I found this report by Vanderbilt Chemicals in a separate thread and thought it was very interesting regarding GDI engines, timing chain wear, and the impacts of Mo, Zn, P, and B.
Essentially, they show that Zn and P actually increase timing chain wear in GDI engines (in a high-soot environment), and that Mo has the most significant impact in reducing timing chain wear.
Long story short, we just purchased a relatively new (20k miles) T-GDI Mini Countryman. It uses the "Prince" engine (Peugot/BMW joint venture) that has been plagued by worn-out timing chains in high instances; often in as little as 60k miles. What is interesting, is that the engine specifies BMW Longlife-01 oil (or its thinner variant, LL-01 FE)... which is an A3/B4-based oil with high-ZDDP, high-Calcium, and no Mo or Mg (commonly referred to as a "stout" oil here). The Longlife-01 oil specification, while incredibly stringent, largely pre-dates BMW GDI engines.
It got me thinking, perhaps Longlife-01 is not sufficient for the type of timing chain in the Prince engine, and perhaps using an oil with Moly (like the new d1g2 formulations) would help address the inherent timing chain issues with the Prince engine. HOWEVER, the car is under warranty, so I am stuck using LL-01 oil.
I am considering adding Moly via an additive to aid in timing chain protection, and I think getting the treat to be about 100ppm would be roughly inline with d1g2 formulations... This would require about a half-bottle of Liqui-Moly MoS2 (are there any other Moly additives?). Please let me know your thoughts and/or insights. (p.s. I don't want to get into a warranty debate... absent a UOA, there would be no way to know the moly is present). Thanks all!
Essentially, they show that Zn and P actually increase timing chain wear in GDI engines (in a high-soot environment), and that Mo has the most significant impact in reducing timing chain wear.
Long story short, we just purchased a relatively new (20k miles) T-GDI Mini Countryman. It uses the "Prince" engine (Peugot/BMW joint venture) that has been plagued by worn-out timing chains in high instances; often in as little as 60k miles. What is interesting, is that the engine specifies BMW Longlife-01 oil (or its thinner variant, LL-01 FE)... which is an A3/B4-based oil with high-ZDDP, high-Calcium, and no Mo or Mg (commonly referred to as a "stout" oil here). The Longlife-01 oil specification, while incredibly stringent, largely pre-dates BMW GDI engines.
It got me thinking, perhaps Longlife-01 is not sufficient for the type of timing chain in the Prince engine, and perhaps using an oil with Moly (like the new d1g2 formulations) would help address the inherent timing chain issues with the Prince engine. HOWEVER, the car is under warranty, so I am stuck using LL-01 oil.
I am considering adding Moly via an additive to aid in timing chain protection, and I think getting the treat to be about 100ppm would be roughly inline with d1g2 formulations... This would require about a half-bottle of Liqui-Moly MoS2 (are there any other Moly additives?). Please let me know your thoughts and/or insights. (p.s. I don't want to get into a warranty debate... absent a UOA, there would be no way to know the moly is present). Thanks all!
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