what is the best oil to use in a E46 2000

[SpenderE46]

hello i have a 318ci e46 2000 (w) , i am living in the uk, south east not far from london (climate reasons)

what is the best oil i can use, i tried to make sense of all this by reading some old posts but still cant make sense of all this,,,,, ,can some one please help,,,,


oh and should i keep to the oil check on the OBC, or should i do more frequwent oil changes

many thanks

[Black2000328i]

SpenderE46. You guys over in Europe have tons of oil brands to
choose from that are formulated for all the Euro cars available. I
can see the confusion though.used: Just visiting the Castrol
UK site made my head spin. Castrol's synthetic line up consists
of : Edge ; RS ; SLX & SLX Longtec. Then they have oils for turbo
diesels. Anyway, I did a "what oil to use" search for your 2000 318ci
and the Castrol Edge 0w30 came up. This doesn't mean you can't use
any other Castrol synthetic 0w30/0w40 grade or other oils from other
companies. Look for the BMW LL-98 or LL-01 spec on the bottles.
I hope this helps.

[SpenderE46]

ok thank you for your information, what about castrol magnetec

[Black2000328i]

SpenderE46. I checked the Castrol UK site and the GTX Magnatec
is not a full synthetic and is not BMW approved. I believe it's a blend
of group 3 HC and group 5 synthetic ester. I would stick with full
synthetic if you want the best oil available and has the BMW LL-98
or LL-01 approval.

[zibby]

Originally Posted by SpenderE46

hello i have a 318ci e46 2000 (w) , i am living in the uk, south east not far from london (climate reasons)

what is the best oil i can use, i tried to make sense of all this by reading some old posts but still cant make sense of all this,,,,, ,can some one please help,,,,


oh and should i keep to the oil check on the OBC, or should i do more frequwent oil changes

many thanks

Regarding oil weight, follow car manufacturer recommendation for specific ambient temperatures.

"should i do more frequwent oil changes " Hm !?

There have been lots and lots of discussions on this subject, and as your searches probably told you, there is no one philosphy that everyone agrees to. I think it all boils down to personal preference, and it seems most who opt to change the oil early after break in just do it for "peace of mind" or because it just makes them feel better. This applies to general oil changes throughout the life of the car as well. There are basically two camps of thought: some people are just not comfortable with the long (15,000 mi./24000km) BMW recommended interval, and other people think it is just a mindset and a waste of time/money to do it more often.

BMW will not cover the cost of oil changes more frequent than the recommended interval, as determined by the Service Indicator on your dashboard. If not less than a certain mileage (this varies by dealer I think, I have heard up to 150), they will not provide an oil change or service. The one exception is if you are well below the interval and it has been more than one calendar year; they will honor annual oil changes for low mileage cars.
Z.