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      06-28-2019, 01:23 AM   #1
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Post Castrol 0w40 is it still safe to use?

Since I gotten my car I have always used Castrols edge 0w40 Euro edition from walmart. Today I went to walmart and notice that the euro edition no longer has bmw LL-01 approval, but then notice a new gallon with 5w40 that meets that requirement. Then i went to autozone on which they still had the 0w-40 with bmw approval. Which one should I use? I just like that the 0w40 says its made in europe and 5w40 on the states.
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      06-28-2019, 07:46 AM   #2
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It no longer has the LL-01 approval because Castrol is no longer paying BMW a royalty to use it. LL-01 isn't an oil industry standard, it's a BMW trademark. If your engine didn't spontaneously self-destruct from using Castrol Edge 0w-40 in the past it won't now either.
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      06-29-2019, 08:06 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurboJobo View Post
Since I gotten my car I have always used Castrols edge 0w40 Euro edition from walmart. Today I went to walmart and notice that the euro edition no longer has bmw LL-01 approval, but then notice a new gallon with 5w40 that meets that requirement. Then i went to autozone on which they still had the 0w-40 with bmw approval. Which one should I use? I just like that the 0w40 says its made in europe and 5w40 on the states.
LL01 is a dead cert from a marketing perspective. Castrol, and M1 btw, just opted not to have the 0w40 re-certified.

Iirc the 0w40 still has Porsche's A40 and Benz 229.5 certs. That's something in itself.

You could run a LL04, LL01FE (BMW only oil in US).

Of course ordering online is always an option.
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      07-07-2019, 01:18 AM   #4
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Castrol European 0w-40 still BMW LL-01 approved (purchase from Amazon 3 weeks ago made in Belgium).
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      07-16-2019, 11:26 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
LL01 is a dead cert from a marketing perspective. Castrol, and M1 btw, just opted not to have the 0w40 re-certified.

Iirc the 0w40 still has Porsche's A40 and Benz 229.5 certs. That's something in itself.

You could run a LL04, LL01FE (BMW only oil in US).

Of course ordering online is always an option.
LL-04 does NOT supersede LL-01. LL-04 shouldn't be used in American cars. It's only meant for diesels or European gasoline cars because of the sulfur content of the gasoline. For gasoline engines, you should stick to LL-01/FE and LL14FE+. The FE oils are for fuel economy and are super thin so I prefer just to use LL-01 (non FE).

I live in a warmer climate so I use Castrol A3/B4 0W-40 which still has the LL-01 certification. (just bought a 5qt. bottle of the stuff last week).
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      07-19-2019, 11:13 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfitz View Post
If your engine didn't spontaneously self-destruct from using Castrol Edge 0w-40 in the past it won't now either.
This....

I used this for almost 60K miles total in my 228i and had great Blackstone reports. I used it from about 46K-100K miles. I will be going back to it in the next 15K miles. I'm using T6 5W-40 because my car wasn't really cared for very well by the previous owner and the extra detergents will help flush things out. Then it's back to what works in my experience.
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      07-20-2019, 01:10 PM   #7
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FWIW: The latest jugs I just got off Amazon still have the LL-01(BMW) listing on the back, maybe that's why they were on sale...
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      07-20-2019, 02:56 PM   #8
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Just make sure you check the expiration date...
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      07-30-2019, 09:49 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
LL01 is a dead cert from a marketing perspective. Castrol, and M1 btw, just opted not to have the 0w40 re-certified.

Iirc the 0w40 still has Porsche's A40 and Benz 229.5 certs. That's something in itself.

You could run a LL04, LL01FE (BMW only oil in US).

Of course ordering online is always an option.
LL-04 does NOT supersede LL-01. LL-04 shouldn't be used in American cars. It's only meant for diesels or European gasoline cars because of the sulfur content of the gasoline. For gasoline engines, you should stick to LL-01/FE and LL14FE+. The FE oils are for fuel economy and are super thin so I prefer just to use LL-01 (non FE).

I live in a warmer climate so I use Castrol A3/B4 0W-40 which still has the LL-01 certification. (just bought a 5qt. bottle of the stuff last week).
Actually LL04 is OK because the US now has ULSG.

BMW hasn't said anything because they moved the US fleet to oils which have a HTHS of 3.0 or less (LL01FE, LL12FE, etc). IIRC I heard there might be an announcement in the next couple of months.
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      07-30-2019, 10:02 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
LL01 is a dead cert from a marketing perspective. Castrol, and M1 btw, just opted not to have the 0w40 re-certified.

Iirc the 0w40 still has Porsche's A40 and Benz 229.5 certs. That's something in itself.

You could run a LL04, LL01FE (BMW only oil in US).

Of course ordering online is always an option.
LL-04 does NOT supersede LL-01. LL-04 shouldn't be used in American cars. It's only meant for diesels or European gasoline cars because of the sulfur content of the gasoline. For gasoline engines, you should stick to LL-01/FE and LL14FE+. The FE oils are for fuel economy and are super thin so I prefer just to use LL-01 (non FE).

I live in a warmer climate so I use Castrol A3/B4 0W-40 which still has the LL-01 certification. (just bought a 5qt. bottle of the stuff last week).
Actually LL04 is OK because the US now has ULSG.

BMW hasn't said anything because they moved the US fleet to oils which have a HTHS of 3.0 or less (LL01FE, LL12FE, etc). IIRC I heard there might be an announcement in the next couple of months.
In addition to sulfur, I believe our high ethanol content is not suitable for use with LL04. I wouldn't recommend any American car use LL04 when LL01 is the only one certified for use by BMW. There's absolutely no point.
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      07-30-2019, 10:21 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
LL01 is a dead cert from a marketing perspective. Castrol, and M1 btw, just opted not to have the 0w40 re-certified.

Iirc the 0w40 still has Porsche's A40 and Benz 229.5 certs. That's something in itself.

You could run a LL04, LL01FE (BMW only oil in US).

Of course ordering online is always an option.
LL-04 does NOT supersede LL-01. LL-04 shouldn't be used in American cars. It's only meant for diesels or European gasoline cars because of the sulfur content of the gasoline. For gasoline engines, you should stick to LL-01/FE and LL14FE+. The FE oils are for fuel economy and are super thin so I prefer just to use LL-01 (non FE).

I live in a warmer climate so I use Castrol A3/B4 0W-40 which still has the LL-01 certification. (just bought a 5qt. bottle of the stuff last week).
Actually LL04 is OK because the US now has ULSG.

BMW hasn't said anything because they moved the US fleet to oils which have a HTHS of 3.0 or less (LL01FE, LL12FE, etc). IIRC I heard there might be an announcement in the next couple of months.
In addition to sulfur, I believe our high ethanol content is not suitable for use with LL04. I wouldn't recommend any American car use LL04 when LL01 is the only one certified for use by BMW. There's absolutely no point.
Western Europe has used ethanol in gas for some time.

LL04 performs the exact same as LL01, it just has a different addpack which is designed for use with ULSG. LL01FE was replaced by LL12FE. LL12FE is essentially LL01FE which is formulated for ULSG.

Here's a list of suitable oils for every engine type.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...l-note/1PSryV8

LL01 is going away.
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      07-30-2019, 01:20 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
Western Europe has used ethanol in gas for some time.

LL04 performs the exact same as LL01, it just has a different addpack which is designed for use with ULSG. LL01FE was replaced by LL12FE. LL12FE is essentially LL01FE which is formulated for ULSG.

Here's a list of suitable oils for every engine type.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...l-note/1PSryV8

LL01 is going away.
That may very well be, but this is what that TIS article states:

Quote:
For petrol engines without petrol particulate filter, BMW Longlife-04 engine oils are only approved for the European region including Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
What would be the point in using an LL-04 oil with that kind of warning if there are a plethora of LL-01 oils still available to purchase?

This is the blurb about LL-12FE:

Quote:
For BMW Group petrol engines without petrol particulate filter from model year 2002, BMW Longlife-12 FE engine oil is only approved for the European region including Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
We should only use LL-01/FE. And I prefer LL-01 while we still can since FE is just a thinner oil for efficiency.
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      07-31-2019, 11:35 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by F32Fleet View Post
Western Europe has used ethanol in gas for some time.

LL04 performs the exact same as LL01, it just has a different addpack which is designed for use with ULSG. LL01FE was replaced by LL12FE. LL12FE is essentially LL01FE which is formulated for ULSG.

Here's a list of suitable oils for every engine type.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...l-note/1PSryV8

LL01 is going away.
That may very well be, but this is what that TIS article states:

Quote:
For petrol engines without petrol particulate filter, BMW Longlife-04 engine oils are only approved for the European region including Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
What would be the point in using an LL-04 oil with that kind of warning if there are a plethora of LL-01 oils still available to purchase?

This is the blurb about LL-12FE:

Quote:
For BMW Group petrol engines without petrol particulate filter from model year 2002, BMW Longlife-12 FE engine oil is only approved for the European region including Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
We should only use LL-01/FE. And I prefer LL-01 while we still can since FE is just a thinner oil for efficiency.
LL04 came out in the last decade when ULSG/ULSD became a requirement in the EU. LL12FE is to LL04 what LL01FE is to LL01.

The US didn't mandate ULSG until January 2018.

LL04 like LL01 has a min HTHS of 3.5. BMW moved away from this HTHS for the US market via LL01FE (HTHS 3.0). LL04 is fine as an option. IMO BMW didn't see a point of making LL04 official because they really want their US fleet to use the FE oils due to having less engine issues under US operating conditions.

As I said earlier, I've been told there might be an announcement later this year.
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      08-01-2019, 10:30 AM   #14
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North America has same sulfur spec in gasoline as Europe now. There's no reason you can't use LL-04 oils as it supersedes LL-01.
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