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I just heard back from Motul on how the fuel dilution was calculated via their "in-house" method. They state: "The fuel dilution is measured using FTIR and not flash point." Thoughts on this?

I went down this rabbit hole last time and decided to up the viscosity to a 504 spec, but your recommendation now just reaffirms that was the right decision. Now I'm just debating if I want to stick with a 0W-30 or move to a 5W-30 instead. Probably splitting hairs, especially as my climate is...

I emailed Ravenol in Germany to begin with, who advised they would have the Technical Director in the UK respond to me. He never did and I instead got a similar message to you back from their Marketing Manager. I discovered his primary job was as a freelance photographer; he wasn't an actual...

I appreciate you sharing your experience with quite the array of different oils there! The engine code on my car is DVLA, which I believe correlates to a Gen 3B engine. The oil in the car before this was actually the Ravenol VSE 0W-20 you mentioned, but I wasn't aware of the high sodium...

I finally had an oil analysis done on my wife's car and would love some feedback on what folks think. The person performing the analysis states that the silicon level is higher than it should be, so any specific input there would be appreciated. I'd like to determine if I should continue to...

Not wrong, my friend! My understanding is that most of the injector issues are with the 2012-13 cars (with "EU5" injectors). In 2014 they changed to an "EU6" injector and they seem to fail a lot less, but are still not 100% trustworthy. I'm not clear on the precise differences between them...

I never considered that the break in oil would leave debris behind. I've never heard of this, but please do elaborate if there's more to this that you're aware of.

It's nice to hear some support for the VST choice, although you were helpful in the separate thread in which I was trying to reach that decision a couple months back. I'll do another oil analysis next year and see how it compares to the VMP I just drained out. Yeah, I agree there's not a lot...

There's always that one guy :rolleyes: . I'd love to know what super reliable, cheap to run, low maintenance, 600+ HP, non-German car you have sitting in your garage. I'll wait 🍿🥤.

I was aware of the rod bearing issue ahead of buying the car, but I agree that it is quite ridiculous that BMW continues to have this issue on so many of their M engines. Fortunately, it is not an engine-out job on the F10 M5, but there's a fair bit of labor involved and costs around £2,500 for...

For European cars, BMW recommends LL04 oils instead of LL01 due to the lower sulpher content in the fuels. My car is in the UK, so falls under the LL04 spec. I appreciate they are largely interchangeable, but this was one of my dilemmas when choosing a new oil for the car. However, BMW will...

See posts 8 and 9 for some details on this. It appears some of the guide that makes contact with the chain is actually black.

Given that BMW engines are known for shattering timing chain guides, I'd take a few shards as a win . . . but I definitely hear what you're saying and would prefer to see nothing in the pan. I bought the car privately and the previous owner was as neurotic as me, although he took it to a BMW...

Thanks to Mania and Dave P. for the additional input. Both comments are totally valid and could very well be the culprit (although I would surely hope BMW would not put unfinshied plastic parts into any of their engines, but especially an M engine!). B6_Dolphin, great find on the full pics of...

I wanted to make sure the oil pickup was clear of debris. A clogged pickup has been the culprit of some engine failures on this platform, so it was really just a peace of mind I was after . . . and obviously to unclog it if there was an issue, which there was not. The black, oblong circular...

With the pan off, I probably could have gotten a scope up top to take a look, but no chance now. I did just find a new view of the timing chain guides from the top side of the engine and the whole unit is actually black, but the part the chain makes constant contact with is brown. From the...

I've heard Ravenol is pretty hard to come by in the US.

In my never ending attempt to keep the S63 engine from grenading itself, I did some preventative maintenence to ensure the oil pickup tube was clear and not blocked by debris. A blocked oil pickup has been known to kill a few of these engines, so as it's not that big of a deal to drop the lower...

I went down the rod bearing rabbit hole a couple years ago, and from memory it's high levels of copper that can be a leading indicatior that the bearings are going (for the S63 engine, at least). The primary bearing mateiral is not copper, but seeing copper implies that the primary material is...

For fuel, I always go to BP and use the highest grade they have available, which is 97 Research Octane Number (RON). I know that 99 RON is available sporadically throughout the UK, but I don't have any stations near me who have it. I'm not sure where you're located, but for the US-based folks...