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E46 M3 manual transmission oil

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Stephen56 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stephen56 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: E46 M3 manual transmission oil
    Posted: 10 Jun 2010 at 11:58am

My E46 M3 has only covered 26,000 miles since I purchased it new in 2004. My journeys are relatively short, but I'm rarely stuck in traffic and they do include motorways.

The transmission oil isn't due to be changed until the Inspection 2 Service. As this isn't going to be for some time, I'm considering carrying out an oil change before then.

Should I keep with the BMW oil, or would one of the following be a better option? Both were recommended by Opie Oils.
  • FUCHS Titan Sintofluid SAE 75w-80 Synthetic manual transmission fluid
  • REDLINE Synthetic MT Lubricant 70w-80 GL4


Edited by Crazy Horse - 10 Jun 2010 at 12:00pm
My current car is a E46 M3 Coupe - Estoril Blue, manual
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ian barford View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ian barford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jun 2010 at 8:51pm
what does bmw recommend?
i'm sure it will probably be a castrol product.
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Stephen56 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stephen56 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jun 2010 at 8:55pm
I'm not sure, but the BMW specialist I use between services could only get £80 worth at a time!!!
My current car is a E46 M3 Coupe - Estoril Blue, manual
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote John Denny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2010 at 12:33pm
My advice, get it from BMW, Thats what I did and do ;0)

Edited by John Denny - 11 Jun 2010 at 12:33pm
John Denny

---------------------------

M3 CSL
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Nic Ward View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nic Ward Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2010 at 9:36pm
Only use Castrol or you will not be happy I think. Use your clubcard to get 10% off 
I was only talking to someone today about someone using Mobil oil in their M car and getting all sorts of tappety noises. They did an oil change and put in Castrol and the noises disappeared.
I bought 27 litres of Castrol 10w60 on Saturday !!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dteagles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2010 at 11:13pm
Originally posted by Nic Ward Nic Ward wrote:

Only use Castrol or you will not be happy I think. Use your clubcard to get 10% off 
I was only talking to someone today about someone using Mobil oil in their M car and getting all sorts of tappety noises. They did an oil change and put in Castrol and the noises disappeared.
I bought 27 litres of Castrol 10w60 on Saturday !!


So are you setting up as an idependent BMW servicing specialist then Nic?


Think about what you can do for the club, not what it can do for you...
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Nic Ward View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nic Ward Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jun 2010 at 7:45am
Originally posted by dteagles dteagles wrote:

Originally posted by Nic Ward Nic Ward wrote:

Only use Castrol or you will not be happy I think. Use your clubcard to get 10% off 
I was only talking to someone today about someone using Mobil oil in their M car and getting all sorts of tappety noises. They did an oil change and put in Castrol and the noises disappeared.
I bought 27 litres of Castrol 10w60 on Saturday !!


So are you setting up as an idependent BMW servicing specialist then Nic?



Haha.....yes bring your car down and I'll do an oil change !
My son-in-law works for BMW motorbikes and they had a new demo bike in which used 10w60. The bike went with 1 litre of oil in it so they had no further use for the oil. Simon didn't know that it's what I use in my car and I just wanted somewhere to drive on Saturday so thought I'd go in and order 12 litres from him anyway (he can give me a bit of discount) ....but when he realised what I wanted he found 4 x 4 litre containers of it and 11 x 1 litre container of it ....so I got it all for just over £8 a litre. A worthwhile (and very enjoyable) drive out ! I'll take the 2 x 4 litre containers with me for the next (and one after) oil change.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike Fishwick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jun 2010 at 1:18pm
After six years an oil change can only be a good thing.  BMW's claim of 'Lifetime' means the three-year new car warranty, and a couple of years for the next owner.  Do people really believe that BMW have discovered an oil which lasts for ever without degradation?  It's only oil.

'Only use Castrol or you will not be happy?' Just because BMW are currently in bed with Castrol does not mean that other makes are unsuitable, or that you will be able to tell the difference!.

The original factory fill was Fuchs Sintofluid, and many people use other makes such as Redline and Royal Purple. I have been using Amsoil MTF for a few years, and have no problems. 

If you buy 'Longlife' gear oil from a BMW dealer you must have more money than sense, some dealers refusing to supply it in less than 20 litre drums, and others demanding ridiculous prices for what is available from Opie Oils at about £30 for 2 litres.  (The ZF gearbox holds about 1.3 litres)

I would also change the final drive oil at the same time -  Castrol SAF-XJ for LSD applications is also available from Opie Oils - though the BMW faithful would doubtless prefer to pay more for it from a BMW dealer!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dteagles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jun 2010 at 1:22pm
I think that more people should be made aware that most dealerships will quite happily use the oil that you provide to them as part of a service.

If anyone knows of any that won't it would be good to know......

Think about what you can do for the club, not what it can do for you...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dteagles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jun 2010 at 1:46pm
I jut priced these two on Opie and it's just over £51 delivered, I am guessing that BMW would charge significantly more for this?

Mike - do you have a "how to" for changing gearbox and final drive oil? Might be a good one to do?

Think about what you can do for the club, not what it can do for you...
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Mike Fishwick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike Fishwick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jun 2010 at 3:27pm
Just after I bought my Z3 I asked the supplier, Ocean of Plymouth, if they would use 'my' oil, and was rewarded by a definite 'no.'

Darren - I just added a 'How To'  article on this very subject, but cannot stop it appearing in blue underlined text.  I have tried it in rtf, text only, and web page formats, but to no avail.

I never used to have this problem, using the same software, and can still copy and paste into zroadster.net without problems, so it is somethign peculiar to this forum.

How about a 'How to' for copying Word articles into the forum?


Edited by Mike Fishwick - 16 Jun 2010 at 3:52pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dteagles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jun 2010 at 4:10pm
Mike,
I'll NeRo work on an article but your problem is probably to do with embedded control characters in the word doc.

If you select save the doc as a .txt file all the control characters will be stripped out, if you then select all text and paste it into the threas it should be OK.

Regards,
Darren.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike Fishwick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jun 2010 at 9:01am
I tried saving it as a text only file, but to no avail - Neil R had the answer - to paste it via Wordpad.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dteagles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jun 2010 at 9:12am
Thanks Neil!

Think about what you can do for the club, not what it can do for you...
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Mike Fishwick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike Fishwick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jun 2010 at 11:51am
Originally posted by Nic Ward Nic Ward wrote:

Only use Castrol or you will not be happy I think. Use your clubcard to get 10% off 
I was only talking to someone today about someone using Mobil oil in their M car and getting all sorts of tappety noises. They did an oil change and put in Castrol and the noises disappeared.
I bought 27 litres of Castrol 10w60 on Saturday !!


If he was supposed to be using 10-60 and was using Mobil 1 0-40 I'm not surprised that he had all manner of odd noises!

It's not the make of oil that is important - it's the specification, but some people forget this.
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Nic Ward View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nic Ward Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jun 2010 at 8:23pm
Well Mike - I'm still at the bottom of a steep learning curve. I just listen and pick things up. Our local Indy only uses Castrol for all the cars he works on. I worry about my car so I guess I wouldn't put any other make of oil in it just in case. Very illogical I know. I treat it a bit like a baby 
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Mike Fishwick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike Fishwick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2010 at 11:24am
Yes, he probably gets a good discount by using one make of oil - but I bet that unlike BMW he  charges sensible money for it.  It's good PR too, as all his customers have heard of Castrol, and of course it carries the BMW seal of approval, which is very important to many owners.  If he used Motul, Fuchs or Valvoline etc there would be doubt in some people's minds, and he would lose a lot of work.

I don't have a particular love of any oil, so long as it is good quality and not too expensive.

My point was that there is not point in keeping a worn-out oil in the gearbox etc just because it is 'Approved' by BMW - any oil is better than old oil, and there are plenty of good alternatives.


Edited by Mike Fishwick - 18 Jun 2010 at 3:31pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GrahamA Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jan 2019 at 7:44pm
The last response was 2010.

What is the 2018 view on which is best oil to use?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ant Man Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2019 at 10:56am
As per Opie Oils, Millers (UK company) are very much at the cutting edge and Castrol have fallen behind. I run Millers' motorsport oil in my M3. For the manual gearbox I would go for Millers or Fuchs Titan Sintofluid. The Sintofluid in my previous M3 eliminated the initial 1st to 2nd gear notchiness that was always present with the Castrol oil.

As Mike said. The make is not important. It is the specification (read the data sheet) that is. If said oil is also being used in a motorsport capacity and has proven to be reliable - that is also a major plus.

Edited by Ant Man - 04 Jul 2019 at 10:57am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote oilman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jul 2019 at 3:14pm
The Fuchs Titan Sintofluid is fine, a great choice. A really high quality product that is well proven in the E46 M3 box.

The Castrol aftermarket oil would be the Castrol Syntrans B 75w, again a good choice https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-69413-castrol-syntrans-b-75w-fully-synthetic-car-gearbox-oil-bmw.aspx

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oilman's website: http://www.opieoils.co.uk/
email:sales@opieoils.co.uk
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