Oil Question

[begeta50]

Can someone tell me how many quarts of oil should I use in my e34?
Thanks.

[///Sniper535]

I assume you are talking about your '89 525i...

Capacity

525i M20: 4.25 liters (5.0 US qt.)
525i M50 / 535i: 5.75 liters (6.1 US qt.)
530i / 540i: 7.50 liters (8.0 US qt.)


http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/maintenance/gen_maintenance/oil_service.htm

[winfred]

m20 should take 5, m30 6, m50 6 or 7 depending on oil pan, m60 7 or 8 depending on pan, it's generally not a bad practice till you learn for sure to go one quart shy and start/run it for a few minutes, kill and let sit for a minute or two and check, one quart overfilled however won't really hurt anything if you **** up

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

Been some interesting threads on other forums about oil content in modern oils.Worth investigating Y`all,the moral seems to be, use Rotella or diesel oil as it has an additive deleted in cheap modern stuff.

[Paul in NZ]

Been some interesting threads on other forums about oil content in modern oils.Worth investigating Y`all,the moral seems to be, use Rotella or diesel oil as it has an additive deleted in cheap modern stuff.
dont buy cheap modern stuff then.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

I should have said,"normal modern oil"! I think its some sort of zinc additive,but important.

[winfred]

delo 15w40 had quieted down the valve train in every m20/m30 i've put it in, from 200+k mile engines to 10k mile total rebuilds i've done myself, it's good **** :D

[Bin_jammin]

one quart overfilled however won't really hurt anything if you **** up

Actually, you're kinda wrong. Having slightly less oil in an engine is better than having too much. What happens when you have too much oil is that it can be battered by the crankshaft. When this happens it turns the oil into a foam and the foam ends up getting sucked into the oil pump. Since foam is mostly air, you end up starving your engine for oil, even though you've got more than enough oil in it. I don't know the sump specifics of every bmw engine, but I wouldn't want to risk having too much oil in mine.

[winfred]

unless you are rock climbing a quart is still in the safe area of the design of the average engine, i understand windage and airation, i just did a 95 525 the other day that had slightly over 9 quarts in it, now that's too much :D


Actually, you're kinda wrong. Having slightly less oil in an engine is better than having too much. What happens when you have too much oil is that it can be battered by the crankshaft. When this happens it turns the oil into a foam and the foam ends up getting sucked into the oil pump. Since foam is mostly air, you end up starving your engine for oil, even though you've got more than enough oil in it. I don't know the sump specifics of every bmw engine, but I wouldn't want to risk having too much oil in mine.