Castrol Edge 0W-40, BMW N52

Joined
Aug 17, 2018
Messages
100
Location
TX
Approx 1,700 miles on the oil.

Virgin KV100 spec for this oil is 13.1. Last o/c a year ago the KV100 was a little concerning at 11.43.
This one is a a surprise how little the KV100 degraded. Same oil, about the same mileage. I tried to not short trip as much, often taking the long way home from my usual stops. Still, 11.43 last year vs 13.0 now?

Makes me wonder about the accuracy of these analysis. This was a NAPA analysis, prior one was Blackstone. I used NAPA this time simply to try a different lab.

The only other thing that stuck out was the relatively high magnesium. The block on this car are a magnesium alloy with I believe no cylinder liner.
 

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The magnesium is likely part of the additive package.

The port injected N52 isn't an engine that is particularly hard on oil, unless it's seen track or racing duty. I wouldn't be too concerned with that low viscosity that was reported previously.

There can certainly be error in the viscosity measurements. ALS, which you used, is typically better than Blackstone.

The analyses are best used to determine if the oil is contaminated with coolant, fuel, or dirt ingested from the intake.

They also provide good material for those that like to talk about that big slug of moly in certain oils, or lack thereof in others.
 
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The magnesium is likely part of the additive package.

The port injected N52 isn't an engine that is particularly hard on oil, unless it's seen track or racing duty. I wouldn't be too concerned with that low viscosity that was reported previously.

There can certainly be error in the viscosity measurements. ALS, which you used, is typically better than Blackstone.

The analyses are best used to determine if the oil is contaminated with coolant, fuel, or dirt ingested from the intake.

They also provide good material for those that like to talk about that big slug of moly in certain oils, or lack thereof in others.

There is a VOA recently posted on here that shows Mg at 20 ppm.
However, there is a comparison of VOA's from 2014 and 2020 on the Edge 0W-30 showing mg of 599 & 17 ppm, respectively. The 2014 oil had LL01 approval. My oil was from a purchase in maybe 2016 and it was LL01 approved. It appears that Castrol changed the additive package, at least on the 0W-30.

For now I'm going to put the high mg down to additives as you suggest (y)
 
I wonder why the Calcium levels vary greatly with this oil looking at the various uoas of this oil.
 
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