'02 BMW 530i, GC 0w-30, 5700 miles

[Quattro Pete]

This is my third UOA on this car. Oil was in service for approximately 12 months. I was adding 2 oz of LC-20 every 1k miles. No make-up oil. Mann OEM oil filter. I had a leaky valve cover gasket replaced during this interval (about 2k miles ago).

You can see my previous UOA results here.

All in all, not much difference I guess. TAN could be lower, but it doesn't look like it's hurting anything, at least to my untrained eye.

One interesting thing is that even though all UOAs were on gold GC, this latest one shows much lower levels of Phosphorus and Zinc. Not sure if it's because of different labs/testing methods used or the add pack of gold GC keeps changing...

Any questions? Comments? Suggestions?

 

[Quattro Pete]

BTW, what's up with all that Sulfur? Is that normal?

 

[Jaymus]

Excellent results. My favorite thick 30 weight oil, period. I thought it had more zinc than that, guess not, though.

I'm going to be switching my wife's car from GC to Castrol Edge 5W-30 because it should be cheaper getting it at Wal-Mart in a 5 quart jug, but I hate to leave GC. Excellent performer.

 

[umbg35]

Man...all these GC reports with such high TBN readings. I'm running that in my 05 G35 coupe and thinking about running it to 8500. Good report.

 

[saaber1]

GC looks good. I like that lab's report (how they break it down and what they measure), who are they? how much does the UOA cost?

 

[Quattro Pete]

It's Wearcheck. You can also do some graphs and analysis on their web portal based on your results.

Basic UOA is $19 (includes TBN). $5 extra if you also want TAN.

 

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
BTW, what's up with all that Sulfur? Is that normal?

It actually looks lower than many other oils' sulfur levels. Many types of detergents and all ZDDP contains sulfur. Other additives too contain sulfur like MoDTC but GC lacks that one.

 

[wannafbody]

I know that sulfur acts as a lubricant in diesel fuel. I'm assuming that it serves the same function in oil.

 

[FZ1]

Nice run. Really low silicon.

 

[saaber1]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
It's Wearcheck. You can also do some graphs and analysis on their web portal based on your results.

Basic UOA is $19 (includes TBN). $5 extra if you also want TAN.


That is a fantastic price for what you get ($24 including TAN). Plus the lab person actually puts their name on the report. For me, those little details add confidence that your data is correct.

What is their turn around time?

I am locked into Blackstone for a while as I need to eliminate variables to test what affect eliminating pcv will have on oil condition, otherwise I would definitely use these guys next time. TAN is really beneficial to evaluate oil condition IMO but almost never gets done. That $24 price point (with TAN and TBN) makes it about the same as Blackstone's regular test without TBN or TAN.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: saaber1
What is their turn around time?

About 48 hours from the time they receive the sample.

 

[Brons2]

Nice report...nice car. Love the BMW's with the manual, bimmer 6 cylinders were not meant for automatics. Much better driving experience with the manual.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Thanks. A manual 530i was not easy to find. It's much easier to find a 540i with a manual trans. I guess in the US the 530i is considered to be more of a grocery-getter with a fancy badge than a performance car, so people don't bother with a manual trans.

On the other hand, BMW's clutch implementation on this car is far from ideal. The engagement point is very tricky due to the whole SAC (self-adjusting clutch) mechanism. It was even worse before I had the CDV (clutch delay valve) removed.

If this clutch goes, I'm going to put in something aftermarket (non-SAC).

 

[pickled]

Nice report...GC is a very solid oil for your application. I too am digging the wear check format. $19 is a good deal for a thorough analysis.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I noticed I also have access to a different version of this report that shows some additional detail. On this one you can see what Wearcheck considers to be abnormal (Abn) and severe (Sev) values for wear...

They also show a ZDDP value here, although I'm not sure how to interpret this value (good/bad)?

 

[AndyH]

My interpretation of the 'ZDDP' value is that it's some sort of scale that shows how much ZDDP is in your oil, with a value of 6 being 'typical'. With your result of 13, I think that would indicate that your oil had twice as much ZDDP as a 'typical' oil. I could be way off, but that's how I would interpret it.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Thanks Andy. Wearcheck says to not pay much attention to this ZDDP figure as their IR testing is not very accurate in this area. At least they're honest.

FYI, they use ASTM D2896 for TBN testing which typically results in somewhat higher readings than under D4739 which Blackstone and some other labs now use.