91 BMW 318is / Amsoil 5W-40

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mdv

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Another feather in the cap for oil analysis. Car is new to me for a steal (now I know why). It has 74,000 original miles on it and has no driveability issues at all. No sludge was noticed on dipstick and when you pull the valve cover it's spotless, yet there is evidence of a coolant leak. Oil sample was drawn after 1,000 miles on the sample and 3 weeks driving. Blackstone was the lab.

Sample/Universal AVG
Aluminum 3,3
Chromium 1,1
Iron 11,11
Copper 7,5
Lead 6,3
Tin 0,1
Moly 5,48
Nickel 0,1
Potassium 29 , 2
Boron 12,106
Silicon 5,5
Sodium 74 ,8
Calcium 2866, 2343
Magnesium 12,220
Phosphorus 988, 848
Zinc 1168, 1004

Viscosity 65.9 should be 65-76
No Fuel, No Water
Insolubles .3 should be Antifreeze .15
 
Did you notice the level of coolant dropping at all or was the uoa your only indication?
dunno.gif
 
You are right. Oil analysis paid off for you bigtime. Will you be able to get anything back from the seller??
 
I wonder if this engine might benefit from a gasket stop leak product?

You could monitor with UOA's for a while and see if you fixed it.

I had a cracked cylinder head in a 77 BMW 530i and there was obvious coolant loss and plumes of white smoke at start up.

Short version: I disconnected the heater before the firewall, and ran 2 tubes of aluminum stop leak and that stopped the leak. Then I flushed the coolant and reconnected the heater core hoses.

That sleazy repair lasted over 100K and saved me 3 grand.

Maybe its worth a try?
 
It's a weird situation. I noticed coolant loss and a white plume that was only during warmup. No smoke once up to temp. I also discovered it would push more coolant with the radiator cap tight vs. loose. I knew the car had an overheat event a year ago, but the shop that replaced the thermostat for the PO noted no damage. My guess is that the head is slightly warped and causes enough a leak to burn coolant when warming up, but once everything has expanded at operating temp the leak is sealed. Other than the small coolant loss, there was no indication of a problem. No sludge/white stuff and spark plugs looked normal when pulled since this wasn't occurring 100% of engine run time. Oil analysis definitly helped me confirm the condition prior to anything catastrophic happening. I'll even plug the Amsoil for having a strong add pack to help minimize damage while running contaminated
smile.gif


The car was cheap enough to cover the repair and still have value in it as long as the head doesn't need to be replaced. If that's the case it's getting an M52 or something instead. Hello new track car!!


Stop leak lasted 100K
shocked.gif
Now that's impressive.
 
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