01 bmw 325xi castrol edge euro 0w-40 7500mi, 175k

[akhoundog]

castrol edge euro (made in belgium if that matters) 0w-40 with MANN filter. MANN air filter too.

I haven't seen many e46 UOA and i'm not sure how to interpret my UOA. This oil seen some diverse use, It's been in since august and seen a 50/50 use in highway/city driving. The highway miles were hard miles...many 4+ hour trips at 80-90mph, with the gearing my car has that's around 3500-4000 rpm. This oil also seen about a month of -20 to -40 below starts.

iron seems high yes? lifters can be noisey at times, could lifter wear produce higher iron? Should i shorten oil changes to 5k?

should i consider a different air filter? I replaced the valve cover and gasket with light RTV about 20k ago..

Thanks for any input.

 

[edyvw]

I would stick to MANN.
As for hard miles, they are really not. That is sweet spot for Euro cars. Take into consideration that those cars are driven on Auto Bahns 100+ mph for hours.
If I were you I would switch to Castrol 0W30 in winter months. It will reach operating temperature faster and has slightly better cold start performance.

 

[Timo325]

Could the air filter have contributed to wear? Silicon was only 10..

 

[Artem]

Hard to say, judging by just this one report. More info is needed but if I was to take a guess, I'd blame the winter starts on the extra wear

assuming the block wears average on a typical summer oil change interval.

Just my personal thoughts. I would love to see a repeat wth the same driving conditions but with "normal" temps outside, Hahaha, just to compare wear trend.

 

[bigt61]

16 year old BMW w 38 ppm iron over 7.5k - in Alaska - is nothing. Silicon is good, low if anything. 1/2 qt oil usage is also very good. Heck, w those #'s I'd extend the OCI to 10k - just keep it topped off. Keep doing what you're doing, just let it warm up for a few minutes when it's really cold.

 

[KCJeep]

All that and a TBN of over 5, oil looks to be in phenomenal shape to me, viscosity, flash point and fuel all say it's good to go. I too think this is a great report and what "wear" numbers you have are likely affected by brutal cold starts.

I am getting higher and higher on this Castrol 0w40 seems to be mighty impressive stuff. No Ti showing in your report though, is it older? I believe more current batches are advertising and showing about 40 ppm Ti.

 

[Ohle_Manezzini]

Silicon is only 10ppm. No dirt in there. The oil could be doing some cleaning, sludge and varnish dissolving, reliasing some metals trapped in it.

 

[IllinoisSparky]

Originally Posted By: edyvw
I would stick to MANN.
As for hard miles, they are really not. That is sweet spot for Euro cars. Take into consideration that those cars are driven on Auto Bahns 100+ mph for hours.
If I were you I would switch to Castrol 0W30 in winter months. It will reach operating temperature faster and has slightly better cold start performance.


+1
IMHO, you won't find filters BETTER than Mann for a German car. Equal, maybe, such as OEM, Mahle, Hengst in fleece models.
Seems to be a strong support for the Castrol LL-01 oils here at BITOG, so no reason to switch brands, either.

I would keep doing what you are doing.

 

[zeng]

Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
The oil could be doing some cleaning, sludge and varnish dissolving, reliasing some metals trapped in it.

Makes good sense .....

 

[akhoundog]

Originally Posted By: KCJeep
All that and a TBN of over 5, oil looks to be in phenomenal shape to me, viscosity, flash point and fuel all say it's good to go. I too think this is a great report and what "wear" numbers you have are likely affected by brutal cold starts.

I am getting higher and higher on this Castrol 0w40 seems to be mighty impressive stuff. No Ti showing in your report though, is it older? I believe more current batches are advertising and showing about 40 ppm Ti.


I am unsure of the oil's date of production however I just received it from Amazon a few weeks ago. It's extremely hard to get anything but m1 euro here in Alaska. I liked the m1 euro however my oil consumption is a bit higher with that oil.

 

[zoli]

Originally Posted By: IllinoisSparky

...IMHO, you won't find filters BETTER than Mann for a German car. Equal, maybe, such as OEM, Mahle, Hengst...

Yes, these are my favourite brands helped me a lot removing the sludge from my neglected Swedish light turbo charged cars.

 

[Ohle_Manezzini]

Originally Posted By: zeng
Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
The oil could be doing some cleaning, sludge and varnish dissolving, reliasing some metals trapped in it.

Makes good sense .....

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

0w-30 for those cold starts.. IJS.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: IllinoisSparky
Originally Posted By: edyvw
I would stick to MANN.
As for hard miles, they are really not. That is sweet spot for Euro cars. Take into consideration that those cars are driven on Auto Bahns 100+ mph for hours.
If I were you I would switch to Castrol 0W30 in winter months. It will reach operating temperature faster and has slightly better cold start performance.


+1
IMHO, you won't find filters BETTER than Mann for a German car. Equal, maybe, such as OEM, Mahle, Hengst in fleece models.
Seems to be a strong support for the Castrol LL-01 oils here at BITOG, so no reason to switch brands, either.

I would keep doing what you are doing.
Yes, but not Castrol 5W40. That is POS.

 

[WhizkidTN]

I'd a bit surprised about the Ti being non-existent in this Castrol Edge 0W-40 UOA. I wonder if this was some older version before they added the Ti to the mix?