Low Oil, Handy Manual - 2015 BMW M235i Convertible Long-Term Road Test


Our 2015 BMW M235i lets you know its low on oil, then offers a few suggestions on what to do about it.
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Our 2015 BMW M235i lets you know its low on oil, then offers a few suggestions on what to do about it.
Comments
You don't need BMW's oil, but you do need to meet their specifications and every product on the parts store shelf doesn't do that. In fact, if you see GM's dexos label on the front of the bottle that means it would be the wrong choice no matter what is stated on the back of the bottle.
(Did you see the dexos reference above?)
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Any oil that is approved for the GM dexos specification DOES NOT meet the European specifications. Any oil approved for the European specifications likewise DOES NOT meet the GM dexos (and Ford, etc.) specifications.
Lets simplify this. ACEA A1/B1 and ACEA A5/B5 are the low HTHS specification products that meet the North American and Asian vehicle specifications. ACEA A3/B3, ACEA A3/B4 are high HTHS specification products and meet the European specifications. Those two groups are completely different with GM's dexos in the A1/B1, A5/B5 and BMW's LL-01 in the A3/B3. Consumers don't need to choose OEM brands, but they must still choose products that meet their vehicle's specs.
Magnusson Moss does not make it OK for a consumer to use products that don't meet their vehicle specifications and every effort should be made to help the consumers choose correctly. An example would be where a product is licensed as approved for the dexos specification and has the certification label on the front of the bottle correctly, but the on the back of the bottle makes statements like "recommended for ACEA A3/B3" and BMW LL-01. That is a misleading claim by that oil company because the two specs are completely different, one product cannot meet both specifications. This has noting to do with a vehicle manufacturers brand and you have been shown that a number of times. The repeated attempts to blur the line between specifications and brands fails to serve the readers and consumers alike. It doesn't sit well to allow some oil companies to misrepresent some of their products to the consumers.
Going back to the article:
"And if none of these are available, "up to 1 US quart/liter of an oil with the following specification can be added: SAE 0W-40, SAE0W-30, SAE 5W-40 or SAE 5W-30."
So, non-spec oil is bad unless you are topping up, in which case anything is okay. Uh-huh.