Which Oil/Fluid Company Do You Trust With Your Life?!

[BMW4LIFE]

Like the title says!

This is mainly concerning motor oil, tranny oil, and gear oil

[shogun]

non of them is used very much here in Japan. So I cannot comment.
Probably you get as many opinions as posts.

[Grantus]

I voted for the ones that are known here in NZ, I dont know how an engine or transmission oil has any control over whether I live or die though.

[BMW4LIFE]

I voted for the ones that are known here in NZ, I dont know how an engine or transmission oil has any control over whether I live or die though.

Ha! It really doesn't...makes the subject more dramatic if you will...

then again...if you are being chased by a gang and you need to drive your BMW to the max to get away you will need the best fluids among many other things to get away!

hahaha!

[bubba966]

If you're still trying to figure out what to put in your diff just go pick up some Redline, RP, or Amsoil. Whichever one you find first at a price that's fine by you.

Swepco is supposed to be nice stuff, but I've never heard of anyone using it in BMW's. None of the locals that race BMW's use it. None of the guys in Europe that take their M5's to the Nurburgring use it. And I've not really seen it for sale much.

And really, you're putting it in a 525 so the diff doesn't see that much power. I'm guessing you're not taking it to a track. And it's probably an open diff as well. The diff fluid selection isn't that big of a deal. Personally I'd look at Amsoil first, RP/Redline second, then Valvoline/Castrol synthetics third. I've used fluids from all of those companies (with the exception of RP which I've heard from many different people to be pretty much on par with Amsoil) with good results.

If you were racing a high power car with a high lockup LSD then you could/should be more particular about exactly what's in there. But even then anything from Amsoil/RP/RL would work great. Buy 2 quarts of one of them, throw it in and be done with it. No sense in worrying about it so much.

[bmwrp8]

I have always used castrol magnatec 10w-40 in all my cars works fine for me

[BMW4LIFE]

If you're still trying to figure out what to put in your diff just go pick up some Redline, RP, or Amsoil. Whichever one you find first at a price that's fine by you.

Swepco is supposed to be nice stuff, but I've never heard of anyone using it in BMW's. None of the locals that race BMW's use it. None of the guys in Europe that take their M5's to the Nurburgring use it. And I've not really seen it for sale much.

And really, you're putting it in a 525 so the diff doesn't see that much power. I'm guessing you're not taking it to a track. And it's probably an open diff as well. The diff fluid selection isn't that big of a deal. Personally I'd look at Amsoil first, RP/Redline second, then Valvoline/Castrol synthetics third. I've used fluids from all of those companies (with the exception of RP which I've heard from many different people to be pretty much on par with Amsoil) with good results.

If you were racing a high power car with a high lockup LSD then you could/should be more particular about exactly what's in there. But even then anything from Amsoil/RP/RL would work great. Buy 2 quarts of one of them, throw it in and be done with it. No sense in worrying about it so much.

Your right it is just a 525I but this is my nature...I always research things to the bone and then once again...

I decided that SWEPCO is too much last night after reading some reviews...seems like Porsche are a big user of that stuff...I found out that it is not even Synthetic rather a high end mineral based fluid.

As far as RP goes...sooooooo expensive! So I think I have narrowed it down to RL or Amsoil...so I can say that the gear oil is DONE!

Now as far as the tranny oil goes...should I just stick with Red Line as well?

[M20Turbo]

Redline 15/50
transmission From '83 to '92 BMW attached labels to their transmissions to indicate the fluid called for.
The label should be affixed to the passenger side bell housing.
BMW's with Green Label - MT-90
Red Label - D4ATF
No Label - MTL

Green or Red label Units with D4ATF or MT-90 use 17mm external hex drain and fill plugs.

No Label Units with MTL use 17mm internal hex drain and fill plugs.

In the differential 75W90.

[BMW4LIFE]

Redline 15/50
transmission From '83 to '92 BMW attached labels to their transmissions to indicate the fluid called for.
The label should be affixed to the passenger side bell housing.
BMW's with Green Label - MT-90
Red Label - D4ATF
No Label - MTL

Green or Red label Units with D4ATF or MT-90 use 17mm external hex drain and fill plugs.

No Label Units with MTL use 17mm internal hex drain and fill plugs.

In the differential 75W90.

well i have a 1993 (8/93) and i do not see a label anywhere down there...

I take it this one for the tranny?

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=51&pcid=7

and this one for the diff?

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=47&pcid=7

[bubba966]

You'll want this for the diff if you go with RL
http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=133&pcid=4

And you've got an auto in your 525, yes? If so it's a GM unit that requires plain old non-synth Dexron III ATF. Yes, you could drop $120 on a case of fancy synth tranny fluid. But as someone that's had a couple of high performance severe duty GM auto's custom built for me I can say this. Do not bother with synth tranny fluid for your tranny. It's not needed at all. And I wouldn't want to change over to synth on a tranny as old as yours is.

Go to Costco or Wallyworld or what have you and buy a case of Dexron III ATF from a decent manufacturer (Chevron/Valvoline/Castrol/etc.). Should cost you $25 or so. Buy yourself a tranny gasket set from Pelican or such (gaskets for both pans and new bolts as well). Also buy a new tranny filter as well.

Get the tranny up to operating temp and drain the pan. Fill it back up. Idle it for 15 minutes or so. Drain the pan again. Fill it back up. Go ahead and drive it for a few days. Get it up to temp and then drain it and drop both pans. Replace filter & pans after you've cleaned out the pans. Refill the tranny and let it idle for 30 minutes or so. Top it off after that while it's still hot.

Do that every 25-30,000 miles and you'll be set. When you're told by the owner of a shop that's built thousands of GM high performance automatic overdrive trannys that you shouldn't use synth fluid and you should just use regular stuff and change it often you generally listen to him. And my personal experience with GM performance overdrives in high power/torque use has shown him to be right.