Hi All,

As my cars warranty has expired I will be doing oil changes myself and I am just curious what brand oil everyone is using?

I have used liqui moly before and thinking of doing that but also Amsoil or Pennzoil seem to be showing up as currently one of the better oils to run. Specially Amsoil has higher base oil and additive content.

Will be running factory recommendation 0W-20.

mhd stage 2

For X3 pre-2022(?) I'd strongly recommend BMW LL-04 5W-30. Cross check with service PDFs somewhere on this forum.
5W-40 is possible, but double check "LL" norm your engine needs to comply with and (if) there's any such oil that indeed does.

I have been doing some research but nothing super concrete.

LCI requires 0W-20 factory and from some testing I have seen online 0W-20 and 5W-30 are pretty close in performance but in the end all tests say "Use manufacturer recommendations."

Anyway, my question is more of what brand do you use? Liqui Moly seems to still be ok but it looks like other brands are providing better performance/protection like Amsoil and Pennzoil.

I’m using Motul xcess 5w40. This oil seems to fair pretty well when running ethanol mixes compared the the 0w-30 shell oil I used before.


There was a previous thread on the F30 forums discussing this a bit more in detail if any one wants to check it out. Kevin goes over some pros and cons. Very good video!

How to Pick the right Oil for your B58 Engine

deviation01 wrote

I have been doing some research but nothing super concrete.

LCI requires 0W-20 factory and from some testing I have seen online 0W-20 and 5W-30 are pretty close in performance but in the end all tests say "Use manufacturer recommendations."

Anyway, my question is more of what brand do you use? Liqui Moly seems to still be ok but it looks like other brands are providing better performance/protection like Amsoil and Pennzoil.

See post #10199
https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1481074&page=464

Mobil 1 5w30 ESP, it's cheap, readily available and always the number 1 recommendation on BITOG.

ContactPatch wrote

See post #10199
https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1481074&page=464

Mobil 1 5w30 ESP, it's cheap, readily available and always the number 1 recommendation on BITOG.

The post number reflects something about Alpina can you check the nr?

I am looking at many tests and Mobil is performing very poorly vs the competition.

Project Farm had a competition of major synthetic 5W-30 oils. (I still plan to use 0W-20 as the factory for now and then once I up the HW switch to 5W-30.)

Mobile I was out pretty early but it looks like it was better than Quaker, Valvoline, Lucas, Super Tech and Red line.

Lake Speed, Jr., the Motor Oil Geek on Youtube and lubrication specialist/tribologist at Joe Gibbs racing back in the day, recommends an API SP (or the new SQ) rated oil for direct injection engines. The key is a lower calcium content. Higher calcium concentrations can cause low speed pre ignition. LSPI will absolutely destroy your engine as it happens in the ring lands and blows the living hell out of them. Dave's Auto youtube had an Audi in that lost its engine to LSPI and it was horrific to see what the piston that failed looked like.

So, run what you want but get something that's API-SP or better (SQ) rated.

I personally switched to Mobil 1 Euro 0w-40 (making sure it was the SP version not the previous version). Happy with the results.

admranger wrote

Lake Speed, Jr., the Motor Oil Geek on Youtube and lubrication specialist/tribologist at Joe Gibbs racing back in the day, recommends an API SP (or the new SQ) rated oil for direct injection engines. The key is a lower calcium content. Higher calcium concentrations can cause low speed pre ignition. LSPI will absolutely destroy your engine as it happens in the ring lands and blows the living hell out of them. Dave's Auto youtube had an Audi in that lost its engine to LSPI and it was horrific to see what the piston that failed looked like.

So, run what you want but get something that's API-SP or better (SQ) rated.

I personally switched to Mobil 1 Euro 0w-40 (making sure it was the SP version not the previous version). Happy with the results.

Thank you for sharing that detail! So from my search API SP oils are :


Mobil 1

Lucas oil

LiquiMoly Top Tec 6100

Motul 8100 ECO-CLEAN

Redline High Performance Full Synthetic

Can’t find any sq rated

deviation01 wrote

Thank you for sharing that detail! So from my search API SP oils are :


Mobil 1

Lucas oil

LiquiMoly Top Tec 6100

Motul 8100 ECO-CLEAN

Redline High Performance Full Synthetic

Can’t find any sq rated

SQ is a future spec. I wanted to put it out there in case anyone searched in the future.

Beemertechnik wrote

I’m using Motul xcess 5w40. This oil seems to fair pretty well when running ethanol mixes compared the the 0w-30 shell oil I used before.


There was a previous thread on the F30 forums discussing this a bit more in detail if any one wants to check it out. Kevin goes over some pros and cons. Very good video!

How to Pick the right Oil for your B58 Engine

I just switched to this and so far so good. My DS25 is also way quieter now.

admranger and Beemertechnik Thank you guys for the feedback. I guess I will stick to what know best Liqui Moly.

Liqui Moly TopTech 6600 0-20 for our rig. German oil with an long history in a German car seems right. Cheers

I've been sending used oil to the lab for analysis for several years now. For my cars, environment, driving style and stock tune, all LL* oil results are too close to objectively prefer one over the others. Although I have to say Motul trails the pack wrt to TBN and flashpoint values. Merely basing it off of the data point I have, not taking any point against Motul. If the price is to be considered, I'll probably stick with either Castrol or Valvoline LL04.

Probably 100+ "oil threads" on this site......seriously?!?! IF you need to know what oil to use you probably shouldn't be driving...LOL..LOL....do a search!

deviation01 wrote

Hi All,

As my cars warranty has expired I will be doing oil changes myself and I am just curious what brand oil everyone is using?

I have used liqui moly before and thinking of doing that but also Amsoil or Pennzoil seem to be showing up as currently one of the better oils to run. Specially Amsoil has higher base oil and additive content.

Will be running factory recommendation 0W-20.

In a hot climate I would never run a 0W20 Oil. 5W40 is far better as you don't need the cold viscosity of a 0W oil but would benefit from the better temperature stability of the 40 oil.

I allways used 5W40 oils in our M240iX and also in my Audi RS3 and engine runs smoother and consumes less oil compared to the longlife 0W30 or thin 0W20 oils.

0W20 oil is for fuel consumption optimisation only and not what I would use on a performance engine.

MOTUL 8100 X-clean gen2 5W-40 is a good quality LL04 oil.

But as far as I know US cars don't come with the OPF you are free to run a LL01 oil, which usually has better cleaning properties. So is this still the case with the LCI that US cars come without an OPF?

If so, the above mentioned MOTUL 8100 X-CESS GEN2 5W-40 or Liqui Molly Hightech 5W40 would be fine.

rob175 wrote

Probably 100+ "oil threads" on this site......seriously?!?! IF you need to know what oil to use you probably shouldn't be driving...LOL..LOL....do a search!

Thank you for the great contribution to this thread while missing the point of the question.

Ravenous666 wrote

In a hot climate I would never run a 0W20 Oil. 5W40 is far better as you don't need the cold viscosity of a 0W oil but would benefit from the better temperature stability of the 40 oil.

I allways used 5W40 oils in our M240iX and also in my Audi RS3 and engine runs smoother and consumes less oil compared to the longlife 0W30 or thin 0W20 oils.

0W20 oil is for fuel consumption optimisation only and not what I would use on a performance engine.

MOTUL 8100 X-clean gen2 5W-40 is a good quality LL04 oil.

But as far as I know US cars don't come with the OPF you are free to run a LL01 oil, which usually has better cleaning properties. So is this still the case with the LCI that US cars come without an OPF?

My understanding is that OPF was for the European market so pretty sure the US does not have one and I cant find any indication online that they do.

I really appreciate your point, based on a lot of digging and seeing what people are posting 5W-30 or 5W-40 seems to be a sweet spot.

Now only to decide between Liqui Moly or Motul.

Ok, as I'm in Germany we don't have a choice anymore as all new cars in Europe are comming with OPFs.

Our M240iX and RS3 where 2016 models without an OPF so we ran them both with LL01 5W40 oils. Also my BMW dealership put the 5W40 in the M240iX during service on my request. Both cars where flawless, never consumed oil and the RS3 was treated as intendet with Autobahn runs up to 190mph so it got very hot. The car is still with a frind of mine and runs perfectly.

So I would go for the LL01 5W40

deviation01 wrote

Hi All,

As my cars warranty has expired I will be doing oil changes myself and I am just curious what brand oil everyone is using?

I have used liqui moly before and thinking of doing that but also Amsoil or Pennzoil seem to be showing up as currently one of the better oils to run. Specially Amsoil has higher base oil and additive content.

Will be running factory recommendation 0W-20.

Always use amsoil 0w30 in my x3m

x3mdustin wrote

Always use amsoil 0w30 in my x3m

I was going to run Amsoil too but it does not specify API SP on it.

deviation01 wrote

I was going to run Amsoil too but it does not specify API SP on it.

Boutique oils don't test to API due to cost. You could call them and see how many PPM of calcium they have in that spec (or ask for a low calcium oil). Would be good info to have.

I'm changing ours at 6k.