remember the days when car makers would recommend oils based on temperature or use also. It was not a bad idea then and it is still a good idea today. But not cheap when the car maker is providing years of free oil changes. And not practical when BMW has a 10W60 oil supplier contract. And not easy for uneducated consumers — so BMW picks one weight for them.

[New2Roundel]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Why the 5000 rpm limit if using 0W40? Porsche specified 0W40 for the 997.1 GT3 that revs as high as our cars. My limiter is set at 8600 and I have been using mostly 0W40 (5W40 a couple of times) for the past 5 years.

However, I did just buy some 5W50. I changed to a hotter thermostat last year and think the 5W50 will be a better match for the hotter running motor.

I remember the days when car makers would recommend oils based on temperature or use also. It was not a bad idea then and it is still a good idea today. But not cheap when the car maker is providing years of free oil changes. And not practical when BMW has a 10W60 oil supplier contract. And not easy for uneducated consumers — so BMW picks one weight for them.

What does the Porsche motor have to do with ours? They are completely different engines from different manufacturers---different layouts, different cylinder counts, different placement in the car, different levels of heat to deal with, and I would suspect differences in tolerances and even metals. We could go on and on about the differences, but if BMW felt that a lower weight oil would work, I suspect they would have done it (given the other incremental items they done for fuel economy benefits). Why not go off of what Ford is using for the GT350 engine while you're at it (probably more relevant to our motors than the GT3)?

I would prefer to go with what the company recommends. Note that the situation we're talking about is at the extreme---most people aren't seeing prolonged below 0 days. Also, it's not BMWs fault that people don't read the manual to look for alternative oil weights in extreme conditions. I'm not sure I understand the point you were making about the BMW oil contract. The standard oil weight is written under the hood and visible, so there's no excuse not to use the correct weight in standard climates. I can go to the local Napa and buy 10w60 right off the shelf. Or I could go to the local BMW dealer and do the same. It's not exactly impossible to find.

[LeeMT]

Originally Posted by BimmerMan33

This is a controversial topic....
You'll get several different answers....

Here's my take,

Winter weather:
5W40. 0W40 if frequent starts in cold weather. Prefer 5W40 if you'll be revving over 6000 rpm in winters (of course once up to operating temp)

Summer/Non winter weather:
5W50. 10W60 preferable if frequent or aggressive track use.

I prefer Redline since it claims to have extra ZDDP which lowers engine wear.

Rod bearing clearances in our engines are considered to be tighter than industry average, that's why you need a thinner oil in cold weather so it flows better on start up but also need thicker oil when revving high since the tighter clearance shears the oil and makes it thinner.
So basically the oil viscosity need changes based on ambient temperature and type of use.
BMW just recommends 10W60 based on the expectation that you'd track the car and a lighter oil for aggressive track use could damage the engine.
I feel most auto manufacturers try to stick to a single oil viscosity recommendation, maybe to avoid confusion for the non enthusiast drivers...

Thanks, I am running with BE bearings, will think about using redline 5w-40 for just this winter.

my drive style is like a grandma, I usually keep the RPM under 3000 lol.

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by LeeMT

Thanks, I am running with BE bearings, will think about using redline 5w-40 for just this winter.

my drive style is like a grandma, I usually keep the RPM under 3000 lol.

EEK.

I usually keep the RPM ABOVE 3000...

Perhaps why my mileage is the shits...

[LeeMT]

Hi guys, thank you all for advising me.

I don't drive hard, I just wanna make sure I will be using the right oil for extreme weather condition. Once I get to the west coast I will have no issue with 10W-60, but during the winter in central Canada, 10W-60 will take looooots of time to warm up and I am not sure if it will harm the engine in cold weather, the air is soooooo cold!

I keep it in garage for most of time

[LeeMT]

Originally Posted by Scharbag

EEK.

I usually keep the RPM ABOVE 3000...

Perhaps why my mileage is the shits...

wow, mine is like 14.6L/100km

k now I really know how much money I saved lol