Unknown 2007 BMW 3.0L (N54) Miles 31,700

[savannahz]

Code:


Hello all,



This is my first post. I recently picked up a 2007 BMW 335i with the N54 engine. The car has 31,700 miles and is running well for the most part. I'm not sure when the previous owner last changed the oil but they stated it was done at the BMW dealership. The oil used may be 5w30 synthetic BMW brand oil. They only put 10k miles on the car in 5 years so I'm not sure how often the oil was changed and I believe the car was driven short distances. This was be a factor since the oil takes a really long time to heat up on this car. It takes 10 miles to start moving the needle which starts at 160 degrees.



I'm posting here because of the high copper and iron compared to Blackstone's averages. What does everybody think? Thanks for the input!



BMW 3.0L (N54) Twin Turbo I-6 Cyl



Miles 31,700



ALUMINUM 6

CHROMIUM 1

IRON 48

COPPER 41

LEAD 2

TIN 0

MOLYBDENUM 122

NICKEL 1

Manganese 12

SILVER 0

TITANIUM 0

POTASSIUM 1

BORON 47

SILICON 5

SODIUM 16

CALCIUM 2301

MAGNESIUM 27

PHOSPHORUS 861

ZINC 959

BARIUM 0



cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 60.9

SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 10.48

Flashpoint in °F 415

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.9

Water % 0.0

Insolubles % 0.2

 

[abycat]

I don't think 5w30 is the right oil. I thought a 40wt was the correct oil. And it needs the bmw spec as well. Wear metals do look high but not much to compare them to. I would make sure the correct oil goes in next time and resample.

 

[savannahz]

I've put in 5w40 Motul 8100 X-CESS and was planning on running it 5k miles and having it checked again. Is this a good plan?

 

[MCompact]

That should be good.

 

[savannahz]

What could cause copper and iron levels to be this high in general?

Could not letting the car ever fully warm up from super short trips for five years do it? I don't think it's necessarily from high-rev abuse as this was an older woman driving, whom I know, and was really just using it to go shopping around town. Of course, this was a lease car for the first 19k miles and I don't know that history.

Coming from an E39 M5, I was always monitoring metal wear because of the main bearings. I always ran that car really hard (131k on the motor) and never had levels like these.

 

[oliveoil]

Run a few 5k oil changes, and change the filter every other OCI. Things should settle down. Then go back to using the BMW 5-30 (which is the correct oil) following the OLM or 10-12kmiles which ever comes first. This is still a young engine.

 

[Pesca]

BMW 5w-30 is the correct oil but M1 0w-40, GC 0w-30 or BC 0w-40 are way better oil than the BMW oil.

Even me I noticed the difference at every temp (of course even more at start ups).

Especially with short trips, you are better using a 0w-xx oil.

 

[Noobie]

I'd suggest you use something heavier than the BMW 5W-30. Especially if you are going with the OLM.
If everything turns out fine after the next 5K miles then i'd recommend 7.5k miles / 1 year OCI with a good oil.

 

[kschachn]

Like what?

Originally Posted By: Noobie
I'd suggest you use something heavier than the BMW 5W-30. Especially if you are going with the OLM.
If everything turns out fine after the next 5K miles then i'd recommend 7.5k miles / 1 year OCI with a good oil.

 

[JimKo]

When I had my 2009 335i with the N54 engine, I found out the best oil was Redline 5w-30 at 5000 mi OCIs. The oil temps can get very high in these engines especially if you have the N54 version that has no oil cooler and Redline did well for me.

Good luck.