2007 BMW 525i - 6,813 miles - Mobil 1 0W-40

[drtyler]

Here's one more Mobil 1 0W-40 UOA for the pile.

Previous fill was with unknown bulk oil from the dealer the car was purchased, so I think there are some traces of that oil in the M1 that was sampled.

Universal average of 7,800 miles shown in on right.


OIL Mobil 1 0W-40 SM
MILES IN USE 6813
MILES 66,558
SAMPLE TAKEN 3/18/12

ALUMINUM 6 11
CHROMIUM 0 0
IRON 14 14
COPPER 23 15
LEAD 2 3
TIN 0 2
MOLYBDENUM 65 226
NICKEL 1 0
MANGANESE 2 8
SILVER 0 0
TITANIUM 0 0
POTASSIUM 5 3
BORON 85 39
SILICON 4 6
SODIUM 76 38
CALCIUM 2938 2094
MAGNESIUM 81 322
PHOSPHORUS 896 898
ZINC 973 1069
BARIUM 0 0

INSOLUBLES 0.3
WATER 0
FLASHPOINT ºF 390
SUS VIS 210ºF 68.8
cSt @ 212ºF 12.63
TBN 3.9

 

[Quattro Pete]

Where is the sodium coming from?

 

[drtyler]

Coolant level never changed, so I'm hoping it was from the previous bulk oil that was used in the change before the M1. We'll know more on the next sample, hopefully next month.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Sodium doubled. That other oil had a lot of moly in it. Wear looks good overall though. Does the BMW use a copper oil cooler?

 

[1999nick]

Did you change the oil at this time? I notice it still had a TBN of 3.9, indicating that it was good for several thousand more miles.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: 1999nick
I notice it still had a TBN of 3.9, indicating that it was good for several thousand more miles.

Yes if you're not going to go beyond 7,000 mile OCIs I'd recommend simply using a lighter oil like M1 5W-30. It's plenty thick enough for normal fast street use.

 

[drtyler]

Thank you all for the responses.

The oil was changed this time, and refilled with M1 0W-40 again. The plan is to go 9 or 10k on this oil change, as the car and oil are suited for this. Previously, the car had oil changes every 16k miles with BMW Synthetic 5W-30, and then the one fill with bulk conventional oil at the used car dealer. Only left that in for a brief period before changing to the Mobil 1.

 

[Noobie]

And how does the engine looks through the oil cap?
Those BMW 15K miles OCI's seems a bit long.

 

[steve20]

a long history of syn oil changes then the hole of a dealer dumped bulk dino in-I'd like to return the bulk dino to him on his parking lot

 

[drtyler]

Peeking through the oil filler cap, everything looks pretty clean. The car was used mostly for highway miles, as best I can tell.

Also bought a '09 328i with about 40k miles, so it's had 2 dealer oil changes (once at 16k, another at 32k), and it too looked clean under the oil cap. I changed the oil in it with M1 0W-40 as well, and will have a uoa performed around 7500 miles.

I agree the 15k mile oil changes seem a bit long, but they probably don't hurt anything so long as the miles are mostly highway (and few short trips). Lots of UOA's on here of folks that do the extended oil changes and everything seems to work out fine.