Just because theres snow on the roof doesnt mean the chimmeny doesnt work .............ha ha ha ha ,, lmao

As others posted above, having enough of any appropriate viscosity name brand synthetic oil is more important than brand, etc. The API SH rating is no longer current; it was when your vehicle was built. Most of the oil you will find now will be an SL rating; you may find SH oils being sold and they would be fine, but if you do find oils with less than SH you should stay away from them.

ok, a different question... what if I want to top up my engine oil, but don't know what viscosity did the dealer put? can i top it up with mobil 1 5-30 regardless of what's inside? i.e what if the dealer has put 0-40 and I come and add 1 quart of 5-30, would it be ok?

Thanks...

Yes, you are fine to mix them. Suggest you use a 5-30, as that is what BMW recommended originally. If it is a much hotter ambient where you are than in the US, a 5-40 wouldn't hurt.

There are 2 options when it's all said and done:

1. Use the recommended BMW fluid: all the research has been done and the BMW engineers have concluded and guaranteed that this is the most suitable and best performing oil for your car. Takes away the guess work.

2. Do your own research: There are many BMW approved oils. I chose to use Total Quartz INEO MC3 5w-30. There are quite a few however.

Neither of these solutions absolves you from regularly checking your oil level and potentially changing your oil prior to the 15k interval. I change mine @ 7500. I feel 15k is just far too long for any oil, even the BMW one. It's just a personal preference and potential OCD complex of mine.

Thanks for your replies.

Update: I digged out in the dealer invoices, and niticed that the engine oil items have part number saying Motul 5-30. I also noticed that they have purchased 8 liters of engine oil and one oil filter, which means that they did not add 8.5 as they should, that's why there is 0.5 liter missing.

So I assumed that after 4000miles, another 0.5 liter got missed (normal i suppose) that's why i reached minimum (a total of 1 missing liter)...

anyway, as JCL suggested, and since I couldn't find motul, I settled to buy another oil of 5-30. as Wayne suggested, I bought Total 5-30 and topped it up. back to the Max mark :thumbup:

After the next service, i will check the stick to see the original level, so that i know how much i am really losing (if any...)

by the way, i am planning to change oil at 6Kmiles cause I drive a lot in traffic jams (average speed of OBC is usually 25-30km/h) and the gas here is not that clean (It affects the oil age, right?)

Thanks,

Thank you for clarification on the "SH" rating. I went to PepBoys and all of the full-synthetics were SL or higher. The kid behind the counter just looked at me and shrugged. Normally the weight rating would be enough, but I've heard that BMW is pretty particular... so I wanted to make sure sure.