What oil should I buy?

Belenus

BMW 116i Series1 F20. New Feb 2015. 7.5 years old. 30,500 miles. Petrol manual.

It does mainly short journeys of a few miles only with the occasional longer journey. We now do about 4,000 miles per year. We plan to keep the car indefinitely.

For the first 5 years it was serviced by BMW and the last oil service was done by a trusted local Independent.

I have never before had to top up the oil and I am baffled by the huge range of brands and types on the market. The level is now towards the bottom of the range on the dip stick. I need 3/4 litre to bring it back to the maximum.

The manual recommends BMW Longlife 01, 01-FE or 04 or any oil meeting ACEA A3/B4. The manual recommends Castrol.

Should I buy a recognised brand such as Castrol or will any brand meeting that specification suffice?

Should it be 5W-50 10W-50 or something else? I live in West Sussex if that makes a difference. Edit. Having checked again the manual suggests 0W-40, 0W-30, 5W-40 5W-30.

Tesco sell that spec of oil but I am not familiar with the brand. Should I avoid cheap supermarket oil? Where is the best place to buy oil?

Advice and suggestions welcome please.

400ixl

The service invoice from the independent should tell you what they used, if not ask them as that is what you want to be matching if topping up.

If you can't get the info as to what was used then the likely most suitable in the UK would be BMW Longlife 04 (LL04) which would be 5w30. You can buy other brands but it needs to be Longlife 04 or LL04 approved. 

Bigwheels1111

Just read this.

https://www.castrol.com/en_us/united-states/home/castrol-story/newsroom/announcements/recommended-bmw-oil-supplier.html

Put your reg in here.

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home/car-engine-oil-and-fluids/motor-oil-and-fluids-finder.html/retail

The only company that makes the exact spec oil for my Peugeot is Total.
It needs ACEA C1 spec.
 PSA B71 2312, if I get oil with this spec all will be fine.

You car should a code like this PSA B71 2312, 

Castrol, Shell, Mobil, Petronas, Mannol and Halfords.
All are ok

shiraz99

Try your reg at the following site - https://www.opieoils.co.uk

Trackman

I always use these for my engine oil.
This one should be your spec.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303929441478?hash=item46c39b3cc6:g:QpEAAOSw0rddb6Op

Mr.Generous

Put your reg into eurocarparts or carparts4less and they will show suitable oils too. I buy Mannol from ebay, 4 x 5ltrs its a bargain.

Goudy

To clear up some confusion with motor oil.
There are often several specifications listed on oil and in the car's handbook.

One is a industry standard marking, like ACEA or JASO (plus whichever standard it meets, like A3, B4, C1 etc)

Another is what manufacturer standard it meets.
Fords WSS******, Fiat's 9.5****, BMW LL01 or LL04 (04 I seem to think there diesel spec, but they can cross over and can also be used in some petrols).


Then you have the grade or more likely multi grade of the oil.
0W-30, 5W-40 and so on.
Some handbooks will just list one grade, others will state a couple of grades are acceptable, usually it depends on where you are. Cold or hot climate.


So you are going to need an oil that meets ACEA A3/B4.(Not all ACEA A3/B4 will meet BMW's LL01 or LL04) 

That also meets BMW's spec of LL01 or LL01FE (FE BMW's code for High Temp Shear oil) or LL04.

Which is one of these grades 0W-40, 0W-30, 5W-40 5W-30.

You can check what grade has been used last (service receipt).
If not then I would select the mid grade oil (0W-30 or 5W-30) for topping up between services. 

shinytop

Anything that meets the specification, ignoring any brand recommendations, i.e., the bits in bold. If using BMW branded oil gives you a warm fuzzy feeling then use that. 

It's probably better to check/top up a bit more often than when it needs 3/4 litre.  That's about 25% of the total. 

The manual recommends BMW Longlife 01, 01-FE or 04 or any oil meeting ACEA A3/B4. The manual recommends Castrol.

Should it be 5W-50 10W-50 or something else? I live in West Sussex if that makes a difference. Edit. Having checked again the manual suggests 0W-40, 0W-30, 5W-40 5W-30.

Belenus

Thanks all.