Mobil 1 0W40/5W30, 13,478 miles, 2001 BMW 330ci

[dilettante]

code:

---

Make: BMW

Model: 330ci

Year: 2001

Date: 5/3/05

Lab: Blackstone

Brand: Mobil 1

Weight: 0w40

Miles on unit: 98000

Miles on oil: 13478

Filter: Mann/Mahle; 1 change halfway through

Sump vol: 7qts

Make up: 5qts (of 5w30)



Al 4

Cr 1

Fe 37

Cu 3

Pb 1

Sn 0

Mo 68

Ni 1

Mn 4

Ag 0

Ti 0

K 0

B 83

Si 4

Na 5

Ca 2787

Mg 15

P 833

Zn 921

Ba 0



Sus@210 67.4

Visc@100 12.26

Fuel < .5

Glycol none

water none

Insolubles .4

TBN 1.9

---

Notes: this is actually a couple of thousand miles short of a "normal" change for me; kinda boring results; large sump; it does use 1 quart oil every ~2600 miles (she's getting on in miles); oil filter always changed about halfway through. RP 10W40 was used after this drain - not too much data on RP, so that should be interesting.
Enjoy.

[ June 28, 2005, 10:05 PM: Message edited by: dilettante ]

 

[Alan]

Man,adding 5qts of M1 for makeup has gotta be expensive.

 

[Gary Allan]

Is your oil consumption absolutely flat? No waiting until 4k or so?? Always around 2600 miles?

 

[Cutehumor]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Alan:
Man,adding 5qts of M1 for makeup has gotta be expensive.

---

He does drive a beemer ya know

 

[TooSlick]

Try running the Mobil 1, 5w-40 and I'd bet this oil consumption goes way down. In addition your valve train wear will be reduced signficantly. Give the capacity of this sump and the # of makeup oil, your iron levels are > 60 ppm in 13,000 miles.

TS

 

[Dr. T]

Why 5-30 for make-up instead of more 0-40??

 

[dilettante]

Make-up oil IS expensive. But isn't that a BITOG wet dream - all that tinkering with oil.

The oil use is not too surprising - it's my understanding that as these engines age, they start using - but no white smoke out the tailpipe (it can go as high as 1 quart per 1000 miles).

Not sure how to plug-up the oil consumption - sure the old adage is to use thicker oil. But 0W40 is ~14.5 cSt, the RP 10W40 in there now is around 14.5 also. Seems that most multi-40s are around 14.5. Hard to find anything in the 15s - please let me know if there is a good one - maybe AMSOIL 5W40 (~14.5 cSt) and take advantage of the thickening (that so many people hate).

I used M1 5W30 as make-up because there was an entire case of it sitting on the floor, gathering dust.

Cheers.

[ June 29, 2005, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: dilettante ]

 

[shanneba]

The only time my 2003 BMW 330Ci has used any oil between changes has been the one 5900 mile OCI with Mobil 1 5w-30. that was only half a quart. Never had to add any oil in 3 OCIs of 5000+ miles with the BMW 5w-30 synthetic. About 3000 miles so far on Castrol GC 0w-30 and no drop in the oil level.

I don't have 100,000 miles yet, but most other BMW UOAs don't list anywhere near your oil consumption.

 

[pscholte]

quote:

---

Originally posted by shanneba:
About 3000 miles so far on Castrol GC 0w-30 and no drop in the oil level.

---

Ah yes, ain't it grand?

 

[dilettante]

quote:

---

Originally posted by shanneba:
The only time my 2003 BMW 330Ci has used any oil between changes has been the one 5900 mile OCI with Mobil 1 5w-30. that was only half a quart. Never had to add any oil in 3 OCIs of 5000+ miles with the BMW 5w-30 synthetic. About 3000 miles so far on Castrol GC 0w-30 and no drop in the oil level.

I don't have 100,000 miles yet, but most other BMW UOAs don't list anywhere near your oil consumption.

---

Ya, mine never used oil either from 0 miles to about ~75k miles. Then a slow process of taking a quart here or there. By the time I started really noticing and later quantifying it, that's when the angina pain hit.

As far as I can tell, there are no other M54s here on BITOG with 100k miles. I've heard that oil use seems to be a function of driving type - highway=high use, city=low use.

Cheers.

 

[The Critic]

dilettante,
Consider an Auto-RX, it may help.

Michael

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Maybe changing that oil at around 8-9K intervals would of slowed aging-consumption -- without any thoughts about an Auto-RX.

 

[supraturbo]

Look for blue smoke on a cold startup. Your consumption is probably just from worn valve stem seals. If this is the case oil will burn after the engine sits and when engine braking-decelleration. Extensive highway miles will show low consumption and short trips-spirited driving will show more.