New BMW oil

["Dick DeVillers" <devillers@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just rejoined this digest and apologize for bringing this up because I'm
sure it has been discussed to death. But, I'd like to hear what everyone
knows about the new BMW oil.

Last week I traded in my '96 M3 for a '98 540i 6-speed (ohhhh... what a
car!). The new car has the free maintenance program. I know the people at my
dealership very and I asked the parts guy what oil is used. He told me that
they CURRENTLY use BMW 5W-30 synthetic and as soon as their stock ran out
they would start using the BMW 5W-40 "Longlife" synthetic. The new oil is
being released in conjunction with '99 3 series and their supposed 16K mile
oil change interval (I test drove a new 328 and the maintenance reminder
actually tells you the number of miles until the next change. The car I
drove said 15,000+ miles!).

Well - I guess I am old fashioned but I simply could not bring myself to
wait 16K miles between oil changes! I plan to do my regular changes at 1,200
miles and then every 3,000 miles. I will do the oil changes myself and have
the dealership do all of the other items in the maintenance plan.

My questions are (finally!):

1) Does anyone know what brand of oil BMW uses? They have to be OEMing it
from somebody.
2) I have used Mobil 1 15W-50 on all of my BMWs in the past. But, based on
the owner's manual, I plan to switch to Mobil 1 10W-30. If I could get the
same oil that BMW uses I would have them change it as part of the
maintenance plan and then only do the in between changes myself. They want
$5 a quart for the "longlife" oil and the 540 takes 8 quarts. Any comments?
3) What size is the "nut" on the top of the 540i oil filter? It looks like
it is between 32mm and 35mm.

Thanks in advance.

Dick DeVillers

P.S. This digest is great! I can't believe the topics that are discussed. My
only problem is going through it all - I get 6 or 7 postings a day.

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