Just had my TD6 serviced at Main Dealer in Ashford, Kent.

They have put 5w 30 Magnetec in the engine at £10.99 / litre!!!!

I would have expected, and did expect, that they would have put a 0w30 Fully synthetic in the engine, especially as BMW have issued a directive that all theit engines, apart from M tech, should only have 0w 30 oil in them.

So, my question, Seeing as these cars have intelligent servicing intervals of at least 10k miles do you use fully or semi synthetic in your engine?

I have taken this up with the group principle of the Dealership as their servicing team don't seem to want to answer my query on both price and oil choice!

I told him that I am extremely dubious of letting them have the TDV8 in for servicing! 08 model TDV8 Vogue SE Rimini Red/ parchment. 04 TD6 Vogue Oslo Blue / parchment
99 Model 2.5 DSE Rioja Red / lightstone
97 BMW M3 Evo Convertible
plus a few more!

I have mine serviced at a main dealers and they use Shell Helix fully synthetic 5W40 . Mind you I have had it for four years and in that time the have failed to demonstrate any real stupidity .  2008 MY Supercharged
Rimini Red / Jet
four zone climate
remote park heater
and no ugly kid windows.
magnus satis quod turpis satis

5W-40 Magnatec in mine. They are an old engine designed many years ago and don't require fully synthetic oil of up to the minute modern engines

*

Hi interesting point you make

But BMW have issued a directive to all their dealers that these engines, and others, must be run with 0w30.

My 5 series runs on 0w30 fully synthetic and has never used a drop.

I just feel semi synthetic over that period of time is not good for the anti wear factor personally. 08 model TDV8 Vogue SE Rimini Red/ parchment. 04 TD6 Vogue Oslo Blue / parchment
99 Model 2.5 DSE Rioja Red / lightstone
97 BMW M3 Evo Convertible
plus a few more!

When the BMW engine was designed fully synthetic oil was not common place.

I had a Mercedes that I bought new in 1999 and kept for 11 years, the oil was changed every 15000 miles always Magnatec and it clocked up 200,000 miles before I sold it. The new owner has now had it for 2 years and still changing the oil every 15k and clocked up another 35k miles and never a problem.

Even doing my last service myself i spent about £90 on the "correct" 5w 30 Magnetec, Costco do a Castrol Magnetec full synthetic but not 5w 30, its about £30 cheaper so whatever it is im using it next time. 2004 black Vogue TD6

From the Owners Handbook '02 model

Engine oil - Diesel vehicles
Use a 5W/30, 5W/40, 5W/50 or 10W/40 oil meeting specification ACEA:A3 and B3 and having a viscosity band recommended for the temprature range in your locality

NOTE: Use only fully synthetic oil

Engine oil temperature ranges
0W/30 will protect from -30oC to 35oC.
0W/40 will protect from -30oC to 50oC.
5W/30 will protect from -30oC to 35oC.
5W/40 will protect from -30oC to 50oC.
5W/50 will protect from -30oC to 50oC.
10W/40will protect from -10oC to 50oC.

But...from the slightly later handbook (USA spec I think)

Engine oil
Use a 0W/30, 0W/40, 5W/30 or 5W/40 oil meeting API service level SJ/CD, EC11 and having a
viscosity band recommended for the temperature range of your locality.

NOTE: Use only synthetic oils.

Engine oil temperature ranges
0W/30 will protect from -22oF (-30oC) to 95oF (35oC).
0W/40 will protect from -22oF (-30oC) to 122oF (50oC).
5W/30 will protect from -22oF (-30oC) to 95oF (35oC).
5W/40 will protect from -22oF (-30oC) to 122oF (50oC).

 .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
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Last edited by Joe90 on 25th Oct 2011 9:43pm. Edited 2 times in total

Im looking at getting these for mine,

Oil

Service Kit

Oil Catcher

So im total i reckon its going to be about £180 for a service, BUT the oil will do another service and have 2 litres spare, and have the oil catcher for next time so the next service will cost me a total of £40

So
1st Service £180
2nd Service £40

So within 20k miles the car will cost £220 in NORMAL services(its a range rover it will break!)

Not bad for £110 for a full service because god knows how much a normal garage never mind a dealer would charge!

Well if you dont tow or do any hard work on your TD6 then the 0w30 should do, but I tow upto 2tonnes with kit in the car as well a lot so ill stick with the 5w40 me thinks

Cheers Joe90, normally OilMan does posts like that IME :p

basically then any good fully synthetic oil will do, whatever is the cheapest at the time. Can't remember what costco was doing but it was castrol full symthetic for diesels, about £28 for 4 litres.

king pleb, just put a 99p bucket under in off road mode.

Do you guys all go by the computer, my last service was about 14 months ago but still have 6k left according to the computer. 2004 black Vogue TD6

Well i do either milage or age, so every 12months or 15k i'll do mine but need to do it soon anywy and the gearbox.

the bucket method is a good idea though

I use an old wash basin (lower in height than a bucket)

A tip for you all. Keep an eye on the bargain web sites where the offers are mailed out to you daily. I got the heads up on an offer at Tesco on the Castrol oil for the TDV8 and it's also good for the Jag 3.0 TDV6 in Wifey's XF. Main dealers charge £12 a litre for this stuff and I got 2 litre packs at Tesco for £6.50. Needless to say I bought a stack of them, about enough to do 2 oil changes on both cars.

Register at places like Quidco etc (there are a lot of others) and make sure you get an email every day. You can save loads

Seeing as fully synthetic oils are supposed to give almost zero wear and doesn't break down under heat or long use (Being "synthetic") I think it really should be the obvious choice whether towing or not?

BMW X5's which has the same lump in 3 ltr diesel guise is Castrol Edge 0W30 from BMW or and compatible 0w30 oil.

Possibly a can of worms opening here!

But I would think for longevity reasons the Synthetic route must be the obvious route?

I'm going to dig deeper into this one!  08 model TDV8 Vogue SE Rimini Red/ parchment. 04 TD6 Vogue Oslo Blue / parchment
99 Model 2.5 DSE Rioja Red / lightstone
97 BMW M3 Evo Convertible
plus a few more!

Just had an email from the dealer.

5w30 Magnetec professional is indeed fully synthetic they tell me!

So it appears the old synthetic technology has become synthetic oil.

No worries, it can stay in the engine!

They still haven't told me why it's £10.99 a litre from them for less than £6 / litre retail!

We'll see

However, got this from Castrol's web site



Edge 5W-40

LAND ROVER incl. RANGE ROVER

Range Rover Td6 3.0 Turbo Diesel DT
2002 - 2004

Engine (DT) Edge 5W-40 (e) 8.8 Magnatec 5W-40 C3
alternative Edge 0W-40 A3/B4; B3S 0W-40 08 model TDV8 Vogue SE Rimini Red/ parchment. 04 TD6 Vogue Oslo Blue / parchment
99 Model 2.5 DSE Rioja Red / lightstone
97 BMW M3 Evo Convertible
plus a few more!