Engine oil selection, simpler than it seems.

At Koed we want not just supply your parts. We also want to supply the information, you need to take good care of your BMW or MINI

In this context taking care of, means selecting the correct engine oil. This is an exciting topic, there are many opinions out there about best choice, these opinions vary on brand and specifications. We follow BMW's recomendations on oil selection, which help keep it simple!

Selecting the correct oil is simple, you only need to know the engine type in your BMW or MINI. This type looks like this: N20, S65, N47 etc. Then look up the engine type in the table below (gasoline / diesel) lets say N56, the applicable oils are

Longlife-01
Longlife-01 FE (Recomended)
Longlife 04
Longlife 12 FE

Below you will find information from BMW as of: 06/2020

Engine oils for all BMW and MINI engines.

Depending on the engine and vehicle type, BMW specifies different oil grades. Specifications other than those stated here or terms such as ”Low-viscosity oil, fully synthetic" etc. do not provide any indication about the suitability for use in engines from the BMW Group.

Longlife-01 oils

BMW Longlife-01 engine oils are a minimum requirement for all BMW Group petrol engines without petrol particulate filter from model year 2002 and for BMW Group diesel engines without particulate filter from model year 2003. Aside from that, BMW Longlife-01 engine oils are also permitted for use in older BMW Group engines.

Longlife-01 FE oils

BMW Longlife-01 FE engine oils are released worldwide for all petrol engines without petrol particulate filter as from model year 2002. There is no release for diesel engines.

Longlife-04 oils

BMW Longlife-04 engine oils were developed to guarantee an optimum service life of the diesel particulate filters and petrol particulate filters.

BMW Longlife-04 engine oils are approved worldwide for all diesel engines with and without diesel particulate filter and petrol engines with petrol particulate filters. For petrol engines without petrol particulate filter, BMW Longlife-04 engine oils are only approved for the European region including Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Longlife-12 FE oils

BMW Longlife-12 FE engine oils are released for certain BMW Group diesel engines from model year 2014 with the designation 14d, 16d, 18d, 20d and 30d (exception F3x 30d from model year 2019). BMW Longlife-12 FE engine oils are generally permitted for BMW petrol engines with petrol particulate filters. 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.

Longlife-14 FE+ oil

BMW Longlife-14 FE+ engine oils are only approved for certain BMW Group petrol engines without petrol particulate filter as from model year 2014 in the region of Europe including Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein as well as the USA and Canada. There is no release for diesel engines.

Longlife-17 FE+ oil

BMW Longlife-17 FE + engine oils are only permitted for certain BMW Group petrol engines with and without petrol particulate filter from model year 2014. There is no release for diesel engines.

Viscosity classifications

The viscosity is a measurement for the consistency of an engine oil. It is highly dependent on the engine oil temperature, i.e. the higher the temperature, the lower the viscosity. The engine oil temperature in turn depends among other things on the ambient temperature at which the vehicle is operated.

The oil must not be too viscous at low ambient temperatures so that all lubrication points are supplied quickly when the engine is cold. At high engine oil or engine temperatures, the oil must have a certain minimum viscosity in order to generate an adequate lubricating film thickness.

Modern multigrade oils combine good low temperature properties with adequate lubrication even at high engine oil temperatures. This means that oil changes due purely to different seasons can be avoided through selection of a suitable viscosity class.

When using engine oils as per gasoline table / diesel table the following rules apply to selecting the suitable viscosity class:

BMW Longlife oils as specified for all BMW models as from 1998 are tested by BMW to ensure that they can be used worldwide all-year round at any ambient temperatures. It is therefore not necessary to pay attention to the viscosity class of BMW longlife oils. Exception M47TÜ2; a lower temperature limit of -20°C applies to SAE 5W-X oils; cold starting may be adversely affected if the temperature falls below that limit. In countries where the ambient temperatures frequently drop below -20 °C, we thus recommend the use of 0W instead of 5W products.

The viscosity classes SAE 0W-20 and SAE 5W-20 are not suitable for diesel engines.

Viscosity classes with a high viscosity can increase fuel consumption.

Colour-coded engine oils are recommended for the respective engine.

Teknisk egnede motorolier til benzin motore.
Motorer	Longlife-01	Longlife-01 FE	Longlife-04	Longlife-12 FE	Longlife 14 FE+	Longlife-17 FE+	SAE 10W-60
2 Cylinder:
W20	X	X	X⁽³⁾
3 Cylinder:
B32	X	X
B36	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽⁵⁾	X
B38 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽⁵⁾	X
B38 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X		X
4 Cylinder:
B42	X	X
B46	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽⁵⁾	X
B46 With the SA1AE Flexible Fuel	X	X
B48 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽⁵⁾	X
B48 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X		X
N12	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N13	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N14	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N16	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N18	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N20	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽⁵⁾	X
N20 With the SA1AE Flexible Fuel	X	X
N26	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽⁵⁾	X
N40	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N42	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N43	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N45	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N46	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
M43TU	X		X⁽¹⁾
M43TU			X⁽¹⁾
W10	X		X⁽¹⁾
W11	X		X⁽¹⁾
6 Cylinder:
B58 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽⁵⁾	X
B58 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X		X
N51	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N52	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N53	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N54	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N55	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N56	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
M52	X		X⁽¹⁾
M54	X		X⁽¹⁾
M56	X		X⁽¹⁾
S54							X
S55 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
S55 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X
S58 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
S58 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X
8 Cylinder:
N62	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N63 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N63 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X
M62LEV	X		X⁽¹⁾
S62							X
S63 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
S63 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X
S65							X
10 Cylinder:
S65							X
12 Cylinder:
N73	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N74 Without petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾	X	X	X⁽¹⁾	X⁽¹⁾
N74 With petrol particulate filter⁽⁴⁾			X	X
Other engines:
Other AG engines⁽²⁾	X		X⁽¹⁾
Other M engines⁽³⁾	X		X⁽¹⁾				X

For petrol engines, only BMW Longlife-04 and BMW Longlife-12 FE oils are permitted in Europe (EU plus Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein). They must not be used outside this area.
”Other AG engines” includes all AG engines/models which are not listed in the above table, for example M10, M20, M30, M40, M42, M43, M44, M50, M52, M60, M62, M70, M73, etc
"Other M engines" includes all Motorsport engines/models which are not listed in the above table, for example S14, S38, S50, S50U, S52, S70, etc
Vehicles with a petrol engine and petrol particulate filter can be identified on the vacuum hose, which is installed on the petrol particulate filter, as well as on the optional equipment SA1DEA RDE exhaust emissions standard.
BMW Longlife-14 FE+ oils are only approved for petrol engines in Europe (EU plus Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein), USA and Canada. They must not be used outside this area.

Colour-coded engine oils are recommended for the respective engine.

Teknisk egnede motorolier til diesel motore.
Motorer	Longlife-01	Longlife-04	Longlife-12 FE	SAE 10W-60
3 Cylinder:
B37C15K0 1496 ccm / 70 kW / 220 Nm		X	X
B37C15U0 1496 ccm / 85 kW / 270 Nm		X	X
B37D15K0		X	X
B37D15U0 1496 ccm / 85 kW / 270 Nm		X	X
B37C15K1		X	X
B37C15U1		X	X
4 Cylinder:
B47C20U0 1995ccm / 110kW / 330 Nm		X	X
B47C20O0 1995ccm / 110kW / 360 Nm		X	X
B47C20T0		X
B47D20K0 1995 ccm / 85 kW / 270 Nm		X	X
B47D20U0		X	X
B47D20O0		X	X
B47D20T0 1995 ccm / 165 kW / 450 Nm		X
B47C20T1		X
B47C20U1		X	X
B47C20O1		X	X
B47D20U1		X	X
B47D20O1		X	X
B47D20T1		X
N47 uL; N47 oL		X
N47 S⁽⁵⁾				X
N47 S⁽⁵⁾ (From 9/2008)		X
N47C16K1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47C16U1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47C20K1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47C20U1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47D16U1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47D16K1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47D20K1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47D20U1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47D20O1		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47D20O1US		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N47D20T1		X
M41⁽⁵⁾	X	X
M47, M47TU⁽⁵⁾	X	X
M47TU⁽⁵⁾ (From 03/2003)	X	X
M47TU2^{(1, 5)}	X⁽³⁾	X
W16D16		X
W17D14	X	X
6 Cylinder:
B57D30O0		X	X
B57D30T0		X
B57D30S0		X
B57D30O2		X	X
B57D30T2		X
N57		X
N57N		X
N57X		X
N57D30O1		X
N57D30O1US		X	X⁽⁶⁾
N57D30T1		X
N57D30S1		X
M21	X	X
M51	X	X
M57	X	X
M57TU⁽⁵⁾ (From 09/2002)	X	X
M57TU⁽⁵⁾ (E60, E61 From 03/2004)	X⁽²⁾	X
M57Top⁽⁵⁾ (From 09/2004)		X
M47TU2⁽⁵⁾ (From 03/2005)	X⁽⁴⁾	X
M47TU2Top⁽⁵⁾ (From 09/2006)		X
8 Cylinder:
M67 (E38)	X	X
M67 (E65)	X	X
M67TU (From 03/2005)	X⁽⁴⁾	X

In countries where the ambient temperature frequently falls below --20 °C, we recommend the use of 0W instead of 5W products.
To increase the service life of the diesel particle filter, Longlife-04 oils are recommended as soon as they available.
Can be used on vehicles without DPF.
Recommended for vehicles without DPF and for non-EU countries.
TU2 = T2 / TOP = S
Valid as from model year 2014