BMW N55 Turbo-charged Engine Oil

[shortyb]

Suffice it to say, the current crop of oils are going to be toasted pretty quick in the newer BMW engines. Even the once "cutting edge" GC is seriously compromised by D/I and turbo. Throw in newer fuel technologies and that drops oil life even faster. UOA is still the best/only guide to determine type and length of service limits with what we have available now.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: m6pwr
There will be an added dimension to this topic soon when the next generation of M cars comes out with turbocharged di motors. It will be interesting to see if BMW comes out with some sort of M-specific oil (I don't think it will be Castrol TWS 10w-60) for these motors or simply specs the current BMW High Performance 5w-30. It will also be interesting to see what oil temps these motors run.


I'm sure they will. As for the 5w-30 oil, I have confirmed that the BMW part number for the appropriate oil to be used in the N54 (and probably the N55) is NOT the same as the BMW part number for BMW naturally aspirated engines. This was confirmed by viewing the 'oil sticker' placed inside the engine bay near the hood latch. If the part number for the N55 is the same as that which appears for the N54 you're looking at a 40w oil.

 

[shortyb]

Originally Posted By: BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted By: m6pwr
There will be an added dimension to this topic soon when the next generation of M cars comes out with turbocharged di motors. It will be interesting to see if BMW comes out with some sort of M-specific oil (I don't think it will be Castrol TWS 10w-60) for these motors or simply specs the current BMW High Performance 5w-30. It will also be interesting to see what oil temps these motors run.


I'm sure they will. As for the 5w-30 oil, I have confirmed that the BMW part number for the appropriate oil to be used in the N54 (and probably the N55) is NOT the same as the BMW part number for BMW naturally aspirated engines. This was confirmed by viewing the 'oil sticker' placed inside the engine bay near the hood latch. If the part number for the N55 is the same as that which appears for the N54 you're looking at a 40w oil.



Interesting, do you happen to have that part number? IIRC, BMW offers the BMW High Performance Synthetic 5W-30 for all gasoline engines.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: shortyb
Originally Posted By: BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted By: m6pwr
There will be an added dimension to this topic soon when the next generation of M cars comes out with turbocharged di motors. It will be interesting to see if BMW comes out with some sort of M-specific oil (I don't think it will be Castrol TWS 10w-60) for these motors or simply specs the current BMW High Performance 5w-30. It will also be interesting to see what oil temps these motors run.


I'm sure they will. As for the 5w-30 oil, I have confirmed that the BMW part number for the appropriate oil to be used in the N54 (and probably the N55) is NOT the same as the BMW part number for BMW naturally aspirated engines. This was confirmed by viewing the 'oil sticker' placed inside the engine bay near the hood latch. If the part number for the N55 is the same as that which appears for the N54 you're looking at a 40w oil.



Interesting, do you happen to have that part number? IIRC, BMW offers the BMW High Performance Synthetic 5W-30 for all gasoline engines.


N54 is # 07.51-0.002 545

I would think that our friends in Europe and Australia could provide some insight.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: dparm
What the [censored] are they calling it the "35" for then? It's not even a 3.5L...

BMW has stopped following this rule long time ago. For example, the E60 525i and E90 325i actually had a detuned version of the 3-liter inline-6. Same with the more recent 328i/528i - also a 3-liter engine. The old E39 540i actually had a 4.4-liter engine.

 

[Trajan]

Just to confuse things:

sDrive23i, sDrive30i, sDrive35i, sDrive35is

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/z4/z4/2009/introduction.html

 

[FrenchTex]

Hey Guys,

This is only my second post here, but since I own a 535i, I did quite a bit of research on oil and OCI and think I may be able to offer "some" insight:
- PN 07510002545 is in fact an old PN, and it was superceded by PN 07510017866 which is indeed the BMW synthetic 5W30. BMW, at least in the US, only offers this oil for all gasoline engines
- It seems in countries outside the US, BMW specifies an LL-04 oil for the X35i (N54 engine) but we cannot use it in the US due to differences in fuel quality and a richer fuel injection. I found no data as to whether this oil mitigates fuel dilution issues or high temperature issues
- Forums (not only BITOG) do show some data of lousy UOA after 1000 mi oil changes, but at the same time, I have seen several UOA reports of owners of 335i with OCI of 4000, 6000 and 7000 whose data looked pretty good. I have even found 1 report where a guy had done a 14kmi OCI and his oil was not great but not as terrible as one might think (the oil had thickened to a 15W40 equivalent and only had 2% TBN)

Like other owners I concluded the following:
- BMW's recommendation of 15kmi OCI is more than optimistic, so for anyone keeping the car long term, a safe bet is to do a shorter OCI
- That shorter OCI could be as short as 1 to 2kmi for someone driving in "severe" conditions (cold start, numerous short trips, high power acceleration, tracking) and as long as the full OCI (for someone driving a very long commute for example)
- There is no recent data that I have seen lately justifying the concern over fuel dilution. There was a lot of talk about 2007 and early 2008 models, but since then, every UOA I have pulled showed no sign of massive fuel dilution. I am in fact wonderring if the fuel map has been altered by BMW in recent versions of the DME
- Everyone has seen that these engines run hot (from 240 to 280F in every day applications), however, similarly to the fuel dilution, all the recent UOA I have seen showed nothing worse than 1 grade worse of shearing or 2 grades of thickening for the cold viscosity measurement

As far as I am concerned, I did an oil change at 2400mi (break-in), will do one at 6500mi with a UOA, and then I will get a free one at 1 year and about 10,500mi. I will do a second UOA then and determine how frequently I need to change oil. I have also purchased some Motul X-Max 5W40 for summer application

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: FrenchTex
Hey Guys,

This is only my second post here, but since I own a 535i, I did quite a bit of research on oil and OCI and think I may be able to offer "some" insight:
- PN 07510002545 is in fact an old PN, and it was superceded by PN 07510017866 which is indeed the BMW synthetic 5W30.


Thanks, We're(I'm) wondering what the pn# is for the N55.

I know the #2545 is a 5w-40 Hi Pef going back a long time ago, but why that sticker would appear inside the engine bay of a N54 causes some to question the validity of the LL01 30w oil (E46's have been using #7866 for years), and so naturally we're curious about the N55.

 

[edhackett]

Subaru can build a high specific output(higher than the N55), turbocharged car that you have to really, really work to get the oil temp up to 200F. What's the problem with BMW?

Ed

 

[d00df00d]

Flat-4 vs. I-6. Also, doesn't the STI have a nice oil cooler?

 

[dparm]

Yes, the STI has an upgraded cooling system over a regular WRX.

I would be curious to see a UOA after 5k on one of these suckers. [censored], if anyone is feeling adventurous, send off a virgin sample of the OEM oil.

 

[edhackett]

My experience is with the regular WRX and Legacy GT. They have oil to water heat exchangers at the oil filter. I never got the oil on my WRX over 200F, even running 90 mph for 66 miles in triple digit temperatures. My WRX was 125 hp/L vs the BMW N55 at 102 hp/L.

With BMW's ability to over-complicate a vehicle, they can't add a proper oil cooler?

Ed

 

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: edhackett
With BMW's ability to over-complicate a vehicle, they can't add a proper oil cooler?

Ed


The BMW I drove has a little air-to-oil cooler in one of the fender vents. I'd love to see a detailed description of the coolant and oil cooling systems to understand what explains the high oil temperatures.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: edhackett
My experience is with the regular WRX and Legacy GT. They have oil to water heat exchangers at the oil filter.

If you knew the answer, why did you ask?

Originally Posted By: edhackett
With BMW's ability to over-complicate a vehicle, they can't add a proper oil cooler?

Maybe it's because you don't need it for long cruises at triple-digit speeds on the Autobahn. That'd be my guess.

 

[JHZR2]

First off, the Z4 you drove, if it was an s version, may still have an N54 with boost mode which takes HP up to about 320 and torque to about 374, IIRC.

Even if it was the N55, the whole car is set up differently, so cooling is going to be different in a z4 versus 135i. It is not apples to apples.

The N55 has been shown to product slightly higher boost than the N54, so there may be slightly higher underhood temperatures, but overall the engine is slightly more efficient - resulting in lower oil heat loading if all else is equal.

I think it is too apples to oranges to know for sure. Im getting my N55 135i soon and will let you know...

 

[Nederlander75]

Having significant experience with with BMWs both in racing and with the factory JAG is on the right track. Please define and inform on your position. Consumer engine evolution is typically not so great as you indicate.

 

[JHZR2]

huh? it is well known that the n54 is going to remain the high performance variant of the turbo six series. The output of the is cars in boost mode is well known.

Ill have emperical data on a 135i soon enough to know for sure.

 

[Nederlander75]

Fine, but we are talking about as you put it an N55 or N54?

 

[JHZR2]

My point is that the assumption that the z4 has an n55 may not be correct depending upon model, and that it is still apples to oranges as the cooling setup in a z4 is different than a 135 regardless...

 

[shortyb]

Its my understanding that the new Z4is and the 335is retain the more tunable N-54 engine with a slight boost increase to give a "rated" 320hp. As anyone who has been interested knows, BMW's figures for this engine are very conservative. Look what Steve Dinan does with just a software upgrade. Incidently, give him a ring if you want a proper oil cooler for your N54/55.