I saw a video by Lake Speed Jr talking about additives in oils. He seemed to indicate that calcium levels over 1500ppm were not good for DI engines. My 14 MB E350 is DI and spent it's 72k life on Mobil 1 0w40 or dealer 5-40 oils. The 0-40 shows 3pk ppm of calcium while the Quaker State Euro 5w40 shows 1500ppm. Would it be wise to switch to the Quaker State 5w40 229.5 oil for the future? Engine runs fine at present. I've been using Quaker State 5w40 in my other MB 3.5 DI.
Calcium levels in Euro spec oils
- Thread starter loneryder
- Start date
Too much calcium in the oil is bad for turbo GDI engines since it increases the risk of LSPI (low speed pre-ignition), which can be very damaging. It is only really a risk on turbo engines, as LSPI requires very high cylinder pressure. If your engine is a not turbocharged, it isn't anything to worry about. If it is turbocharged, and known to have issues with LSPI, I would stick to oils that are relatively low in calcium.
This engine is naturally aspirated, right? If so, you have nothing to worry about with LSPI. LSPI only shows up with DI and forced induction. It also rarely shows up in 6 cylinder Euro engines, even with turbos. BMW, Porsche, Audi, Merc, etc. had been filling 6 cylinder turbo DI cars with high calcium oils for years before anyone heard of LSPI.
mine isn't ,its naturally aspired and DI ,but there was LSPI diagnosed. and i think from some online UOA i read ,that some oils i used had almost 1800 calcium.
1,995 cc i am on the limit ,close to not to happen! 
I'm more worried about carbon on intake valves. Does calcium affect that?
Nope. You already have 72k on high SAPS oils. I would plan for a cleaning at some point if the engine is known for intake valve carbon buildup.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
LSPI diagnosed?
It is mostly turbo engines below 2ltr displacement. Eco modes and fuel saving transmissions don’t help.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
This.
LSPI showed up when the US and Japanese marques started to produce really low displacement TGDI engines programmed for economy, which results in them lugging. So, you have low engine speed (hence, the "low speed" in low speed pre-ignition) with a lot of load and boost.
The German TGDI's weren't lugging, so they weren't creating conditions where LSPI would happen.
That said, Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 0w40 is now API SP and has reduced calcium anyways so...
i stopped going to this mechanic, anyway. for some other reasons..mechanics in Europe lack of honesty and are greedy with money. he is one of them.
but i can't say he was not a good one. he is second generation, he tracks a lot , he drifts a lot , he races a lot and along with his repair garage with his brother ,he tunes up some very powerfull models ..and he is a bmw lover himself. so he knows bmws very well.
he did a test drive with my car to check something else in my engine. he connected the diagnostic tool and he went for the ride. when came back he told me that 2 of my injectors were about to fail and that i had some lspi. he didn't hear it , i never did too. like in my previous car. but i don't know how he made that conclusion, he said some numbers on the diagnostic tool . i am not into mechanics so deep. he didn't charge me for that and lspi is not some kind of service to earn money from it.
and he told me to fill my deposit with top gas shell v-power racing ,which is the most expensive gas in europe, a good one i can say that, and take long rides every week. these 2 will improve both my injectors and my lspi. and use a SN plus oil( anti lspi ). but nothing worked.
i know he told me the truth about the injectors bcs. they finally ended after 2 years. but for lspi i am not sure what he meant.
i don't use eco mode and i do only spiritually driving. i drive my bmw like i robbed a bank and long gone..
the only thing ,if that matters to create lspi ,maybe was that i did then a lot of short commute for about 2-3 years. spiritually driving yes, but short ones on the other side.
the fact is that no other mechanic told me about LSPI. not even the dealers service ,they have better diagnostics.
but i can't say he was not a good one. he is second generation, he tracks a lot , he drifts a lot , he races a lot and along with his repair garage with his brother ,he tunes up some very powerfull models ..and he is a bmw lover himself. so he knows bmws very well.
he did a test drive with my car to check something else in my engine. he connected the diagnostic tool and he went for the ride. when came back he told me that 2 of my injectors were about to fail and that i had some lspi. he didn't hear it , i never did too. like in my previous car. but i don't know how he made that conclusion, he said some numbers on the diagnostic tool . i am not into mechanics so deep. he didn't charge me for that and lspi is not some kind of service to earn money from it.
and he told me to fill my deposit with top gas shell v-power racing ,which is the most expensive gas in europe, a good one i can say that, and take long rides every week. these 2 will improve both my injectors and my lspi. and use a SN plus oil( anti lspi ). but nothing worked.
i know he told me the truth about the injectors bcs. they finally ended after 2 years. but for lspi i am not sure what he meant.
i don't use eco mode and i do only spiritually driving. i drive my bmw like i robbed a bank and long gone..
the only thing ,if that matters to create lspi ,maybe was that i did then a lot of short commute for about 2-3 years. spiritually driving yes, but short ones on the other side.
the fact is that no other mechanic told me about LSPI. not even the dealers service ,they have better diagnostics.
i am not so sure that there are.
mb 229.52 ? yes there are many. but if it is a bmw ll and MB 229.52 and SN is it then against lspi oil? without API SP?
the only oil that has all these approvals/specs will be the new Mobil 1 5w30 we talked about. its not sold everywhere in europe yet.
Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 0w40 API SP too. unfortunately
It's an LSPI oil as far as the automaker whose cert has an LSPI test. Unfortunately we don't know what type of LSPI test Mercedes has I would opine that it doesn't matter because the LSPI test used for API SN+/SP isn't used in vehicles sold today.
My car has 3 driving modes...econ, sport, and manual. It defaults to econ and does tend to lug the engine. Don't know if this matters on a non turbo. If I put it in Sport, it stays in 6th gear most of the time and shifts to 7 when you are at highway speeds. I've had 2 indy MB mechanics tell me they haven't seen the intake valve problem on MB's DI engines(V6) I have no clue about the MB 4cyl.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
No, if it's not forced induction, it doesn't matter.
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