2008 BMW M3, BMW TwinPower Turbo 10W-60, 7136 mi

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Previous UOA here. Now at 90504 miles on the engine.

Did valve cover gaskets shortly before this drain, so that's probably where the Si is coming from (silicone sealant).

Pb is down as expected for the second oil change after the rod bearing job. Hoping that copper number is just a blip or something (it was 0 last time).

Nice to see fuel dilution down somewhat. Still don't like it at that level, though.

Copying the numbers here because Polaris's reports are kind of annoying to read:


Iron - 11
Chromium - 0
Nickel - 0
Aluminum - 10
Copper - 3
Lead - 1
Tin - 0
Cadmium - 0
Silver - 0
Vanadium - 0

Silicon - 15
Sodium - 5
Potassium - 3

Titanium - 0
Molybdenum - 51
Antimony - 0
Manganese - 0
Lithium - 0
Boron - 49
Magnesium - 27
Calcium - 2503
Barium - 0
Phosphorus - 818
Zinc - 909

Fuel Dilution - 1.3% (GC)
Soot - Water -
Viscosity @ 100º C - 18.3 cSt
TBN - 4.00
Oxidation - 13
Nitration - 11

Particle Quantifier (PQ) Index - 13


[Linked Image]
 
Nice results. The maintained its viscosity and TBN is strong. Looks good to me.
 
looking at that bmw oil + bimmer world is not really liking it + as i would do they recommend redlines 10-60 which they said was more protective. from reading ester oils tolerate fuel contamination better than others.
 
I'm with buster, that oil did what it was supposed to, and did it well. However, Redline would be cheaper.
 
Originally Posted by buster
Nice results. The maintained its viscosity and TBN is strong. Looks good to me.

Thanks.

Yes, it was good to see the decent TBN. Viscosity @ 100º C is in the SAE 50 range, though. But I'm not too concerned about that TBH.

The Fe and Al numbers do look higher than I normally see in UOAs in these engines. Most of those are with different oils, though. And I guess 10-11 is still pretty low. So I guess I'll just monitor.


Originally Posted by benjy
looking at that bmw oil + bimmer world is not really liking it + as i would do they recommend redlines 10-60 which they said was more protective. from reading ester oils tolerate fuel contamination better than others.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I never stray from OE unless I have a VERY good reason. I'm aware of all the marketing claims and even better-looking UOA results from other oils, but those don't carry much weight in my book. If someone provides real results from engines being run and then torn down and measured, I'll strongly consider that.
 
Looks good to me, ample TBN (4) left, strong zinc (909 ppm) and viscosity at 18.3 cSt (KV100)

The iron wear at 11ppm in 7k miles looks fine to me.
 
Looks good, and even at the dealer it should be competitively priced against redline. Its usually about 10-11 at the dealer, and Im seeing 14 as list on Redline.
 
I'm surprised that a 60-weight high performance Euro oil has only ~800ppm of Phosphorous. Is that what it's supposed to have?
Viscosity dropped into the 50 range, maybe helped by the fuel dilution, but the previous UOA had slightly higher viscosity, and had higher fuel dilution.
I vaguely remember a discussion on BITOG about your rod bearings. Did you ever post pictures of the old bearings?
 
Regarding the price of oil, FCP Euro's lifetime return policy completely changes the calculus. Every oil-and-filter kit after the first one costs me just over $16 no matter what oil I select, because that's all it costs me to ship 9L of oil and a filter back to them (PA to CT with a FedEx account). That makes any oil from any other vendor basically irrelevant. There's no way anything could possibly be better than FCP Euro's options (BMW, Liqui Moly, Rowe) by enough of a margin to justify paying full price.

Within FCP Euro's catalog, I could have gone for Liqui Moly's 10W-60 and saved a bit of money initially. Plenty of positive testimonials for that oil in these engines, mainly in terms of NVH and consumption rates. But I've seen no good evidence that it works as well as or better than the BMW oil in terms of longevity or performance, and the price difference would have become insignificant after a few OCIs.


Originally Posted by A_Harman
I'm surprised that a 60-weight high performance Euro oil has only ~800ppm of Phosphorous. Is that what it's supposed to have?
Viscosity dropped into the 50 range, maybe helped by the fuel dilution, but the previous UOA had slightly higher viscosity, and had higher fuel dilution.
I vaguely remember a discussion on BITOG about your rod bearings. Did you ever post pictures of the old bearings?

Yeah, I don't think it's supposed to have a fat dose of Zn/P -- though 800-900 ppm isn't exactly weak. Probably an as-much-as-necessary-but-no-more kind of thing. If nothing else, this engine does have catalytic converters to worry about, and it can burn oil at a significant rate sometimes.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the viscosity, either. Agree that fuel dilution explains some but not all of it. Mechanical shear as well, maybe?

Just posted pics of the old bearings in an update on another thread (figured it'd be more appropriate there): https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...an-for-my-bearing-eating-bmw#Post5159777
 
Originally Posted by d00df00d
Regarding the price of oil, FCP Euro's lifetime return policy completely changes the calculus. Every oil-and-filter kit after the first one costs me just over $16 no matter what oil I select, because that's all it costs me to ship 9L of oil and a filter back to them (PA to CT with a FedEx account). That makes any oil from any other vendor basically irrelevant. There's no way anything could possibly be better than FCP Euro's options (BMW, Liqui Moly, Rowe) by enough of a margin to justify paying full price.

Within FCP Euro's catalog, I could have gone for Liqui Moly's 10W-60 and saved a bit of money initially. Plenty of positive testimonials for that oil in these engines, mainly in terms of NVH and consumption rates. But I've seen no good evidence that it works as well as or better than the BMW oil in terms of longevity or performance, and the price difference would have become insignificant after a few OCIs.


Originally Posted by A_Harman
I'm surprised that a 60-weight high performance Euro oil has only ~800ppm of Phosphorous. Is that what it's supposed to have?
Viscosity dropped into the 50 range, maybe helped by the fuel dilution, but the previous UOA had slightly higher viscosity, and had higher fuel dilution.
I vaguely remember a discussion on BITOG about your rod bearings. Did you ever post pictures of the old bearings?

Yeah, I don't think it's supposed to have a fat dose of Zn/P -- though 800-900 ppm isn't exactly weak. Probably an as-much-as-necessary-but-no-more kind of thing. If nothing else, this engine does have catalytic converters to worry about, and it can burn oil at a significant rate sometimes.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the viscosity, either. Agree that fuel dilution explains some but not all of it. Mechanical shear as well, maybe?



I wouldn't be surprised that a 10w60 would shear. But 18.3 cSt is still solidly in the 50 grade, and should be thick enough.
 
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