2016 Mini Countryman, EDGE 0W-30, 3,600 mile OCI

[1JZ_E46]

First UOA from our CPO 2016 Mini Countryman S. This car has the 1.6L T-GDI N18 Prince engine. Mann oil filter used.

Initial impressions, questions:
- Where is the titanium? My last UOA of this oil had around 50ppm of titanium. These bottles sat for about a year, but they were shaken vigorously prior to filling.
- Iron is a little high, but this is only its fourth fill of oil (see below).
- Insolubles... this is the first UOA I've received with insolubles above 0.1%. Could this be due to GDI soot?
- Viscosity loss is more than expected. Previous UOA of Castrol 0W-30 (non-GDI engine) was 11.7 after 5k miles.
- Refilled with Castrol 0W-40

History:
- 1: 9,900 mile OCI (FF)
- 2: 7,600 mile OCI (BMW 0W-30 LL-01FE)
- 3: 3,200 mile OCI (BMW 0W-30 LL-01FE)
- 4: 3,600 mile OCI (Castrol 0W-30 LL-01... this fill)

 

[oil_film_movies]

I'm always amazed at the differences between some engines with iron ppm. Many Toyota engines would show around 6 ppm for 3,600 mles here.
I suggest a magnetic drain plug and see what you snag.
U asked "insolubles high due to soot?", & we know the oil filter would catch anything over 25 microns. Soot is around half a micron though. It could be Blackstone's insoluble test is catching it. Does anybody know what Blackstone does to measure insolubles? We'd have to know what the test actually did.

 

[buster]

Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
I'm always amazed at the differences between some engines with iron ppm. Many Toyota engines would show around 6 ppm for 3,600 mles here.
I suggest a magnetic drain plug and see what you snag.
U asked "insolubles high due to soot?", & we know the oil filter would catch anything over 25 microns. Soot is around half a micron though. It could be Blackstone's insoluble test is catching it. Does anybody know what Blackstone does to measure insolubles? We'd have to know what the test actually did.


Same. Some engines just don't show that much Fe, regardless of the oil brand. Some engines, like GM engines, generally show higher wear metals. Many of them still run a long time too despite showing higher Fe numbers.

 

[StevieC]

I think this engine is too new for the Iron to have calmed down. I wouldn't worry about it, but continue to monitor the trend.

I'm not a fan of Castrol Edge because I think there are better oils out there for the same price and I think you might have better results switching to another brand that meets your specification like M1 for example.

 

[Patman]

I'm not a fan of the US made Castrol Edge products, but isn't this still the better built German version here?

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted by StevieC
I think this engine is too new for the Iron to have calmed down. I wouldn't worry about it, but continue to monitor the trend.

I'm not a fan of Castrol Edge because I think there are better oils out there for the same price and I think you might have better results switching to another brand that meets your specification like M1 for example.


It's seen several years of use and over 24,000 miles. The engine is definitely broken-in by now.

Plus look at Blackstone's average column. Iron at 40ppm looks normal to them, hense it's not flagged.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
I'm always amazed at the differences between some engines with iron ppm. Many Toyota engines would show around 6 ppm for 3,600 mles here.
I suggest a magnetic drain plug and see what you snag.



X2 on the magnetic drain plug or even an oil filter magnet. It'd be interesting to see if iron will drop some.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Artem
Originally Posted by StevieC
I think this engine is too new for the Iron to have calmed down. I wouldn't worry about it, but continue to monitor the trend.

I'm not a fan of Castrol Edge because I think there are better oils out there for the same price and I think you might have better results switching to another brand that meets your specification like M1 for example.


It's seen several years of use and over 24,000 miles. The engine is definitely broken-in by now.

Plus look at Blackstone's average column. Iron at 40ppm looks normal to them, hense it's not flagged.

Blackstone is about as good as parcel paper IMO. And 24K miles isn't fully broken in. 60K miles I would considered broken in. But the Iron is typically higher but can be lower if the right lubricant is used in these higher iron reports.

 

[1JZ_E46]

These engines produce a lot of iron. Our last Mini with the same type of engine (but with no GDI or turbo) had high iron as well. I'm not overly concerned about it.

Given the known timing chain problems on these cars, plus a high soot environment (GDI), OCIs will he kept around 3k.

Car requires LL-01 or LL-01 FE

 

[dave1251]

Looks fine. I would sample at 6K.

 

[Kjmack]

Originally Posted by dave1251
Looks fine. I would sample at 6K.

Worthless post ! How long did it take you to come up with that brainatorm Dave ?

 

[1JZ_E46]

My main question is, where did the titanium go? Very odd.