10,000 miles on GC--2000 BMW 528i

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quadrun1, SLX used to be the service oil for BMW in Europe or at least in Germany. I've heard that from a few sources and I think Primus can confirm that as well. You have to keep in mind though that dealerships in Europe can use any oil that meets BMW specs and it's all about the money so Castrol usually pushes their oil or BMW labeled stuff with help of incentives. I think they started pushing 0W-40 oils in recent years and the only SLX 0w30 being commonly used is the LL01 FE version for New Generation Valvetronic engines.


Anyway, the results look great! I will have GC UOA from my M54 2.5 liter with ~8,300 miles on it very soon so it will be interesting to compare them. To get a sample I used a topsider and it wasn't completely clean, do you think it will be a problem?


On a side note, I noticed recently that PN for BMW HP Synthetic sold in US is 07 51 0 017 866 and it is different from BMW Super Power Plus 5w30 sold in Germany which is 83 21 9 415 384 (both 1L bottle)...
 
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Yep, 7 quarts for this car. The neck of the bottle fits perfectly in the oil fill and I don't even have to use a funnel!

F1Crazy, thanks for the info!

[ March 30, 2004, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: quadrun1 ]
 
quote:
Originally posted by F1Crazy:
To get a sample I used a topsider and it wasn't completely clean, do you think it will be a problem?
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Probably not, but if your insolubles wind up being too high, that would be a probable explanation. I look forward to your results!

cheers.gif
 
Wow, great results!! Makes me feel good about trying this stuff. I just walked out of Autozone with 5 quarts and an STP filter for $22.91 with their special that lasts until the 15th. What a great deal! I think I'll go back tomorrow and do it again!
cheers.gif
 
quote:
Originally posted by Baveux:
7 litres , thats a lot of oil. Do you think that this have soemthing to do with the great numbers ?
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I'm sure. Also note the universal averages. Maybe this one looks great at 10K with any oil close to meeting spec.
dunno.gif
 
This is a fantastic result, no doubt about it. As a matter of fact, I might even try GC next year as my winter oil.
smile.gif


But ...

... one question I want to throw out to the group is ...

... anyone think the GC had even a little bit of help from the molybdenum in the previous oils? The engine's trouble spots were all "plated up" with moly ... then GC (which seems to be light on barrier additives) is used with exceptional results.

I guess we'll know more at the next UOA.
dunno.gif


--- Bror Jace
 
Bror, I used to worry that the first UOA with GC was benefitting from the previous plating up of moly, but so far on both of the cars where I've had GC used oil analysis done, I've seen even better results on the second interval! The wear numbers for lead especially, seem to drop another 50% or more on the second interval, long after the moly is long gone.
 
Along Bror's line of questioning, I don't consider 10,000 miles in seven months very severe service. Even less so when you factor in the huge seven quart sump in a well-designed N/A engine.

However, this is a great reduction in wear metals over the OE oil. Considering that BMW probably uses Castrol as their OE oil, you'd think they would've looked at this German-made lube for their German-made machine. Why isn't GC the OE oil instead?

Makes you wanna say, "Hmmmmm ..."
 
Hi pscholte!
cheers.gif


Hi Eiron! I've read on here that many BMW service centers in Europe do indeed use SLX (see F1Crazy's post above). SLX/GC seems to keep the engine cleaner, I wonder if that's due in part to the ~100 ppm of Mg. Whatever the case, I look forward to the next UOA, a 15,000 mile run of GC!

Bror and Patman, it should be interesting to see the second run but we'll have to wait a year! It would be great to see the numbers further improve.

But unfortunately, the mechanic who recently did a state inspection on this car replaced the OE, BMW air filter with a Hastings! Are these good?

So that might be a factor to consider in the next run. Or should I replace this with another OE, BMW air filter to eliminate this "X" factor?

[ April 08, 2004, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: quadrun1 ]
 
Y'know, I noticed a huge dose of Mg in the D1 & M1D VOA samples. So this is an a/w additive?

Even bumping back up to 15k mi OCIs, I'm guessing you'll still show less than half the readings from the previous samples. Too cool!
cheers.gif


So what did you run for the 6k mi between the last OE oil UOA & this GC UOA?
 
Good eye, Eiron! Long story...

Initially I was intending on doing a full run on Mobil 1 0W-40. Ran that at first.

Unfortunately some miscommunication took place and my dad had the oil changed when he took the car in for a coolant/brake fluid flush at the dealer. They dumped the Mobil 1 0W-40 and put in the BMW/Castrol 5w30 which I don't like.

After a while I noticed the oil cap deposits starting to form again so I dumped that and took Pablo's advice (thanks Pablo) and ran an Auto-Rx treatment with Chevron conventional 10w30. The engine really liked that oil and the Auto-Rx worked as advertised, delivering carbon deposits to the oil filter. I posted pictures in the additives forum.

I ran the "rinse" phase with Shell Rotella 15w40 heavy duty diesel oil; the GC went in after that. This explains why you see very little residual moly in the GC analysis--diesel oils (and GC) contain no moly.

The oil filter pleats looked clean after the Rotella "rinse".

I think the GC did some further cleaning (Mg + esters?) because I saw more carbon bits in the oil filter, just like after the Auto-Rx "wash".

I'm guessing GC has good solvency? Maybe it's that additive that Terry made reference to (Synerlec?) I think he also wrote somewhere that it's probably similar to the stuff they use in Schaeffer's.

[ April 08, 2004, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: quadrun1 ]
 
quote:
especially with TBN retention
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What TBN retention is detected here? When I did my first UOA, Blackstone rated my TBN @ 2.5 and said that the oil was all but shot.


This oil is "all but shot". I guess if you liked the wear numbers, that could be "spun" into "the oil still contains some additives".

Did I get something wrong here??
confused.gif


Great wear numbers ...lousy TBN
 
Gary,

10,000 mile OCI, BMW engine, plenty of cold starts and still with a TBN 0f 2.2...I'm sorry I just don't see the problem.
cheers.gif
 
quote:
Gary,

10,000 mile OCI, BMW engine, plenty of cold starts and still with a TBN 0f 2.2...I'm sorry I just don't see the problem.
Click to expand...
No ..and from a wear standpoint it's a good UAO ..stellar infact. I'd be pleased with these wear numbers ..the oil, on the otherhand, from an additive level, is all but spent. I don't think TBN degrades in a linear time/mile line. I think that the slope increases as you approach and reach neutral through acid.

What other elements am I ignoring? That is, educate me on what other properties that this oil retained besides producing low wear numbers. I can't interpret the data.

The TBN says that it has reached the end of its useful life (or very near to it).

Now I DO APPLAUD that,besides me and a few others, quadrun1 has the guts to actually push 10k and above to prove that it is possible to exceed 3k/3m without spontaniously destroying your engine.
cheers.gif
 
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