Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5w40 - '17 BMW M3, 4300mi oci w/ mods

[Lead Shoes]

The m3 is a daily driver in a metro setting with about a 50/50 mix in driving. The car has a CTS Turbo intake kit, BM3 stage 1 93 octane tune, and AA single mid pipe done so far. I would say I'm a fairly aggressive driver once the oil has warmed up. Its hard not to play in sport+ with this much power tbh. This oci saw everything from a hard August 200mi charity "cruise" to 1mi drives to the grocery store this winter.

I was curious how well the dry filter CTS cones were working vs stock, and to see how the tune was affecting the oil with the extra stress. I have probably 1 more OCI of this oil (if I buy some single qts), but its good to see it wore well for peace of mind on the first I didn't test. I'm running Valvoline Euro 5w40 since its now on the shelf locally in 5qts for much cheaper than the PPE 5w/40 6qt boxes from amazon.

 

[MalibuRam65]

Change your Oil

 

[Lead Shoes]

Change your Oil

Comments like this make me wonder... does anyone actually read the post? lol.

 

[edyvw]

The flash point is down. That seems normal for PPE 5W40, but this is too much IMO. I think it is the tune, or you did not warm up oil properly before taking the sample.
Your silicon values are OK. That means the air filter is filtrating properly.

I would personally stick to this or Motul 5W40 GEN2.

If you are not tracking vehicle, maybe Castrol Edge 0W30 would be a better choice.

 

[Artem]

You don’t think it’s the winter driving and short trips that caused the fuel dilution?

@Lead Shoes — is the tune on the rich side? Seems like you have quite a bit of fuel in the oil.

 

[kschachn]

Yes that fuel dilution value may be far higher than Blackstone estimates.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I agree with others. Fairly substantial loss of viscosity due to fuel dilution. The S55 isn't a heavy diluter so it's either the tune or constant short tripping. Mind that crank hub bolt

 

[dezlpwr]

I would personally switch to OAI or another lab that uses the GC method for testing fuel dilution. Blackstone is woefully inaccurate when it comes to fuel dilution as they use the flash point method. I bet your actual fuel dilution is 3-4 times higher than that. I left Blackstone after 10+ years and switched to OAI for this very reason.

 

[fantastic]

As mentioned the viscosity is lower than a 40 now due to fuel delusion. It doesn't appear to be causing anything out of the ordinary though. Do you plan to keep running it at 4500 mile intervals?

 

[Lead Shoes]

You don’t think it’s the winter driving and short trips that caused the fuel dilution?

@Lead Shoes — is the tune on the rich side? Seems like you have quite a bit of fuel in the oil.

The flash point is down. That seems normal for PPE 5W40, but this is too much IMO. I think it is the tune, or you did not warm up oil properly before taking the sample.
Your silicon values are OK. That means the air filter is filtrating properly.

I would personally stick to this or Motul 5W40 GEN2.

If you are not tracking vehicle, maybe Castrol Edge 0W30 would be a better choice.

I took the sample after a 12mi each way commute to work where the oil hit 220f-240f like usual. Just jacked it up and drained the day after. So that shouldn't have been a factor for me... The problem is the gym and grocery store are like 1mi away so its subject to short trips a lot more then I probably let on. The pig rich cold start cycle to warm the cats surely isn't helping at all on these short trips which are 4-5x a week and only 2 or 3 commute cycles to work. The BM3 stage 1 93 octane tune is still on the more conservative side of whats on the market as a whole when you talk about m3 flash tunes, but more boost and more fuel to compensate for sure.

I will have to check out another testing facility like Polaris or OAI and see how the Valvoline holds up to the same OCI. I will probably be doing the down pipes and move to the stage 2 93 tune this summer. So it could all be a moot point and I need to switch to boutique solutions next with potential track time ahead as well.

 

[edyvw]

Yeah, those short trips are an issue.
I would move to Castrol Edge 0W30.

 

[kschachn]

I will have to check out another testing facility like Polaris or OAI and see how the Valvoline holds up to the same OCI. I will probably be doing the down pipes and move to the stage 2 93 tune this summer. So it could all be a moot point and I need to switch to boutique solutions next with potential track time ahead as well.

Fuel dilution is agnostic to brand, it’s a simple mechanical dilution.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Fuel dilution is agnostic to brand, it’s a simple mechanical dilution.

??? I'm not sure how you got to that response out of what I posted. I was talking about the other labs % of fuel they will find next oci vs this 1.5% report from Blackstone and if I add more boost/mods I will likely need more robust qualities than these two offerings to offset my specific factors.

 

[kschachn]

??? I'm not sure how you got to that response out of what I posted. I was talking about the other labs % of fuel they will find next oci vs this 1.5% report from Blackstone and if I add more boost/mods I will likely need more robust qualities than these two offerings to offset my specific factors.

Because you said you were going to try to Valvoline and see how it holds up.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Because you said you were going to try to Valvoline and see how it holds up.

Yeah, and did that UOA not support the idea that despite the high fuel dilution and wt shearing a similar LL-01 will be okay for 4,300 mi more here?

I guess I'm not sure what else people here think I should be doing short term otherwise. Next up from BITOG is probably suggesting I sell the car for a Tesla so there's no oil, buy a different house at 7% interest thats 10mi further out to be REALLY sure I'm up to temp, or take up a parka and snow shoes for walking local errands to avoid the dilution.

 

[kschachn]

Shearing? It was fuel dilution. That’s what I meant with my post, that isn’t dependent on brand.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Shearing? It was fuel dilution. That’s what I meant with my post, that isn’t dependent on brand.

I get the semantics of what your doing, but its internet jousting on specifics. So I guess you get your gold star there for the day, and I admit I used the wrong term there. One factor the formulation can control and another it can't, I'm aware. Next time I will specify that the oil will be thinning from dilution AND shearing from what I'm putting it through with the roughly 490whp mods in my use case. The season will have certainly play a big part to the dilution with the very cold temp short trips. I doubt the next one will be nearly as thin mid summer and we can just all over analyze the next one for fun before the same OCI comes to see.

 

[wareze]

Yeah, and did that UOA not support the idea that despite the high fuel dilution and wt shearing a similar LL-01 will be okay for 4,300 mi more here?

I guess I'm not sure what else people here think I should be doing short term otherwise. Next up from BITOG is probably suggesting I sell the car for a Tesla so there's no oil, buy a different house at 7% interest thats 10mi further out to be REALLY sure I'm up to temp, or take up a parka and snow shoes for walking local errands to avoid the dilution.

No way, with the amount of mods you have. Stick to a severe schedule of oil changes

 

[kschachn]

I get the semantics of what your doing, but its internet jousting on specifics. So I guess you get your gold star there for the day, and I admit I used the wrong term there. One factor the formulation can control and another it can't, I'm aware. Next time I will specify that the oil will be thinning from dilution AND shearing from what I'm putting it through with the roughly 490whp mods in my use case. The season will have certainly play a big part to the dilution with the very cold temp short trips. I doubt the next one will be nearly as thin mid summer and we can just all over analyze the next one for fun before the same OCI comes to see.

The horsepower has relatively little to do with mechanical shearing, that is determined by engine design. With a Blackstone UOA in particular you have almost no information to determine whether a viscosity deviation is due to fuel dilution or mechanical shearing, but for the vast majority of engines here it is fuel. This is an issue because any mitigation you may be able to do with the oil is different based on what the actual problem may be. If it is actual mechanical shearing of the VII then an oil with low or no VII will eliminate the issue since the oil molecules do not shear. But if it is fuel dilution then the only thing you can do with the oil is to use a higher grade to cause less thinning from the fuel. With fuel dilution the brand is irrelevant.

So see it's not jousting or semantics, it's attempting to address the problem in a way that might actually help. I'm not sure where the gold star comes in but I'm trying to respond to you in technical terms.

 

[himemsys]

With a Blackstone UOA in particular you have almost no information to determine whether a viscosity deviation is due to fuel dilution or mechanical shearing

I know this UOA had a low flashpoint, but let's say you have >400 flashpoint and a viscosity loss on a BS UOA, couldn't you still determine that the viscosity loss was due to shearing just based on the high flashpoint? And therefore, the lower the flashpoint below 400F, the more likely the viscosity loss is due to fuel. I understand you won't know specifics, but what additional conclusions does having a GC % allow you to draw?