Jsoto where do you take your truck for repairs that you can't do yourself? I've been to few places without positive results.

Interesting, thanks for that.

None of my vehicles ever sees an oil change interval greater than 7500 miles, so the LL/long life thing is probably irrelevant.

"Longlife" is the BMW name for the oil approval, it has nothing to do with a longer oil interval :)

Castrol Edge 0w-40 or 5w-40. Both are LL-01.

I suspect the OP's 2003 engine will not 'notice' what exact brand/exact viz/exact 'rating' of oil he puts in it, esp. adding a qt... ;)
GL, mD

Nope, not with this rear main seal leak I have which I won't be fixing anytime soon since I can't afford it. My grandfather had it replaced but clearly wasn't done right.

Looking into the lucas stop leak treatment for a temp fix, not sure how effective it can be though.

Sorry, yes I understand that. Some research on the missing LL-01 spec on 0W-40 "FS"...

The consensus on the BITOG site says that BMW changed the LL-01 test spec recently to include the N20 engine and the new formulation didn't pass; no details why. Hence ExxonMobil can no longer claim it meets the (changed) LL-01 spec; even though the new formulation does prior to the spec being changed. They also had to change the name slightly, hence the FS designation.

I don't have an N20, I've been using it forever in my M54s and I will continue to use it.

Might be worth giving ATP AT-205 a try - this stuff works! :thumbup:

ATP Automotive AT-205 Re-Seal

Awesome, thank you for that. Great reviews on it I see.

I get it from Amazon (they even ship it overseas!) and it's sorted a number of minor leaks on a range of vehicles, including minor PS hose sweating and a PS actuator seal leak on my X5.