Redline and engine oil

[Christian Dannert <dannert@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Two days ago I "redlined" the gearbox and final drive of my BMW. As the
stuff is not available in Germany, I had imported a few quarts of
Redline MTL (gearbox) and Redline 75W90 gear oil (diff) from the
Netherlands, where BIKE SHOP in WADDINXVEEN carries it. I paid about $16
per quart. The local BMW dealer put the oil into my car and they
especially liked the color of the stuff... pink! ;-)

Results: the differential and gearbox whine (car has 116k kilometers)
have become quieter, not louder as I expected from the thinner oil. The
gearbox feeling is much improved, as expected. I have an early BL/SS
(069 type Euro M3 lever) installed. Shifting from first to second was
nearly impossible before, as temperatures have been down to -10 degrees
centigrade in Germany recently!

The BMW dealer that did the Inspection II on my car also gave me his
thoughts about low viscosity synthetic oils in older cars. The engine of
my car had only seen 15W40 mineral oils before. At 115k kilometers the
dealer changed it to 5W40 BMW brand synthetic as part of the regular
maintenance. Of course I had to pay for it (only labour for oil change
during inspection is free in Germany). I will change back to 10W40 or
15W40 mineral oil for the summer at the next oil change.

To compare prices Europe vs. USA, the Inspection II costs were about DM
400 including labour and parts, that is about $235.

Yours,
  Christian
christian.dannert@domain.elided
  1992 E30 318i Touring M40 (BL/SS)

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