A couple of questions for M60 530i owners

[punktunes9]

Hi,

I'm a newbie on this site but no newbie to BMWs. I bought a 1986 325es as my first car for $2500 when I was a junior in high school. Now I am a junior in college home in beautiful Boston for the summer and I got my hands on a mint 1995 530i 5spd from a private seller nearby. The car has 153,000k miles on it, but the guy I bought it from bought it new in 1995 from a dealer in Connecticut. He was a BMW guy like all of us and so I knew he took good care of it, and he did.
Only problem I've had so far was a dead battery that I replaced for 75$. He sold it to me telling me the AC didn't work (but i talked him down $500). I've got the dye test and it turns out the condenser has a big leak and the compressor has a very small one. I got a new condenser for $150 off ebay and I bought a new dryer from bavauto. I'm gettin the mechanic to put that in this week. They say the compressor leak is very small and may be so small that it will hold pressure all summer. We'll see...
I never asked him what the mileage on the oil in it was, and the gear oil for that matter. I finally have a day off this weekend, after working 70 hour weeks since I got home, and I wanna get some fluids done. I was wondering what oil everybody uses. It's never had synthetic in it, so I think I'm gonna steer clear of M1 (although i did put it in my e30). Also, I still have to check the bell housing, but what kind of tranny fluid does everybody use too?
Any other info 530i owners? I've only had the car for about a month now and am getting pretty familiar with it, but I guess I should see what everyone else thinks before I go do something stupid. I wanna get A LOT of miles out of this car seeing as thought I will be driving it on the NY state thruway 400 miles to school and back. Any suggestions are great. Thanks

-Rory
1995 530i M60 5spd

[stargazer_61]

First off, Congrats on the M60 5 speed! Continue to take good care of it and it will return the favor in kind.

There has been some debate on the board over switching from Dino to synthetic oil. Do a search, but I do not believe that switching TO syn is bad, but switching FROM is. I don't think the gaskets like it. Put M1 in it and don't scrimp on the filter - buy OEM. Search around for posts on sludge. There are pictures that should be very convincing to stick with the synthetics. Use Redline for the diff, but you need to find out whether or not it is limited slip, because the weights are different for LSD and Non-LSD. Can't help you with trans oil, as I drive an auto, which uses the very expensive Shell LA2364.

The V8s are great but can be a challenge to work on, as it is a tight fit under there.

Use the search. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here. Plenty of posts and how-tos when diagnosing problems particular to the V8.

[BillionPa]

for oil go with Redline 5W40

for trans fluid go with Redline D4 ATF

for brake fluid go with ATE Superblue

for coolant go with SAAB coolant

for power steering only use whats on the reservoir cap (probably CHF 11s)

grab some Denso iridum spark plugs too.

[Jon K]

I have to argue on several accounts here-

Redline 5w30? Why? Mobile dino 5w30 or 15w50 since its summer. No point in paying premium for regular oil.

ATE blue I agree with

SAAB Coolant? BMW OE coolant is pretty cheap. I just did a 3.0L V8 and had a ton of coolant left over - Andrew bought two bottle of BMW non-mixed.

Denso Iridium? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? They're $11 - $13 each! believe me I have tried a TON of spark plugs out on these cars. That's about $100 for 8 spark plugs from sparkplugs.com (cheapest). Screw the platinum, the iridium, the multi ground, etc... NGK Copper cores $1.89 ea are PERFECT! Bosch coppers are great too. There is NO reason to use an iridium plug. Don't bother iwth "They last so much longer!" For the $100 you'll spend on spark plugs you can change your NGK coppers 4 times, and still get longer life out of them.

[BillionPa]

the saab stuff is the bmw stuff, but its cheaper. the redline oil is high performance synthetic and has extremely high film strength but much better flow at low temp, and it contains lots of moly which lowers the engine operating friction and actually repairs damage to worn metal.

when i got my denso plugs 2 years ago they were $84 shipped for 8. they do seem to be more now at most places, but they are well worth it to me. i didnt buy them for the "long life" characteristics, but for the performance. i see cars all the time dripping fuel from the tailpipe, but mine stopped doing that after i changed the plugs. they also boost power in the lower rpm ranges, and made my M60 purr at idle after it hits operating temp (very cool sound) instead of the erratic mumbling it had before. and no i didnt change the boots.

[Jon K]

the saab stuff is the bmw stuff, but its cheaper. the redline oil is high performance synthetic and has extremely high film strength but much better flow at low temp, and it contains lots of moly which lowers the engine operating friction and actually repairs damage to worn metal.

when i got my denso plugs 2 years ago they were $84 shipped for 8. they do seem to be more now at most places, but they are well worth it to me. i didnt buy them for the "long life" characteristics, but for the performance. i see cars all the time dripping fuel from the tailpipe, but mine stopped doing that after i changed the plugs. they also boost power in the lower rpm ranges, and made my M60 purr at idle after it hits operating temp (very cool sound) instead of the erratic mumbling it had before. and no i didnt change the boots.

I have never seen a stock car emit any form of fuel from teh tailpipe and remedy it by spark plugs. We run $1.89 plugs in a 400hp GTI and my formerly supercharged car... i think the power increase you're feeling is placebo. He said he wants to avoid switching to synthetic.

[BillionPa]

he said he wants to steer clear of M1, which to me doesnt mean all synthetic O_O

the power isnt a placebo effect, my friend has a 3000GT VR4 and has been in my car before and after the plug change and noticed it himself. (so he knows what fast fees like) its mainly extra pull during accelration at low rpms right after the "stall" of the torque converter (2000 to 3000 rpms)

[Morgenster]

I just switched to synthetic after the PO was using a semi.
I'm waiting and seeing no big leaks or any of that after 2000 km.
I am going to get some gaskets changed in about a month or two, however.
Valve cover and oilpan seem to require it.
I believe that switching to synth can be beneficial (especially in the long run), but you have to check on the gaskets after doing so because if they were crudded shut by dino oil, they'll start leaking eventually.
So it depends on how much work you're willing to put in in the short run.

[BillionPa]

if there is sludge run Auto-RX in there to get rid of it before switching to synth.

[Russell]

IMO, going from synthetic to conventional oil is no issue. I have done it with no problems on my e34 as i was doing an Auto-RX engine clean which requires conventional oil for part of the cleaning process.

BTW, I am now back to Castrol Syntec 5w50 and seems to be purring like a kitten. Just my experience.