A5/b5 oil used in bmw m62 v8 engine

[salgra]

Hi all,

I own a bmw x5 4.4 m62 .
Just found out the oil used in the last 80.000km was a a5/b5 5w30. A ford oil also carrying the WSS-M2C913-D spec. The oil was changed every 20.000km. This oil choice was by mistake. Engine seems fine and runs great. Oil consumption is 1 liter every 6500km.

Driving is mostly normal. However. 4 times a year i go on holiday driving thru germany. Running top speed (Wot) for 15 min or more is no exception (240km/h).

I also do some towing

Car milage is 310.000km oil before the last 80.000 km was 5w40 ll01.

What to do?
Do you guys think there is damage? Will there be more wear than normal?

Thanks for your time.

 

[drtyler]

Your car's engine is most likely fine. BMW uses an A5/B5 oil in the US for many of the cars now, and back spec'd it on others which originally specified an LL-01 rated oil. I'm not saying it's ideal, but it likely works fine for the way many of the cars here are driven.

I would begin using an LL-01 or LL-04 oil (whichever BMW recommends for your vehicle) from this point forward though. LL-01 is A3/B4, and LL-04 is C3, both of which have higher HTHS than the A5/B5 oils.

 

[salgra]

Just did the 5th oil change. So a uoa is useless
I do my own oil change.
Just saw the 60l barrel i use. I assumed it was ll01 5w40 last 2 years. I feel verry stupid.

 

[salgra]

The successor of this engine the n62 is allowed to use ll01fe wich basicly is a5/b5 oil. Does anyone have a insight to what difference there is, making the n62 suitable for low hths oil?

 

[SR5]

That Ford WSS-M2C913-D spec means it's a 5W30 A5/B5 oil that is a thin 30 grade but with extra TBN (from 8 to 10) for longer oil life and with extra ZDDP zinc ( ~ 1000 ppm) for more wear protection.

So yes it was thinner than expected, but for normal driving that would not be a problem. For faster driving, 15 minutes shouldn't overheat (and thin) the oil too much. Also Ford added all that extra ZDDP to protect their cam chain from metal on metal wear, which would have offered a safetynet of boundary protection on the metal surfaces of the engine. As for your 20,000 km OCi the extra TBN was added by Ford to ensure no acid build-up issues over such long OCI, so you should be fine here.

The Ford WSS-M2C913-D oil, is a very interesting oil, yes it's a bit on the thin side (for fuel economy), but it starts life as a high quality A5/B5 oil then they boost it with all these extra adds to give the oil longer life and make it provide more engine protection. Go to the correct BMW oil now, but I wouldn't worry too much, you are probably fine. It's not a 24 hour endurance race oil, but it should have handled your situation fine.

Interesting thing, because the Ford oil has elevated Zinc (ZDDP) it exceeds the ILSAC Phos limits for API SN, so it's "only" a SL oil, but in reality it's one of the best 30 grade oils you can get.

 

[slo town]

Originally Posted By: salgra
Hi all,

I own a bmw x5 4.4 m62 .
Just found out the oil used in the last 80.000km was a a5/b5 5w30. A ford oil also carrying the WSS-M2C913-D spec. The oil was changed every 20.000km. This oil choice was by mistake. Engine seems fine and runs great. Oil consumption is 1 liter every 6500km.

Driving is mostly normal. However. 4 times a year i go on holiday driving thru germany. Running top speed (Wot) for 15 min or more is no exception (240km/h).

I also do some towing

Car milage is 310.000km oil before the last 80.000 km was 5w40 ll01.

What to do?
Do you guys think there is damage? Will there be more wear than normal?

Thanks for your time.



I take really good care of my machinery and trust it. But you've got a certain amount of courage to push a big, heavy X5 up to 150mph for sustained periods - an X5 that has a big, complicated V8 with 195,000 miles on it!

It's all legal where you do it. I'm not throwing stones. I wish I could do that too!

Cheers,

Scott

 

[1JZ_E46]

Me personally, I would replace it with the correct oil. M62 engine is an older design that was designed for thicker oil. Especially with that many miles; don’t give it any reason to break down!