Ive been trying to weed through 902 opinions on oil for my cooper s with 93k on the clock. From what I gather this is probably the best place to get an answer. What oil would you run? I live in socal and I have heard everything from amsoil to royal purple. Is it cool to run 10-40 or 15-40 since the mileage is getting up there?

Thank you all for the help

 

93k is not that much on a modern engine that has been maintained. Use 5W-30 oil only.

I use Amsoil.

 

The main problem with a 10wt base is the oil is to thick to flow fast enough to remove head properly.

Not going to get into super detail but for your climate, 5w40 is the highest i would go and then with 5w30 in "winter" months.

Make sure it isn't for Diesel.

Mobil1, Amsoil, Castrol Syntec and Edge, Royal Purple... all GREAT! (many others too like motul and elf)

Coming from racing in Phoenix for 5 years... i may know a little about heat and oil. :-)

 

Redline oil is one of the few that are rated as a Group V oil. The others listed in previous posts are Group IV oils. I use 5W30.

 

Group IV or V..........not much of a difference for most of us.

As long as you maintain a respectable oil change interval, any of the synthetics will perform as needed. If you have any concerns about a particular oil, consider doing an oil analysis on the oil before doing a change.

 

That may be true, but for those who want the best, go with a Group V oil.

 

So who says that group v IS the best? I can't see spending twice the cost for a product that will not perform any better for me, and this is from personal experience with both and several years of oil analysis.

 

Oils are rated for a reason. Group V is superior. That is not to say that Group IV oils are not good. I also have many years of experience using both IV and V oils and for me, the Group V has, with oil analysis, proven to be better. Better by a lot... no... but the analysis reports have consistently shown better results.

Actually, for those who drive under non severe conditions, and change oil every 3-4K miles can use cheaper grade III oils.

 

Wow. Just use what Mini recommends. Oil related failures (except for running out of oil) are almost unheard of with modern synthetic oils and modern engines. I don't care if you have 300,000 on the clock.

It's just a fact.

 

In later gen1 mini's mini said 5w-40 was fine....this means most "euro" oils that also happen to be mini longlife approved would be fine..


I would stay away from 10w oils...the passages+ clearances in a modern motor are too tight, and they shoould not br used...that is why the 10w oils have not been on a manfactures list of oils in quite a few years....
And 5w-40 is fine for most any miles...heck it was recommened in new motors in later mini books and bmw's......

 

Truth. Things like Nikasil and similar cylinder coatings from the factory have made a world of difference in engine longevity. I've seen 100k+ engines that not only didn't have any noticeable ring ridges on the cylinder wall, but you could still see the factory honing marks on the cylinder walls!

It's hard to believe that 40 or 50 years ago, it wasn't uncommon to expect to have to rebuild an engine at 75k miles.