Oil advice and recommendations

Wed Oct 18, 2006 3:24 pm

For the LSD we recomend the Castrol SAF-XJ, for the gearbox.. it depends wich one you have but usually a good 75w-90 is fine such as the Silkolene Syn5 75w-90.

Cheers

Guy.

Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:19 pm

Hey Buddy, its been asked a million times. What oil should I use in my 320i, it has 62000 miles on it and its time for a service, I used Mobil 1 on the last service. It only gets driven on the weekends and stands quite a bit. Also, what G/Box and Diff oil, manual box and open diff.
Thanks a million.

Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:17 am

Hi,

The Mobil 1 is fine, what grade were you using?

For the gearbox a good 75w-90 gear oil will be fine. For the open diff we recmend the Castrol SAF-XO.

Cheers

Guy.

Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:01 pm

It is 0w-40w, what rating is the Castrol SAF-XO? We use Mobil at work so if it something we have there then I will use that.
Thanks a mil.

PS: What is low ash oil?

Sun Oct 29, 2006 2:49 pm

The SAF-XO is 75w-90 GL5.

Cheers

Guy.

Sun Nov 05, 2006 9:23 am

Hi oilman,

Thanks for the time you're putting on this forum. I have a 318is (M42) which has 120,000 miles and is running very well. I'm going to do some small 12 car rallies which will mean a couple of hours of hard work for the engine. The car is also used daily for running around town. What would you suggest for the engine? It seems you like the fully synthetic 5W40 from Silkolene? How often would you change such a high quality oil?

Cheers, G

Sun Nov 05, 2006 2:39 pm

The Pro S 5w-40 would make a good choice. Change every 6k if the car is used hard.

Cheers

Guy.

Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:37 pm

how would castrol edge 0w 40 go in a 320i se with 94,000 miles on the clock!

Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:05 am

Should be fine mate.

Cheers

Guy.

Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:30 pm

What oil do you recommend for my 1990 320i with about 80k on the clock, it only does short journeys and the odd long one. I also need a good gearbox fluid too, what do you think oilman ?
Prices and delivery to Campbeltown (west coast ) Scotland. Thanx

Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:43 pm

hi guy which oil for 1990 m3 (215bhp) 83,000mls not gonna be raced but will be opened up now and again. will be getting use in summertime but only a couple a runs a week in winter.

regards toby

Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:58 am

del_320ise wrote:What oil do you recommend for my 1990 320i with about 80k on the clock, it only does short journeys and the odd long one. I also need a good gearbox fluid too, what do you think oilman ?
Prices and delivery to Campbeltown (west coast ) Scotland. Thanx

For the engine a top option is a 5w-40 full synthetic, this will be deal for cold morning useage in Scotland, the cost option is for a 10w-40 semi.

BMW gearboxes take all sorts of things from 75w-90 to ATF to MTF.

What does you hand book say? the other alternative is to have a look on the gearbox itself and see if there is a sticker with a code on it.

Brands and prices here http://www.opieoils.co.uk

Cheers

Guy.

Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:59 am

tobias wrote:hi guy which oil for 1990 m3 (215bhp) 83,000mls not gonna be raced but will be opened up now and again. will be getting use in summertime but only a couple a runs a week in winter.

regards toby

Toby,

We would suggest a good 5w-40 full synthetic for all year round use, brand wise have a look at the Silkolene Pro S 5w-40.

Cheers

Guy.

Fri Nov 24, 2006 3:12 pm

what oil should i be looking at for a 161k mile 316 (m40)? ive put some cheap 15 w40 mineral in it and i plan on changing it again soon after say 600 miles as the old oil had been in there a while, it has rattly tappets but it doesnt burn a drop the engine is in very good order (touch wood) so what is best for it? im also using a proper Hengst filter...

Fri Nov 24, 2006 4:31 pm

10w-40 semi will be ideal.

Cheers

Guy.

Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:45 am

please could anyone help, wish to change the gearbox oil and the lsd diff oil what should i use? had a chat with a bmw service dept and they said that a mod for the gearbox was to use atf (automatic transmission fluid) any ideas?

Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:46 pm

The ATF is usually a "mod" to cure a stiff gearchange with a cold gearbox. If you don't have this problem then a straight 80 oil is the recommended stuff, or a 75-90 synthetic should be OK.

Tue Dec 26, 2006 1:20 pm

i have a 89 325 sport with 140000 on the clock i do 50 miles per month max. what oil should i be using? Thanks

Wed Dec 27, 2006 9:18 am

10w-40 semi, or if the engine is still in good condition and you want to treat it a 5w-40 fully synthetic.

Cheers

Guy.

Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:08 am

I Have just bought a 318is. It has a fairly new engine which has only done about 30k in that car (reconditioned one). I have no clue what oil is in it now. Is it okay to just change whatever it is for fully synthetic? or should I try some semi first?
Thanks

Kevin

Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:58 am

No it will be fine, just go ahead and change to synthetic.

Cheers

Guy.

Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:58 pm

How can get silkolene over in spain? They have distributors but they are unwilling to sell to me.. Pls advise

Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:56 am

If they sell the Silkolene Bike oils, the Silkolene Pro 4 Plus 5w-40 and 10w-50 are the same oil as the Silkolene Pro S.

Cheers

Guy.

Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:51 pm

The problem is that they donÃ‚´t sell to the local shops here. Even the bike oils, all they do is sell to the workshops and they actually put it in for you. I just prefer to buy it myself and do the work.. Oilman, do you have any suggestions or contacts here in spain that I can buy from?

Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:50 am

Could you recommend oils for the diff and gearbox on my 318is.
Thanks
K

Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:56 am

For the diff, if you have lsd I would look at the Castrol SAF-XJ 75w-140. For the gearbox you will need to have a look where the gearbox is filled up from, there should be a sticker there with a code on it. Let me know what the code or colour is and I can give you a match.

Cheers

Guy.

Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:05 pm

Is Redline a good oil to use? and If so how does compare to silkolene? If I can't get my hands on silkolene here in spain I can get redline.. So with that said wat type should I be using on 3.0l stroker engine?

Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:02 pm

Redline engine oils are pretty good, we dont rate the gear oils though.

What kind of use will the car get?

Cheers

Guy.

Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:18 am

The car will get some track time but not much. For the most part it will get most of its use on the autovia or doing high speed runs on the back roads or driving to events.

Wat type of gear oils do you recommend? Since my car is automatic can you recommend me a good tranny fluid. My torque converter and valve body have been modified for high performance application( similiarly like a shift kit) and need to know wat kind of tranny fluid to use when putting back the TC and valve body.

Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:38 pm

I would look for something around the 10w-50 or 15w-50 grade for this kind of use, Redline should have something.

For the gearbox a good synthetic ATF would be ideal, Redline may do something I am not sure. A synthetic ATF will cope with extra temps etc better.

Can you get Motul out there?

Cheers

Guy.

Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:17 pm

Guy, I've seen Motul in some of the shops here in spain. Are they also good?

Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:18 pm

Motul is great stuff, costly but great.

If you can get the 300v range then that is the doggs danglies, but also have a look at the 8100 range as a good budget alternative.

Cheers

Guy.

Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:07 am

hi oilman, i have a 1987 bmw 325i sport which gearbox oil can i go for also which lsd oil do i need? thanks mate.

Sun Jan 21, 2007 6:56 pm

Oilman, what do you recommend for a 318i with 106k on the clock? It taps, wouldn't mind something that makes it a bit quieter if that's possible, thanks.

Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:22 pm

gt3 wrote:hi oilman, i have a 1987 bmw 325i sport which gearbox oil can i go for also which lsd oil do i need? thanks mate.

For the lsd we recomend the Castrol SAF-XJ.

For the gearbox you need to have a look where it is filled up from and see if there is a sticker there and what colour it is, if there is no sticker then a good 75w-90 is ideal.

Cheers

Guy.