[Toiman]

Hey everyone,

Long time no post. Had the car for about 6 months now and the oil indicator icon is now starting to come on every now & then. I did the in-built test and yes it says to "add 1 ltr".
The manual says Castrol, but I thought I'd ask, what oil does everybody recommend. And you know I still haven't put any air in the tyres after 11000 kms !, is that right, is run flat that good??

Toiman

[e93]

335i uses Castrol Edge 5w-30 - Available Supercheap. Not sure about 325i specs.

Put some air in those runflats. Unlikely they are spec after that distance.

[VGR00]

I'm not sure of the specification of the oil in the E90 series cause the manual says BMW long life oil or something like that and is not specific of the rating. I have always used 5W30 in my 6cyl BMW's (E36 / E24 / E39). Might be a good time to just get an oil service done anyway. Oil consumption between services should be minimal from here on.

[johnnydad]

When I picked my car up, the dealer invited me to return for a top-up should the car require oil between services. I was also told that it *would* require oil at some point.

Does anybody bother changing oil in between the 12 month/24K period?

[skyskie]

That happens to my car too, it comes on quite often; every 3-4 months of driving. I asked bmw about this, but they just addressed the issue by saying all new bmws consume alot of engine oil.

I went to Sydney bmw and they topped up my oil for free. Although i didn't bother asking what oil they used.

[Chris.G]

Originally Posted by johnnydad

When I picked my car up, the dealer invited me to return for a top-up should the car require oil between services. I was also told that it *would* require oil at some point.

Does anybody bother changing oil in between the 12 month/24K period?

My car has done 7400kms and i got an oil and filter change done before the first service. There is emphasis on the viscosity of the oil (especially after break in period) so changing it every 15000kms is imo the best thing you can do for the engine. The tech in BMW Sydney Artarmon who i found out was a distant family friend of ours told me to change every 15000kms and that i was way overdue for the break in oil change. He said that the first service should be an oil service at 4000kms at latest then a proper service at 25000kms. I agreed.

[powers493]

Did you end up adding any oil? If you havent the viscosity you need is 5W-30, you could use the easily available Castrol Edge, preferably you want Castrol Full Synthetic LL01, im not sure if you can buy this at repco, super cheap etc. You can buy it from a dealership though, it comes in 1L containers. I would recommend the later purely because the engine is still running in and you would be best sticking with the correct oil for the engine. Im sure a dealership would add the required amount for free though

Also the BMW spec for consumpion is 0.5L of engine oil every 1000kms for non motorsport engines (1L per 1000 on motorsports). BMW wont conduct an oil consumption test for you though until the car has at least reached its first oil change as it is still wearing in.

[johnnydad]

A question on the 'oil OK' indicator and level which appears on the centre of the instrument panel: Mine is still reading as 'Max' after nearly 5000km - what gradations are there? Or is it either OK or not? As in, does is appear to gradually drop over time, go down by 1/4 etc?

[I Hold The Answers]

Originally Posted by johnnydad

A question on the 'oil OK' indicator and level which appears on the centre of the instrument panel: Mine is still reading as 'Max' after nearly 5000km - what gradations are there? Or is it either OK or not? As in, does is appear to gradually drop over time, go down by 1/4 etc?

Yeh mate it is divided up into either four or five segments (I think 5). I woudln't be too concerned that it isn't dropping

[johnnydad]

Thanks

Not concerned - even less so now.