Recommended Gas and Oil question

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snuka - 29 Apr 2005 06:45 GMT

I just bought a 2002 530 with only 21,000 miles on it. The owner's
manual recommends 91 octane fuel and synthetic oil. I should be ok with
Mobile one oil, right? I can get a decent price on it at Costco. My
bigger concern is the gasoline. Is it ok to use 87 octane fuel? Does
it just affect perfomance or does it affect the life of the engine?
I've heard that the higher octane fuel is just a sales gimmick to charge
more and I've also heard that high compression engines (whatever that
means but I've been told the 530 has one) require higher octane or they
will ping. Just because I bought a BMW doesn't mean I have money to
burn but I intend to own this car a long to so I want it to last. One
last thing, I also own an 87 325iC and I've always used the low octane
fuel from Costco and I've never had a problem.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

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Tom Korth - 29 Apr 2005 14:22 GMT

>I just bought a 2002 530 with only 21,000 miles on it. The owner's manual
>recommends 91 octane fuel and synthetic oil. I should be ok with Mobile
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>problem.
> Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

While the car will run on 87, BMW recommends 91 for a reason - better
performance, fuel economy and (probably) engine life, especially under
adverse conditions.

BMW dealers sell BMW synthetic oil for about $5.00/liter with a 10-20%
discount if you are a BMW CCA member. And if you change it at 7,500 mile
intervals, rather than the recommended 15k, you shouldn't have to add much,
if any, between changes.

Tom K.

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Somebody - 29 Apr 2005 14:48 GMT

> I just bought a 2002 530 with only 21,000 miles on it. The owner's
> manual recommends 91 octane fuel and synthetic oil. I should be ok with
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> fuel from Costco and I've never had a problem.
> Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Buy the right fuel for it, 91 octane as specified, and use google to review
the giant thread we just had on the subject about 2 weeks ago.

Mobil 1 synthetic oil is a great choice.

Your M20B25 E30 didn't specify or need premium, so yes that would have been
a waste.

-Russ.

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snuka - 30 Apr 2005 01:55 GMT

thanks!

>>I just bought a 2002 530 with only 21,000 miles on it. The owner's
>>manual recommends 91 octane fuel and synthetic oil. I should be ok with
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>
> -Russ.

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