Well BMW says to use API SH or higher SAE rated oil in place of the "BMW high-performance synthetic oil," so I guess any full-synthetic with those ratings or higher would be sufficient.... but for myself, the Castrol just doesn't cut it....

That may have been the recommendation when your model was manufactured, but they are now recommending API SM in new vehicles, so I would use that as a minimum. SH came out in 1994. SM came out in 2004, and is several generations better than SH, SJ, or SL.

Crazy info JCL, thanks for the clarification. This should be stickied somewhere too...

It looks like the API SM rated oil is the same as the BMW LL-04, and the API SL is the BMW LL-98 in the Elf brand that I'm using, so needless to say I'll be using the BMW LL-04 now....

Long
 

The API ratings and the BMW LL ratings do not correlate, except that some generations of the standards came out around the same time. They are very different ratings.

The API is an industry standard test, used by all oil companies. the American Petroleum Institute sets the standards, and all oils sold in North America are tested against the same standard. Automakers use the API spec as a widely recognized and very controlled standard. There are additional standards in Europe.

Several engine manufacturers decided on their own that they wanted to drive oil standards higher, particularly in respect of longer oil life, or deposit control, or piston wear. The engine manufacturer that I work with developed private oil test standards related to deposits on ring glands in one specific engine series, as an example. That test doesn't mean anything for even the other engine models from the same manufacturer.

BMW developed a correlation between oil life and certain oil characteristics, and published the BMW LL (long life) oil standard in 98, updating it in 2001 and 2004. You can see why from the API history above; when the BMW LL-98 spec was being developed, the current API spec was six years old. Oils changed a lot during that period. The BMW LL standard is not a complete standard in my opinion, it is simply an endorsement as to engine oil life in a BMW test engine. It doesn't cover the rest of the quality standards covered by API tests.

The BMW LL spec is entirely optional, many oil companies simply ignore it because they don't see a marketing benefit for paying to achieve that particular certification. Big oil companies tend not to like every engine manufacturer having their own spec, it is difficult and expensive to keep them all current and some of the standards are opposed. The oil companies that do go after the manufacturer's private tests include those that need the credibility because they are relatively small and unknown, or those that cater to a particular market segment such as BMW or Mercedes owners. The same oil company may get a Euro oil certified (like Castrol) and not bother with the American Castrol because it is too much trouble. That does not mean that the American Castrol in that example is not as good an oil, although many like to buy German Castrol because it does get certifed. The key point is that because it is an optional test, the absence of a BMW LL certification does not mean that the oil is lower quality. It may be, but not related to whether or not it has the LL certification. I agree that the German Castrol may use a different base stock, but it doesn't meet any higher published standards, so I use whichever Castrol I can obtain, and don't worry about it.

Since the API standards have advanced so much, with the latest being API-SM, the BMW LL tests seem to have fallen by the wayside. Even the BMW oil bottles at my dealership don't always have the BMW LL designation. While my previous owner's manuals called for a BMW LL spec oil, none of my recent vehicle's manuals make any reference at all to an LL spec, they have instead gone for the more recent API SM spec and left it at that. I suspect that the BMW LL specs will simply fade away over time in North America.

And that is why I am very suspect of a small oil company advertising that they meet a BMW LL-98 spec. I would stay a long way away from that oil, it seems very suspect, likely based on mid-nineties technology.

Okay now I got it... Forget about anything to do with LL ratings and stick to the API ratings, gotcha finally. Yes I will be staying away from them although I thought Elf was a fairly well-known large company, in Europe anyway....

Nothing wrong with Elf as a company, and they are large in Europe. They are not as common in North America. I was referring above more generically to smaller oil companies, and not trying to diss Elf specifically.

The Elf site says that that particular oil now has a BMW LL-01 rating, so you may be dealing with old stock that has been sitting in a warehouse. The same Elf site notes that they have other oils that meet the API SM standard, and which coincidentally meet the BMW LL-04 spec. I would look to those oils. :thumbup: