Whats up with the oil in my car?

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by Technomage

what kind of oil should i put? I went and bought Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5W-20 15,000 miles fully synthetic, 5w-20 is this good? I haven't put it in yet so please let me know asap, thanks everyone for helping me out.

T,
That 20 rating is pretty thin, but ok...just put 6 qts in, let it sit,
check dipstick, add another qt, check, etc. Should take 8 if it
really was close to empty.

I agree with posters above: they didn't add oil for the "change"
if you have no leaks or clouds of oil smoke.
GL,mD

[Technomage]

ACEA A1,B1
API SM,SL,SJ,SH/CF

If this oil isn't good please tell me what to buy so I can go return it and buy that instead (sorry I am a car noob, if you ask me computer stuff im ur man)

[BimmerDude]

Check for Castrol 5-50 or mobil 0-40... Or anything that has the acea-3 or Bmw LL-01 on it. if you can't find anything, just get a 5-40 sythetic grade for now. Its better then not having oil...

[vinuneuro]

Originally Posted by BimmerDude

Check for Castrol 5-50 or mobil 0-40... Or anything that has the acea-3 or Bmw LL-01 on it. if you can't find anything, just get a 5-40 sythetic grade for now. Its better then not having oil...

Dude, 5w-50 is waay to thick.

Technomage, just use the oem recommended viscosity. Just get the same Mobil 1 Extended Performance, but 5W-30 instead of the 5W-20. Btw, the dispstick only registers one quart. So if there's nothing on it, it means you are one quart down or more. When that message comes on your cluster, you are exactly one quart low. Add one quart and then recheck the dipstick. That should do it if your the message in the cluster appeared recently. Let us know if you need any other help.

[BimmerDude]

I know its too thick and your right, but the castrol 5-50 is bmwLL-01, and is ACEA-3 approved. But if he wants to get just the reg. syn. then 5-30 is fine. Just remember, all other grades are on the lighter side of the 30 weight. But to each his own I guess...

[vinuneuro]

Yes M1 is on the thinner side. But Castrol is on the thicker side, using a 50wt is doubly bad.

[vinuneuro]

Btw, the only Castrol oil sold in the US that is an LL-01 oil, is the 0W-30.

[Tomaz]

When you say "there is no oil at all" I'm guessing you mean, no level on the dipstick. That should mean you still have about 6 quarts in the pan. While low, your engine is probably OK. The service guy probably under filled it and you didn't notice until you got a low oil light. Next change, check the dipstick to confirm its full and keep you eye on the level. By the way, 5W 30 should be a good weight for your location. Good Luck

[Technomage]

I ended up putting in 2 quarts since I put 1 in and it didn't get to the bottom line, I put the second one in and now its in the middle of the two lines. Oh and I put 5w-50 castrol syntec. Thanks so much for your help everyone. OH what is 5w-50?

[BimmerDude]

Well, I beg to differ Vin, I mean if you look at the back of the castrol 5-30 syntec bottle, it states in black and white that it is not acea-3 or bmwLL01. Now I don't want a argue with you, but you need to get your info straight before you start to write stuff that is not true. All I wanted to do is give techno a good solid oil that is the same or close to what bmw puts into the X. That's all I wanted to do.