Thinking about a 0W-20 ? Need answers ?

[cary]

LL-98 allows Group III, and the BMW badged Castrol oil sold in the US is a Group III (Form of TXT Softect I believe). Motul Japan has the specs on their website, and it lists the difference in the requirement.

[nrgetic99]

Originally Posted by cary

LL-98 allows Group III, and the BMW badged Castrol oil sold in the US is a Group III (Form of TXT Softect I believe). Motul Japan has the specs on their website, and it lists the difference in the requirement.

Trying to spec out (or in for that matter) a particular base oil or component is a bit of slippery slope here in NA due to restraint of trade issues.

In other areas, other OEM's can effectively do the same by clever use of Physical properties or selected performance tests.

Either way, in spite of my grevious oversight, this thread is becoming very valuable.

I think I may call my old friends and see if I can get a hold of some of the full synthetic 5W-40 from my European days.. I can tell you for a fact, all PAO with 10% Ester and an HTHS over 4.0 cP. It was ACEA A3, B3 (04) and BMW LongLife but I am not sure what variant.

David

[JCL]

Originally Posted by vinuneuro

That's because the North American oil sold at your dealer doesn't meet BMW's LL specs.

My question wasn't what is available. Any oil that has LL on the bottle could just be an old formulation. The question is whether BMW is still specifying LL oils. They are not requiring them in my new vehicle; there is no mention of the LL spec in my owner's manual for my 2008 535i. I do need an SL oil, and ACEA A3, which is a tougher spec than in the past.

So, has BMW given up on the LL spec? Is there any recent BMW info?