07 BMW 525i, Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5W40, 6,258 miles

[drtyler]

Here's another UOA for PU Euro 5W40. We drained this a little earlier than usual. About 2 months ago, the electric water pump failed while driving, and I wanted to see if any coolant was mixing with the oil.

Blackstone noted no problems, although they did note the viscosity was low.

Code:


2007 BMW 525i, N52 engine



MI on Oil 6,258

MI on Unit 93,170

Sample Date 02/08/15

Make Up Oil Added 0 qt

Oil Type PENNZOIL ULTRA EURO 5W/40





ALUMINUM 5

CHROMIUM 0

IRON 10

COPPER 15

LEAD 2

TIN 2

MOLYBDENUM 49

NICKEL 0

MANGANESE 1

SILVER 0

TITANIUM 0

POTASSIUM 2

BORON 56

SILICON 3

SODIUM 5

CALCIUM 2639

MAGNESIUM 42

PHOSPHORUS 827

ZINC 956

BARIUM 0



SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 59.3

cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 10.01

Flashpoint in °F 405

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0

Water % 0.0

Insolubles 0.2

 

[OVERKILL]

Wow, that sheared like a champion!!! That's significantly thinner than my M1 0w-40 run with 5% fuel in it, LOL!

 

[drtyler]

I thought it was odd myself. We've had a previous run with PU Euro, and several with M1 0W40, and all have been in grade. It almost makes me wonder if Blackstone's viscosity tests are in error, but it's most likely just shear or that particular batch of PU.

 

[Rand]

eww electric water pump.. 'nough said.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Rand
eww electric water pump.. 'nough said.
German engineers in general and BMW and Mercedes engine engineers in particular have some unusual ideas sometime, they try to fix something that didn't break, and end up make it worse.

Mercedes back to late 90's early 00's decided to go with 3 valve engine that had 2 spark plugs per cylinder. Those engines didn't make any more power nor reduce emission compared with 4-valve single spark plug engines at that time. A while later they dropped that idea and go back to 4-valve single spark plug engine.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: Rand
eww electric water pump.. 'nough said.
German engineers in general and BMW and Mercedes engine engineers in particular have some unusual ideas sometime, they try to fix something that didn't break, and end up make it worse.

Mercedes back to late 90's early 00's decided to go with 3 valve engine that had 2 spark plugs per cylinder. Those engines didn't make any more power nor reduce emission compared with 4-valve single spark plug engines at that time. A while later they dropped that idea and go back to 4-valve single spark plug engine.


The Chrysler HEMI engines are also dual ignition. It is actually a very old idea.

I was privileged to oil and drive a 1920's vintage 38' Minette launch with a Van Blerk WW-1 era tank engine in it. The engine was about 3ft tall, had an open crankcase with a brass "drip pan" as the engine was oiled via a gravity fed setup with copper lines running into brass fittings that fed from a large glass "feed jar". There was a line for each cylinder, various spots on the camshaft....etc.

That engine had cast iron pistons that were about the side of dinner plates and attached to connecting rods that were at least a foot long. The pistons apparently weighed about 50lbs each.

Due to the size of the bores, the engine had phased dual ignition; the flame front was ignited at one side of the bore via a plug and shortly later was ignited again at another spot. This allowed for more complete propagation of the flame front(s) across the bore and more power.

Later it would be discovered that phased ignition would also help with emissions due to the more complete combustion. Relevant to a hemispherical chamber that relied heavily on swirl and even on a partial pent-roof, which is what the modern HEMI is. I would imagine Mercedes had a similar reason for their dual ignition implementation.

Another example was the Mazda 4 in the Ford Ranger/B-series, which also had dual ignition due to the large bore size.

 

[simple_gifts]

The 2.3 Lima has 2 plugs/cyl in some years IIRC.

Clearly the value is far less than the cost to do it.

 

[typ901]

93,000 miles was a good run before failure. Last month my son and I replaced his waterpump on his '07 328 xi. With 70k miles. Great bonding experience! And opportunity to spend lots of cash!

 

[mpersell]

My 99 323 has the vanos variable valve timing and tends to beat most oils into water like viscosity.

Love the car, fun to drive...pain in the body parts to work on.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: mpersell
My 99 323 has the vanos variable valve timing and tends to beat most oils into water like viscosity.

Love the car, fun to drive...pain in the body parts to work on.


I'm sure it can't be any worse on the oil than my M5.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
The 2.3 Lima has 2 plugs/cyl in some years IIRC.

Clearly the value is far less than the cost to do it.

It's my thinking too.
My 430 had 16 plugs replaced 7-8 years ago at a cost of more than $100-120 for 16 Bosch platinum plugs plus labor.

I priced the replacement Bosch FR8-DPP33+ (BOS7422) for 2000 E430 and it is $8.44 from Amazon and $6.63 from third party seller on Amazon market place. The engine is running smoothly so I may wait for 100k miles(20k miles from now) to replace it.

 

[camrydriver111]

Originally Posted By: mpersell
My 99 323 has the vanos variable valve timing and tends to beat most oils into water like viscosity.

Love the car, fun to drive...pain in the body parts to work on.


I hear the E46 is pretty simple and easy to work on. The rear subframe components are probably the only difficult things to work on. I've only done basic to intermediate service to mine and thought it was nice to work on.

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: Rand
eww electric water pump.. 'nough said.
German engineers in general and BMW and Mercedes engine engineers in particular have some unusual ideas sometime, they try to fix something that didn't break, and end up make it worse.


They use is so the pumping can be independent of engine speed. I can see the appeal for it for the engineers. When it works properly it probably works better than a belt-driven pump.

They use new technology that may not be proven or reliable. Of course, this ads complexity, cost, and unreliability. MB was the fist manufacturer to have ABS and airbags and now every car has them. When you are first you are going to have problems. Then there are the bean counters which limit how good that pump can be.

Anyways, glad it worked out and the pump didn't kill the engine!

 

[Gasbuggy]

Perhaps the car got hot and gave the oil a beating.