Castrol Long Life Oil

My last car used long life oil, managed to squeeze 18,000 miles between 1st and 2nd service. Not sure I'd do it again. Audi had the option of 10k oil services or long life, I'd get 10k every time now.

Halfords sell the Audi spec oil cheaper than Audi but it's still very expensive.

Mobil 1 30-0 should be fine m8 or go for 40-0 both fine for our engines

ok thanks for that ron. Don't need it yet but will do before the 10,000 is up. This might be a daft thing to say but I was wondering whether its wise to mix proper synth with psuedo synth castrol, i'm not well up on oil chemistry which is why i asked if the castrol was available elsewhere just to be sure its all the same stuff in there. Hope your audi's running good now you've got it fixed. cheers m8.

So use something else !

What rating is the Castrol stuff ?

Assuming it's semi-synth 10-40 or something similar, then any old branded semi-synth 10-40 (or whatever) will be just fine - it's doesn't have to be "Castrol Long Life".

Halfords is £12.99/litre and my local Audi dealer is £11.88/litre. But I get the stuff off Ebay. I got 5 litres for £28 a few months back.

Longlife service is ok for high mileage drivers but you can go to the standard 10,000 mile oil change interval. It still won;t be cheap though as the oil is 0-30 but it will be a lot cheaper than the Castrol Longlife 2. You have to change it twice as often though so its 6 of 1 etc and at Audi dealers the labour charge is significant !!!

Hope this helps

Richard

There's a bit more to oils than the grade or type. You need to check the specification is as good or better than that specified.

Yes - that's what I was saying.

As long as he gets something broadly equivalent to Castol Long Life, then it'll be fine. It doesn't have to be that exact branding.

So tell us what is broadly equivalent to Castrol Long LifeII.

Huw

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Huw" saying something like:

Immortality?

Dunno but i hear Half Life 2 is good

I've got no idea whatsoever. That's the sort of question you should be asking your oil supplier !

You would have to be a bit more choosy than your post implied because there are not that many oils that are actually suitable substitutes for Castrol LLII oil. Any old big brand [or lesser come to that] synthetic oil meeting API SL with a 0w/30 viscosity just will not do.

Huw

He doesn't need "many oils" - just a single cheaper one.

I can't believe Castrol have a complete monopoly on the stuff !

They don't any more but the choice is limited and expensive. Look for certification to BMWLLII standard in the small print on the can. For instance and from memory, only the 0w/40 viscosity grade is suitable but check even that.

Huw

"Huw" wrote a load of rubbish because he left out a few words which are added below

That is not to imply that no one but Mobil make a compatible oil, because some do.

Huw

Only Castrol make oil specified as suitable for the E46 M3 & it's only available in the UK through BMW dealers at around £13 a litre. I believe it can be bought for about 1/3 that price in the US.

There is an economy of scale in the US but there's also something known as rip off Britain. It really is taking the piss but they have the market cornered so you're left with two choices.

Actually, quality oils suitable for extended drain intervals are probably harder to find in the USA than Europe. Their price is another matter. I do not believe either, that Castrol is the only maker of oil suitable for any BMW any more. There are an increasing number of such oils available and being approved.

Huw