M42 Oil Change, what do you use?

[bmwman91]

I am mostly of the opinion that you should use 15W-50 or 20W-50 with the M42, as the manual says. Thinner if you live somewhere very cold, which the manual also shows. Why? The engine was designed with that intent. Sure, you might have noisy lifters with heavier oil, but that it not because the oil is "too thick", it is because your lifters are decades old and gummed up. The right way to deal with it is to rebuild the head and clean the lifters out, if you really want to nit-pick! Since that is sort of over-kill, it is probably a reasonable compromise to run the stock weight oil to keep bearings, cam lobes & rings in good shape at the expense of some ticking.

[kwill22]

True but in my case I would think if everything is worn it would tick no matter what weight is in it and it's only done it with the 15w-50.(only on cold starts for a minute or two) Plus considering I had my head apart months ago and everything checked out and replaced what wasn't, I had no wear.

[roguetoaster]

Not to go all BITOG, but has anyone with an M42 tried the old trick of running ATF in the oil to clean, and maybe reduce lifter tick?

[Balleristic31]

I used to use Mobil 1 15w 50 but then I got an amazing deal on about 10 gallons of shell rotella 5w 40 synthetic and since most of the e36 guys use it with good success on s5x engines I figured I would give it a try. About 3k into It and I burn very little and the engine runs smooth.

[kwill22]

Not to go all BITOG, but has anyone with an M42 tried the old trick of running ATF in the oil to clean, and maybe reduce lifter tick?

Heard of this but never tried it. It's be interesting to try though

[dickfitzwell]

Heard of this but never tried it. It's be interesting to try though

Care to elaborate on this gents?


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[kwill22]

Supposedly the ATF cleans out the engine like a flush. I've heard of it being done but no one with an e30.