Castrol Syntec 0w-30, 5017 miles, 2003 BMW330CI

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Here is the latest UOA from my BMW, no racing, auotcross on this interval. Almost all in town miles here in Houston, including the warm winter months. I did add 4 oz of LC 20 about 500 miles before the oil change. The spark plugs were changed about 4 months ago to NGK Iridium BKR6EIX.
Still running Castrol Syntec 0w-30.

This interval on the right.

Code:




Miles on oil 5011 5000 4300 5958 4514 5347 5017

Total miles 21130 26100 31407 37365 41879 47226 52245

Date 5/17/05 10/17/05 3/31/06 6/19/06 3/05/07 6/16/07 3/29/08

Make up oil 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Oil Brand BMW Castrol Castrol BMW Castrol Castrol Castrol

Weight 5w-30 0w-30 0w-30 5w-30 0w-30 0w-30 0w-30



Filter BMW Mann BMW BMW Mann Mann Mann



ALUMINUM 4 2 2 2 2 2 4

CHROMIUM 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

IRON 9 7 6 4 8 6 11

COPPER 28 22 15 18 22 8 15

LEAD 2 2 2 1 1 1 1

TIN 0 1 0 0 1 1 0

MOLYBDENUM 124 19 4 104 16 4 3

NICKEL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

MANGANESE 3 1 1 1 1 1 2

SILVER 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

POTASSIUM 9 1 6 1 2 0 8

BORON 38 9 3 21 4 2 3

SILICON 5 3 3 3 3 2 4

SODIUM 2 4 3 5 3 3 4

CALCIUM 3446 2125 1704 2463 2702 2985 1864

MAGNESIUM 18 311 455 83 129 147 448

PHOSPHORUS 853 748 781 662 737 782 872

ZINC 1050 889 964 847 878 1001 1115

BARIUM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0



SUS @ 210F 65.6 62.5 63.2 64.1 63.8 65.8 64.2

cSt @ 100C 11.76 10.91 11.11 11.35 11.27 11.82 11.38

Flashpoint F 375 375 325 415 360 395 380

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Water % 0.0 0.0 tr 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Insolubles % 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2

TBN 1.8 4.0 4.7 3.2 2.9 2.6 2.9




Blackstone comments-

All wear increased in this sample, though nothing went high enough to be considered a problem.
Copper is most out of line at a little more than twice averages, though it has read higher than this in the
past. We're guessing you drove a little harder this time around -- maybe more city driving or idling, or
maybe some racing. That would account for the increased metals. Like we said, nothing here shows a
problem, as all metals are still around average for this type of BMW. The TBN read 2.9, still active additive
remaining. The trace of fuel is okay & isn't hurting anything.
 
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I think it's great when people post multiple samples like this and we get to look at the trends. Having said that the little spike in iron in this sample is interesting. Certainly nothing sticks out to me as a cause and I don't think it's of concern. Was this a first time use of LC?

Thanks for the post.

REDDOG
 
Your engine does not like winter. I think the problem is fuel dilution. March sample always trends higher than june sample. iron and copper elevate. Manganese is reported. I think GC is failing you over the winter months.
 
Why the differences in the Moly?

How many quarts in the oil system?
 
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Interesting stuff. I have to admit the BMW oil did very well the two times you used it. Some of the decreases in metals over the time period seen here is from the final stages of engine break-in: copper, for example, will often trend down for many tens of thousands of miles; and the overall trend seems to be downward for most wear metals, except this last run.

You do have persistent minor fuel dilution and occasional heavier dilution. Blackstone's test for fuel is not as sensitive as some, but any time you see a flashpoint significantly below 400, there is probably some fuel in the oil even if they show "
I don't know why all the wear seems to have gone up a bit this time. Is there anything about your driving that could explain it, maybe trip length or perhaps more cold weather than other winters?

Not that it's any real cause for concern, all these are good results. Why not increase your OCI? 5k is very soon for a good synthetic oil especially with a large sump as I believe these cars have. You are effectively doing the equivalent of 3k mile oil changes on the average car.
 
REDDOG,

I have used LC during several other OCIs, usually just an ounce every 1000 miles or so. This is the first time I added more than an ounce at the same time.
I figured it might do some cleaning at 50,000 miles. It looks like it may have.

RI_RS4,

The winter oci is normally about 90 % around town, and this increases the fuel dilution. My normal commute is about 5 miles if I take the long way to work.
It is less than a mile straight to the office parking garage.

The June OCI have at least one trip, Houston to Indianapolis and back, I drive it all in one day, about 18 hours on the highway.
There are two fuel/food stops in the 1100 miles. I also stop about every two hours for 5-10 minutes. The 5900 mile OCI has two trips to Indy, about 4400 of the miles.

ZZman,

The two OCIs with >100 ppm moly are BMW 5w-30 synthetic oil. The next OCI with GC has a little resididual moly, the next a little less. There is about half a quart that I can't drain in the VANOS valve timing hoses.
The GC does not have moly at all.

7 quart sump.

glennc,

The winter here was very mild, very few days below 40 F for a low. I didn't run any AutoX or drivers schools in the last three OCIs.
5000 miles has the TBN down to 2 -3, I would rather change the oil than push it down to 0 TBN.
The BMW oil runs were free changes from the BMW service for 4 years/50,000 miles.
 
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