Correct oil for Mini Cooper?

BMW Mini Cooper 1.6, 2003, 50k miles.

Need to top up the oil, but unsure what to get. The handbook recommends BMW oil, no mention of a spec and refers me to the stealer.

Tesco offer fully synth 5w/30 and 5w/40.

The /30 is "API SM/CF ACEA, C3, Low SAPS/Low ash" and "Suitable for modern vehicles including VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, Vauxhall, Seat and Skoda".

Which should I get? Inclined to go for the /30 but thought I'd check here first.

Garage that services the car tells me they always use fully synth.

Ta.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson
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the BMW oil is a special long life oil. for this country 0/w30 or 40 synthetic are suitable (if you don't use the longlife stuff).

opie oils are quite often a useful resource for oil recommendations.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Any help?

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Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Is there really any difference though i cant see BMW or any of the other manufacturers having special oils blended just for thier vehicles, the cost would be prohibitive when you can set oils off the shelf that will more than fit the bill

Reply to
steve robinson

Are you kidding ????

Nearly every manufacturer have their own oil specs which are on top of the viscosity spec.

EG:

VW: 504.00 507.00 for their latest cars. 503.00 not to be confused with 503.01 which are not cross compatible, BAM engines need 503.01 not 503.00, unless NOT on extended service schedule, then 502.00 is OK.

506.00 the list goes on and on.

BMW: LongLife 98 LongLife 01 LongLife 01 FE LongLife 04

Ford, FIAT, Citroen / Peugeot, Porsche, MB ( the list goes on) all have their own oil requirements.

You will find that oil makers offer the same grades for different vehicle manufacturer specs.

Castrol, Total, Shell, Mobil, Comma, Fuchs, Motul all offer the same viscosity grades with different car manufacturer specs on them. What I am trying to state is that they all offer the same viscosity oil (say 5w/30) in a range of different vehicle requirements.

Total offer the 5w/30 for a BMW, a different 5w/30 for Citroen / Peugeot. Castrol offer a 5w/30 oil for VW and a different 5w/30 for Ford

These are just examples and not limited to.

HTH (but it won't)

David

Reply to
David

BMW often use high spec oils which are developed for them, and may come into general use later on. As do other makers. However, genuine BMW spec oil is available as Castrol, but not likely from Halfords. A little Googling will find the exact one.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

LL01 spec is Magnatec Professional A3 5W-30 or Magnatec Professional A3

5W-40.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

En el artículo , Dave Plowman (News) escribió:

I stuck in the Tesco 5/30 and while doing that noted that there is a "MINI recommends Castrol" sticker in the engine bay.

Thanks all for the replies. Needed about 0.75l to get the oil up from just above MIN to just below MAX.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

En el artículo , Chris Whelan escribió:

That's great, bookmarked. Many thanks.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

I've got 'Castrol Edge 5W-30' for my Mini - it was on offer at Halfords a while ago. Still bloody pricey. I had a pre-56 that got through a bit, the latest hasn't used any - except when the turbo oil pipe leaked.

Rob

Reply to
Rob

En el artículo , Rob escribió:

Wasn't going to bother with the expensive stuff just for a top-up, especially as it'll get a change in a few weeks.

It's gone from max to a bit above min since last April (last oil/filter change) without needing a top-up. That seems OK to me, especially as I drive the car hard.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

Reply to
clairhuth

Synth isn't the issue, you need to confirm the API or ACEA code that BMW specifies. And the viscosity, obviously.

Reply to
newshound

OOI is it 'allowed' to use a later spec oil?

I've a motorbike that says SF 10/40 in the manual. Could I use some 'SL CF' 10/40 I have? I get the impression it's OK from:

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Reply to
RJH

Yes "higher" ratings should be fine.

Reply to
newshound

Unless the higher rating includes friction modifiers and the bike has an oil immersed clutch

AJH

Reply to
AJH

Possibly (that's why I said "should"). I believe the oil companies try fairly hard to avoid shooting themselves in the foot like that, in the same way that they try to avoid using additives that are incompatible with those of other manufacturers, in case otherwise equivalent oils get mixed.

If that were a possibility, I would expect to see warnings from the bike manufacturer, and certainly if it was a common issue there would be plenty of discussion on the web.

It was a well known issue decades ago that EP additives in gear oils can cause corrosion of some types of brass or bronze found in gearboxes.

Another thing you need to avoid is mixing *some* types of synthetic with mineral oils.

Reply to
newshound

Thanks both. It is a wet clutch. Wonder how I know if the oil has friction modifiers - it's Halford's own brand cheapest.

Reply to
RJH

Don't expect Halfords to tell you! The oil will of course be made either by one of the big oil companies, or an independent blender. Even if you managed to get into the right technical department I doubt if they would tell you anything useful.

Castrol recommends Edge 0W-30. Since it is potentially a "classic car" I would be looking for advice online in car forums.

I'd be very surprised if you *did* run into a problem with a "supermarket" synthetic, but presumably you don't need much. Do you

*really* need to minimise the cost?
Reply to
newshound

Will it be any different from the oil used if you put your car in for a service at a local independent or main dealer? They also would be attempting to minimise their costs (not necessarily their cost to you).

Reply to
alan_m

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