Since I bought so many Wix kits when they were on super sale at Amazon I decided to send this sample to both Blackstone and ALS for comparison, planning to only send to ALS from now on. The results look great and very comparable between the two which is nice to see. I would like to see fuel and insolubles in the ALS report, but getting everything else including TBN is pretty nice.
Still seeing some Nickel in there but no outward symptoms of anything wrong, and it still runs perfect. I don't know what to make of it, and from what I read Nikasil was phased out before this model year. The cylinders should be Alusil in this one. I meant to change the oil at 15,500 but miscalculated. Both were mailed on 11/5 and I received both reports back on 11/16.
The Blackstone comments are below for what they are worth:
We're still seeing extra nickel in the oil from your BMW, though we have to commend this engine for looking so good in every other respect. All metals except nickel are reading in the average range, and everything is nicely balanced. The TBN is still good at 2.8, and no other contamination or problems were found. We're not sure what to make of the nickel, but it's starting to look normal for your engine. Maybe it’s from cylinders? After-market parts? Try 16,000 miles next time. If nickel holds steady, we'll probably unhighlight it.
Anything NA is not available, NT is not tested. I had "B S" without the space in for Blackstone but it got censored, heh.
Code:
Oil M1 0w40 M1 0w40 M1 0w40 VV 5w30 BMW 5w30
Lab ALS BLST BLST BLST
MI/HR on Oil 14,540 14,540 14,828 7,832 16,817
MI/HR on Unit 100,066 100,066 85,526 70,698 62,866
Sample Date 9/24/12 9/24/12 4/2/12 9/27/11 6/24/11
Make Up Oil 0 0 0.5 0 0 AVERAGES
ALUMINUM 5 3 3 NT 5 5
CHROMIUM
IRON 11 11 9 NT 15 15
COPPER 1 2 2 NT 4 5
LEAD
TIN
MOLYBDENUM 94 87 80 NT 181 124
NICKEL 7 7 8 NT 4 1
MANGANESE NA 1 1 NT 5 3
SILVER
TITANIUM
VANADIUM
POTASSIUM
BORON 123 110 94 NT 60 54
SILICON 4 3 3 NT 4 6
SODIUM 19 16 50 NT 15 9
CALCIUM 3240 3316 2862 NT 2366 2264
MAGNESIUM 14 17 14 NT 19 140
PHOSPHORUS 950 942 810 NT 903 832
ZINC 1190 1098 951 NT 1286 1026
BARIUM
PROPERTIES
SUS Vis @ 210°F NA 75.7 69.7 NT 72.0
cSt Vis @ 100°C 14.0 14.43 12.88 NT 13.5
Flashpoint °F NA 380 400 NT 370
Fuel % NA
Antifreeze % No 0.0 0.0 NT 0.0
Water %
Insolubles % NA 0.2 0.1 NT 0.2
TBN 3.4 2.8 3.3 NT 2.1
Still seeing some Nickel in there but no outward symptoms of anything wrong, and it still runs perfect. I don't know what to make of it, and from what I read Nikasil was phased out before this model year. The cylinders should be Alusil in this one. I meant to change the oil at 15,500 but miscalculated. Both were mailed on 11/5 and I received both reports back on 11/16.
The Blackstone comments are below for what they are worth:
We're still seeing extra nickel in the oil from your BMW, though we have to commend this engine for looking so good in every other respect. All metals except nickel are reading in the average range, and everything is nicely balanced. The TBN is still good at 2.8, and no other contamination or problems were found. We're not sure what to make of the nickel, but it's starting to look normal for your engine. Maybe it’s from cylinders? After-market parts? Try 16,000 miles next time. If nickel holds steady, we'll probably unhighlight it.
Anything NA is not available, NT is not tested. I had "B S" without the space in for Blackstone but it got censored, heh.
Code:
Oil M1 0w40 M1 0w40 M1 0w40 VV 5w30 BMW 5w30
Lab ALS BLST BLST BLST
MI/HR on Oil 14,540 14,540 14,828 7,832 16,817
MI/HR on Unit 100,066 100,066 85,526 70,698 62,866
Sample Date 9/24/12 9/24/12 4/2/12 9/27/11 6/24/11
Make Up Oil 0 0 0.5 0 0 AVERAGES
ALUMINUM 5 3 3 NT 5 5
CHROMIUM
IRON 11 11 9 NT 15 15
COPPER 1 2 2 NT 4 5
LEAD
TIN
MOLYBDENUM 94 87 80 NT 181 124
NICKEL 7 7 8 NT 4 1
MANGANESE NA 1 1 NT 5 3
SILVER
TITANIUM
VANADIUM
POTASSIUM
BORON 123 110 94 NT 60 54
SILICON 4 3 3 NT 4 6
SODIUM 19 16 50 NT 15 9
CALCIUM 3240 3316 2862 NT 2366 2264
MAGNESIUM 14 17 14 NT 19 140
PHOSPHORUS 950 942 810 NT 903 832
ZINC 1190 1098 951 NT 1286 1026
BARIUM
PROPERTIES
SUS Vis @ 210°F NA 75.7 69.7 NT 72.0
cSt Vis @ 100°C 14.0 14.43 12.88 NT 13.5
Flashpoint °F NA 380 400 NT 370
Fuel % NA
Antifreeze % No 0.0 0.0 NT 0.0
Water %
Insolubles % NA 0.2 0.1 NT 0.2
TBN 3.4 2.8 3.3 NT 2.1
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