2009 BMW 128i N51 3.0L, BMW 5W30 Synth, 25,440 Mi

[mgthompson]

Code:


Aluminum, Iron, and Copper have all increased significantly since the last sample.

Is this engine coming unglued?



2009 BMW 128i N51 3.0L, BMW 5W30 Synthetic, 25,440 Miles



MI on Oil 5,240 4,500 4,500 4,656 1,144

MI on Unit 25,440 20,200 10,300 5,800 1,444

Sample Date 08/11/14 07/08/13 07/14/11 08/18/10 10/17/09

Make Up Oil Added 0 quarts 0 quarts 0 quarts 0 quarts 0 quarts

Oil Type BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30



ALUMINUM 27 14 18 18 10

CHROMIUM 1 0 0 0 1

IRON 32 14 16 19 15

COPPER 37 27 25 24 13

LEAD 0 0 1 1 0

TIN 4 0 1 1 3

MOLYBDENUM 147 162 135 126 0

NICKEL 1 0 0 0 0

MANGANESE 13 4 7 11 13

SILVER 0 0 0 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0 0 0 0

POTASSIUM 7 9 12 28 10

BORON 46 52 45 35 3

SILICON 4 3 4 4 6

SODIUM 10 7 10 10 6

CALCIUM 2063 2339 1927 1906 1211

MAGNESIUM 356 112 169 238 950

PHOSPHORUS 871 1032 865 906 849

ZINC 1045 1225 955 1175 1009

BARIUM 0 0 0 0 0



SUS Viscosity @ 210øF 64.1 62.3 59.5 60.9 62.0

cSt Viscosity @ 100øC 11.36 10.86 10.8 10.48 10.77

Flashpoint in øF 435 405 440 415 370

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Water % 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Insolubles 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2

 

[d00df00d]

to BITOG!

Interesting report, and good job keeping the UOA history going. History is key to interpreting UOAs.

Is the car showing any other symptoms of problems?

 

[Greasymechtech]

Mods, driving style, details....

Any consumption?

 

[abycat]

magnesium sure fluctuates.

 

[Danh]

If these results are from Blackstone, they also report universal averages of all similar engine UOAs they've seen. This UOA showed an uptick in metals, but are they still close to universal averages?

 

[mgthompson]

Code:
The N51 engine is SULEV 50 states legal for emissions, and is quite different than the older design 48 states N52 engine. The N51 has an Aluminum block core with Magnesium cast around it, which might account for the high Magnesium levels. Since this engine was new in 2009, and is not produced in the same volume as the N52 engine, I am not sure that Blackstone has much history to work with.



2009 BMW 128i N51 3.0L, BMW 5W30 Synthetic, 25,440 Miles



MI on Oil 5,240 4,500 4,500 4,656 1,144 Universal

MI on Unit 25,440 20,200 10,300 5,800 1,444 Averages

Sample Date 08/11/14 07/08/13 07/14/11 08/18/10 10/17/09

Make Up Oil Added 0 quarts 0 quarts 0 quarts 0 quarts 0 quarts

Oil Type BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30 BMW 5W30



ALUMINUM 27 14 18 18 10 5

CHROMIUM 1 0 0 0 1 0

IRON 32 14 16 19 15 14

COPPER 37 27 25 24 13 8

LEAD 0 0 1 1 0 3

TIN 4 0 1 1 3 1

MOLYBDENUM 147 162 135 126 0 104

NICKEL 1 0 0 0 0 0

MANGANESE 13 4 7 11 13 2

SILVER 0 0 0 0 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0 0 0 0 0

POTASSIUM 7 9 12 28 10 2

BORON 46 52 45 35 3 53

SILICON 4 3 4 4 6 5

SODIUM 10 7 10 10 6 9

CALCIUM 2063 2339 1927 1906 1211 2466

MAGNESIUM 356 112 169 238 950 106

PHOSPHORUS 871 1032 865 906 849 829

ZINC 1045 1225 955 1175 1009 1008

BARIUM 0 0 0 0 0 0



SUS Viscosity @ 210øF 64.1 62.3 59.5 60.9 62.0

cSt Viscosity @ 100øC 11.36 10.86 10.8 10.48 10.77

Flashpoint in øF 435 405 440 415 370

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Water % 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Insolubles 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2

 

[mgthompson]

There are no symptoms of bad behavior, no leaks, no oil consumption between the annual 5,000 mile oil changes, and no unusual noises.

I usually drive very gently with an occational 7,000 RPM burst for blending with traffic on the highway.

The car was delivered in Munich and was driven in Germany for the first two weeks and 600 Miles. I kept it under the recommended 4,500 RPM (almost always), varied the speed on the Autobahn, and kept ot under 135 MPH.

 

[Danh]

These levels aren't alarmingly high. But the whole pattern is odd. Normally, the factory fill should be loaded with wear metals and they should gradually decrease with subsequent changes. In your case, the pattern seems to be reversed. And wear metals seem to be considerably higher than Blackstone has seen in comparable engines.

Maybe there's a problem with the engine. Maybe driving habits are different or have changed (does it sit for extended periods? do you use full throttle before fully warmed up?) Who has been doing the oil changes? It's not unheard of for BMW dealers to use a bulk oil that doesn't meet the factory spec. If the dealer has been doing the oil changes, maybe buy some Mobil1 that meets BMW's spec, DIY and do another UOA.

 

[mgthompson]

I did the oil change at 1,144 miles. The local BMW dealer did the next four annual oil changes, but forgot to give me a sample at 15,000 miles in 2012. I just did the oil change at 25,440 miles with BMW oil and will do all of the remaining changes. Next year's annual oil change and lab results will be interesting.

The car usually doesn't sit unused for more than a week. I am very careful with it when the engine is cold.

Thanks everyone for the advice and commentary.

 

[bigt61]

Hot oil before full throttle is critical. Try to make sure oil temp is at least 180F before you start getting on it hard. My 2 cents.

 

[mgthompson]

bigt61,

Unfortunately BMW doesn't put water or oil temperature gauges in most of their cars. After about 10 minutes of warm weather driving you can feel the difference in performance, so I would guess that the computers think that it is warmed up.

 

[Ndx]

Originally Posted By: mgthompson
bigt61,

Unfortunately BMW doesn't put water or oil temperature gauges in most of their cars. After about 10 minutes of warm weather driving you can feel the difference in performance, so I would guess that the computers think that it is warmed up.


There is way to check oil temperature, hidden menu but you have to enable it every time you restart car...

I don't think it can be coded..


Non OEM Scangauge (blend under mirror) shows all you need
torqueapp as well.

 

[jrustles]

why is this thread a mile wide; cannot read

edit: OP if you're going to include comments in your UOA within the "code tags" then you have to manually carriage return your long sentences, otherwise dont include the comments in the code tags and let it wrap lines by itself