[azv311]

Search function doesn’t work on the mobile app, but I’m going to read more on this when I’m home.

Went to the dealer to get a filter and oil, and they brought out 0W-20. I told him that I thought it took 0W-30, but apparently this is what the parts manager recommends. They also said that they used 0W-20 when they did my last oil change about 8000 miles ago.

Any thoughts? BMW oil part number 83215a2afc5.

[aerobod]

The info about the required oil is in the owners manual. It states "BMW Longlife-01 FE" as the suitable oil in my 2023 G87 manual.

BMW Longlife-01 FE is 0w30 oil, part number 83-21-2-365-950.

BMW LL-17 FE+ 0w20 (83-21-5-A2A-FC5) is not shown as being suitable for the S58 engine in my 2023 M2 manual, it is designed for engines such as the B58.

[azv311]

Bleh, yea, seeing the same. Taking this back tomorrow to swap it for the correct oil. Also going to get a printout of the last oil change. This is the first vehicle I've owned with a warranty. Is it possible to 'note' that the wrong oil was used? I know it's in the car's records at BMW, but in case there are issues in the future.

[chris719]

Originally Posted by azv311

Bleh, yea, seeing the same. Taking this back tomorrow to swap it for the correct oil. Also going to get a printout of the last oil change. This is the first vehicle I've owned with a warranty. Is it possible to 'note' that the wrong oil was used? I know it's in the car's records at BMW, but in case there are issues in the future.

How long have you had it with the 0W-20? I would not be concerned if you haven't driven it hard for long. Oh, I see 8000 miles ago. I would make them note it.

[azv311]

Originally Posted by chris719

How long have you had it with the 0W-20? I would not be concerned if you haven't driven it hard for long. Oh, I see 8000 miles ago. I would make them note it.

Fortunately I live in the rural south, so most of my driving is highway or roads without traffic lights, but of course I've sprinted around here and there. I had the oil changed right after I bought it because there was zero record of the break-in or any other service, and I bought it with 7500 miles.

[chris719]

Originally Posted by azv311

Fortunately I live in the rural south, so most of my driving is highway or roads without traffic lights, but of course I've sprinted around here and there. I had the oil changed right after I bought it because there was zero record of the break-in or any other service, and I bought it with 7500 miles.

I don't think you have much to worry about, you may have accelerated some wear a bit but this is probably a drop in the bucket.

[wjones14]

I had the 1200-mile Running-In service done a month ago, and have driven 300 miles since then. I didn't really pay attention to the viscosity when I got the receipt, but looking at it now, it lists this for the oil:

BMW Group LL-1
Part No: 83-21-5-A42-D32 0W-20

The 2025 manual doesn't specify the viscosity but says to look at the sticker under the hood. I just looked and it says 0W-30.

Right now in New England, it has been below freezing all week. From what I remember in the old days, the rule of thumb was to use thinner viscosity in winter and thicker in summer. So perhaps I haven't hurt anything yet? I also have winter tires on and have not driven the car hard at all.

Nonetheless, I'm headed to the dealership now to ask about it..

[wjones14]

I went to the dealership and showed them the receipt from my 1200-mile break-in service, where it says they used 0W-20 oil. They confirmed that it should have been 0W-30 and were apologizing profusely. If it hadn't been 4:30 pm on a Friday, they said they would have drained the oil right then and refilled it with the correct oil while I waited. They told me to bring it back on Monday and they would take me in immediately without an appointment.

Looking at the receipt, is the oil filter also incorrect? I didn't ask about that but would like to know before I bring it back.

They did try to soften the blow a little by saying it was possible that the tech used the correct oil, but the service manager keyed in the receipt incorrectly. I wish I had paid attention when they handed me the original receipt, but to be honest, I wasn't sure what the correct viscosity was.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by wjones14

Looking at the receipt, is the oil filter also incorrect?

Yes, 11-42-8-092-620 is the correct oil filter part # for the S58.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by azv311

Search function doesn’t work on the mobile app, but I’m going to read more on this when I’m home.

Went to the dealer to get a filter and oil, and they brought out 0W-20. I told him that I thought it took 0W-30, but apparently this is what the parts manager recommends. They also said that they used 0W-20 when they did my last oil change about 8000 miles ago.

Any thoughts? BMW oil part number 83215a2afc5.

Too late now but the viscosity to use is on a sticker somewhere in the engine compartment. For my 2023 the viscosity was 0w-30.

I say too late but I doubt there has been any damage to the engine or you would know it by now having driven 8K miles with 0w-20 oil in the engine.

I would hazard a guess the parts department is pushing 0w-20 so it can avoid having to stock 0w-30 oil.

When I had my 230i xDrive serviced and 0w-20 oil was used -- which is what the sticker in the engine compartment says is the viscosity to use -- the invoice had the wholesale (and bought in bulk: drums) price for the oil: $1.31/liter. Yet I was charged $69.43 for the oil. Think the 230i engine requires 5 liters so that's about $14/liter my price.

By stocking just one viscosity the dealer service department pads its bottom line a bit.

That is why the parts manager recommends 0w-20 for your M2, barring the absence of some official service bulletin update from the factory that authorizes the use of 0w-20 oil in the M2 engine. But I note you said the parts manager recommended 0w-20 oil and rather than BMW recommended 0w-20...

[azv311]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

Too late now but the viscosity to use is on a sticker somewhere in the engine compartment. For my 2023 the viscosity was 0w-30.

I say too late but I doubt there has been any damage to the engine or you would know it by now having driven 8K miles with 0w-20 oil in the engine.

I would hazard a guess the parts department is pushing 0w-20 so it can avoid having to stock 0w-30 oil.

When I had my 230i xDrive serviced and 0w-20 oil was used -- which is what the sticker in the engine compartment says is the viscosity to use -- the invoice had the wholesale (and bought in bulk: drums) price for the oil: $1.31/liter. Yet I was charged $69.43 for the oil. Think the 230i engine requires 5 liters so that's about $14/liter my price.

By stocking just one viscosity the dealer service department pads its bottom line a bit.

That is why the parts manager recommends 0w-20 for your M2, barring the absence of some official service bulletin update from the factory that authorizes the use of 0w-20 oil in the M2 engine. But I note you said the parts manager recommended 0w-20 oil and rather than BMW recommended 0w-20...

This is a dumb example. You saw your dealer use 0W-20 once, so that means they only have 0W-20? Come on...

And yes, I didnt say BMW, but I said the DEALER. What other dealer would I be talking about? wjones14 said he went to the dealer too, but since he didnt say BMW, he must have gone to the Toyota dealer...

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by azv311

This is a dumb example. You saw your dealer use 0W-20 once, so that means they only have 0W-20? Come on...

And yes, I didnt say BMW, but I said the DEALER. What other dealer would I be talking about? wjones14 said he went to the dealer too, but since he didnt say BMW, he must have gone to the Toyota dealer...

I assumed the dealer (dealers) in this context were BMW dealers.

But I'll make it clearer: The *BMW* dealer used 0w-20 in my 230i xDrive. Which is what is supposed to be used. My point is that a good number of other BMWs use 0w-20 oil.

A service department manager, a BMW dealer service department manager, could for the sake of the bottom line "recommend" 0w-20 for those vehicles that would normally -- well based on the engine compartment sticker -- be filled with 0w-30.

I can't think of any other reason for a BMW dealer service department manager to make that recommendation absent some service bulletin from the BMW factory authorizing the use of 0w-20 when the sticker in the engine compartment calls for 0w-30.

Not that far fetched.

I went to a highly regarded indy shop for servicing a Porsche. Found out the owner was going to use the wrong oil. No 0w-40, but 15w-50.

I objected to his using 15w-50 oil. I offered to supply the right oil. He refused. Said he needed the profit from the markup he could add to the 15w-50 oil to help his business. He bought it in bulk, I'm sure.

I took my car to be serviced elsewhere.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

<< snip >>
I went to a highly regarded indy shop for servicing a Porsche. Found out the owner was going to use the wrong oil. No 0w-40, but 15w-50.

I objected to his using 15w-50 oil. I offered to supply the right oil. He refused. Said he needed the profit from the markup he could add to the 15w-50 oil to help his business. He bought it in bulk, I'm sure.

I took my car to be serviced elsewhere.

As a PFL (Porschephile For Life) and former Porsche owner, this floors me. It's not so much that the shop was trying to pull a significant grade switcheroo, but refused to use the factory-recommended grade, then refused to use customer-supplied oil, after it was caught.

I have to believe other typically finicky P-car owners have called that shop out on that, before and after your experience with it. No telling what other corners it cuts ... I've recently stopped using a local indie I'd been a regular customer of for close to 20 years for some of the same reasons, among others. In recent years, some indies have become more like dealers, which is a little frightening.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

As a PFL (Porschephile For Life) and former Porsche owner, this floors me. It's not so much that the shop was trying to pull a significant grade switcheroo, but refused to use the factory-recommended grade, then refused to use customer-supplied oil, after it was caught.

I have to believe other typically finicky P-car owners have called that shop out on that, before and after your experience with it. No telling what other corners it cuts ... I've recently stopped using a local indie I'd been a regular customer of for close to 20 years for some of the same reasons, among others. In recent years, some indies have become more like dealers, which is a little frightening.

Floored me too. I had had my Boxster in prior to this and was impressed by the quality (and honesty) of the service.

So my first visit to the shop was a good one.

As for oil it didn't help that at least in the case of my Boxster's owners manual 15w-50 was listed. But not too far further down was something to the effect to consult with a dealer regarding which oils were acceptable.

Prior to my visit to this shop I had managed to get a print out from a dealer service department a list of approved oils. Lots of 0w-40, 5w-40 oils on the list and even one 5w-50 oil on the list. But no 15w-50 oil.

But someone just glancing at the manual might accept 15w-50 oil as ok.

And as has been the case with other brands of cars and their owners there are a fair number of Porsche owners who believe the only oil not to use is a factory sanctioned oil. But any other oil is ok.

So when the owner of shop said he'd use 15w-50 oil he was preaching to the choir.

[wjones14]

Went back to the dealership yesterday so they could drain and refill the oil after the 27-Dec-2024 receipt said that 0W-20 was used. Even though the receipt showed 0W-20, they weren't sure what was in it. The service manager told me the process is a 3-way handoff between the service manager, the parts department, and the technician. The service manager tells the parts department what is being done, the parts department supplies the parts, and the technician does the job. As far as the oil itself, sometimes it comes from a bulk hose and other times from individual bottles. (I'm just repeating what he said.)

The service manager also told me that they usually assign M cars to certain technicians who are used to the specific procedures, and he thinks the technician would know to use 0W-30. In other words, the service manager thinks my receipt is just a clerical error. We'll see.

Before I went for the service, I jacked the car up in my garage, loosened the drain plug enough to let some oil drip out, and captured a 2 oz sample. I will send that to Blackstone Labs for the analysis, and they should be able to determine the viscosity. The oil looked dirtier than I expected after only 400 miles, but I'll wait to see what Blackstone says about that.

Here's a really good video of a BMW tech doing the complete 1200-mile break-in service on an M3. A couple takeaways for me:

1. He debunked the myth that the 1200-mile break-in service will "unlock" the factory coding that limits performance. Even the service manager at my dealership repeated this myth to me when I brought it in for the break-in service.

2. The tech used a bulk hose to fill the oil and said they use 0W-30. But then he added that he's in Texas where it gets over 100 degrees and in colder climates they would use 0W-20. Maybe in Canada, but even the service department in CT, where it's been below freezing for a few weeks now, said it should be 0W-30.

[chris719]

0W-20 vs 0W-30 has nothing to do with climate. 0W-20 has insufficient HTHS viscosity for S58. S58 does not have IROX coated rod and main bearings.

Also, color doesn't mean anything, so don't worry. Most oils turn dark immediately now due to antioxidants in the oil.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by wjones14

The tech used a bulk hose to fill the oil and said they use 0W-30. But then he added that he's in Texas where it gets over 100 degrees and in colder climates they would use 0W-20. Maybe in Canada, but even the service department in CT, where it's been below freezing for a few weeks now, said it should be 0W-30.

It is 0w30 in the S58 here in Canada year-round, where it can get down close to -40C in the winter. Any 0wXX or 5wXX synthetic oil is fine in these temperatures. I had no problem using the Castrol TWS 10w60 in our Z4M in temperatures down to -35C (rated to -39C pour point).