Oil Question

360RamGuy01 · 01-31-05, 07:55

My mom has a BMW M3 and just got the oil changed , the place where she gets maintenance done (which specializes in BMW performance) charged her $86 and said they used Royal Purple motor oil. I told her that she did not need this oil and quality regular oil would be good enough for how she drives her car. Do you think this is an ok suggestion, or should she keep using the Royal Purple?

SpoiledMan · 01-31-05, 08:02

Does the owners manual call for synthetic?

q_tip98444 · 01-31-05, 08:04

I'm almost positive that the M3 requires synthetic. But I would just use a different synthetic. There is a web site that tested these things and found Royal Purple to be the same as one of the other, but less expensive, brands. I will try and dig up the site for you, unless someone else knows which site I'm talking about.

LouisanaJeeper · 01-31-05, 09:23

definatley she should probably be running synth with the M3 (year?)
i would go with mobil 1. $86 sounds about right, what is her oil capacity? RP is like $6/quart M1 is about $4.50/quart

Bill D · 01-31-05, 09:27

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com appears to be the ultimate online bible for any kind of oil information

q_tip98444 · 01-31-05, 09:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill D
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com appears to be the ultimate online bible for any kind of oil information

I was about to edit my post to put that in there. Good Job!

MS22 · 01-31-05, 10:46

These places know that a new M3 runs a minimum $50000 and if you can afford to drive a car like that you can certainly swing $90 for an oil change 3 times a year. Personally I would just do it for her with Mobil 1 and a Puralator PureOne filter and save the $50-60 service charge they make for doing a simple 30 minute task. My friends father has a new 911 Turbo S and the dealer wants something like $350 for an oil change being that there is a secondary filter tucked under the front passanger quarter, they can only charge these prices because people are willing to pay it, truly crazy.

2wheelsx2 · 01-31-05, 10:59

I think the Porsche is a bit different. 2 filters, 12 quarts of oil, and partial removal of the suspension or exhaust system is required. Brad B. did a write up once on his oil change. I think it took him 2 hours or something.

360RamGuy01 · 01-31-05, 11:03

It's a 1999 M3 I think, it is the last one of the old body style. It takes 6 quarts, I will tell her just to go with a cheaper synthetic next time. She is going to get rid of it soon anyways so maintenace will be covered by the dealer for 36,000 miles on the new one.

flatstick · 02-09-05, 08:34

wow that is one expensive oil change, I use Mobil 1 and would say it has performed very well for me. just be sure to check the manual to see what wt they call for. Pep Boys has a 2005 calendar that has coupons for buy 3 get three qts for free ( 1/2 price around $15.00 I paid for a case how could you go wrong? ) hope this helps

TOGWT · 02-09-05, 09:00

Quote:

Originally posted by q_tip98444
I was about to edit my post to put that in there. Good Job!

As I was reading this I thought of oily bob the guy and was going to add 'great minds think alike' but then in my case I lost my mind a long time ago.

Great advice, that site has lots of really usful 'oil' info

JonM

thinksnow · 02-10-05, 06:35

I'm not certain of the M3's oil change interval, but as for the 5401 and the 740iL, the change oil light comes on after about 10-15K miles depending on driving conditions. If you amortize the $86 over that kind of change interval, you just about break even. Keep in mind that I'm only familiar with the 4.0 engine in those two vehicles.