2001 BMW M5 - Mobil 1 0w40 9,555Km - Jan 2013

[OVERKILL]

Got the UOA back for the M5.

I have one comment: Holy fuel dilution Batman!!!

TBN retention was exceptional, but the fuel obviously effected the oil, as viscosity has dropped considerably from the virgin of 14.3cSt.

The only metal slightly elevated was iron, but there was absolutely NOTHING on the filter magnet, so I'm not too concerned.

 

[cp3]

Good stuff! Thanx for sharing.

This the first?

 

[randomhero439]

How did you achieve this fuel dilution!

 

[OVERKILL]

Yes, this is the first. I'll be changing this fill out earlier due to the fuel, obviously this can't be good. I'm sure it has to do with the cold weather and the enrichment programming but its effects on the oil are obvious.

I'll probably take the current fill 7,500Km or so and dump and sample it to see how it is trending.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: randomhero439
How did you achieve this fuel dilution!


The cold weather and short trips unfortunately

The car takes a long time to warm up and the drive to work is very short. I'm thinking it simply isn't getting enough in the way of highway mileage to flash the fuel off.

 

[randomhero439]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: randomhero439
How did you achieve this fuel dilution!


The cold weather and short trips unfortunately

The car takes a long time to warm up and the drive to work is very short. I'm thinking it simply isn't getting enough in the way of highway mileage to flash the fuel off.


Im surprised your driving an M5 in the Canada during winter.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: randomhero439
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: randomhero439
How did you achieve this fuel dilution!


The cold weather and short trips unfortunately

The car takes a long time to warm up and the drive to work is very short. I'm thinking it simply isn't getting enough in the way of highway mileage to flash the fuel off.


Im surprised your driving an M5 in the Canada during winter.


That was not the intention, however transmission problems with my wife's car led to me just slapping snow's on my car and letting her use the Expedition.

Hopefully this is the first and last winter for this car

I did get it Krown'd however, and will continue to get that done.

 

[Turk]

Not bad except for the fuel.

I think you explained the fuel, but I have to ask... is it tuned up well??

What spark plug, wire, TB cleaning schedules do you run and how far into them are you at?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Turk
Not bad except for the fuel.

I think you explained the fuel, but I have to ask... is it tuned up well??

What spark plug, wire, TB cleaning schedules do you run and how far into them are you at?



Plugs are OE, it has no wires, it is COP. It has EIGHT TB's and the entire upper plenum assembly has to be removed to access them, not a short job on this car, so they've never been cleaned as far as I am aware.

I'll probably do plugs in the spring. OE will be the Bosch +4 style plugs, as that's what BMW usually uses in everything.

 

[Turk]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Turk
Not bad except for the fuel.

I think you explained the fuel, but I have to ask... is it tuned up well??

What spark plug, wire, TB cleaning schedules do you run and how far into them are you at?



Plugs are OE, it has no wires, it is COP. It has EIGHT TB's and the entire upper plenum assembly has to be removed to access them, not a short job on this car, so they've never been cleaned as far as I am aware.

I'll probably do plugs in the spring. OE will be the Bosch +4 style plugs, as that's what BMW usually uses in everything.


Ahhhh, ok.

Can't remember & not necessarily related, but do you run fuel system cleaners in it and if so which & how often?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Turk
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Turk
Not bad except for the fuel.

I think you explained the fuel, but I have to ask... is it tuned up well??

What spark plug, wire, TB cleaning schedules do you run and how far into them are you at?



Plugs are OE, it has no wires, it is COP. It has EIGHT TB's and the entire upper plenum assembly has to be removed to access them, not a short job on this car, so they've never been cleaned as far as I am aware.

I'll probably do plugs in the spring. OE will be the Bosch +4 style plugs, as that's what BMW usually uses in everything.


Ahhhh, ok.

Can't remember & not necessarily related, but do you run fuel system cleaners in it and if so which & how often?



Nope, just Shell V-Power in the tank (91 Octane) with no additives.

 

[JAG]

Looks like there was a significant portion of the previous fill, given the calcium being roughly 2/3 of what I'd expect to be in this oil. Was the prior fill some other oil?

 

[mikered30]

Are you sure you dont have an injector leaking?

 

[fdcg27]

Fuel does look high and iron looks a little high, while residual TBN is unreal.
It may be that this car has a fairly rich fuel map.
After all, it is biased toward power, not fuel economy.
I'm sure that cold temps and short trips don't help.
Anyway, fix the tranny in the three series and dedicate this car as a summer daily driver.
Surely winter tires for the M5 can't have been a whole lot cheaper than repairing or replacing the three's tranny?
OTOH, cars are made to be driven, and you have been driving the heck out of your M5.
Good for you and I'm sure that the car doesn't mind being used.
Use is always better than storage, and you've rust treated the car.

 

[Brons2]

pull your injectors, send them to Trav for balancing.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: JAG
Looks like there was a significant portion of the previous fill, given the calcium being roughly 2/3 of what I'd expect to be in this oil. Was the prior fill some other oil?


Previous fill was M1 0w-40....... Fill before that was BMW 5w-30.

This car was dealer maintained until I got it, so it likely had BMW 5w-30 its entire life up until I started putting Mobil 1 in it.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Fuel does look high and iron looks a little high, while residual TBN is unreal.
It may be that this car has a fairly rich fuel map.
After all, it is biased toward power, not fuel economy.
I'm sure that cold temps and short trips don't help.
Anyway, fix the tranny in the three series and dedicate this car as a summer daily driver.
Surely winter tires for the M5 can't have been a whole lot cheaper than repairing or replacing the three's tranny?
OTOH, cars are made to be driven, and you have been driving the heck out of your M5.
Good for you and I'm sure that the car doesn't mind being used.
Use is always better than storage, and you've rust treated the car.


The car certainly has a rich fuel map, but the trip to work is MAYBE 3Km and it makes that drive daily. The oil temperature is just coming off 0 by the time I get to the office

This is in stark contrast to the summer where the oil will be at full temperature by the time I'm there.

Tires for the car were around 1K for the set. I didn't know how much or what was going to be involved with getting the 3'er fixed, I was PO'd at it at that point and figured I'd just drive my car. Plus I was getting some feedback from the wife on that, because of the car's issue and her just wanting to drive the Expedition, which has been nothing but reliable the entire time we've owned it.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: mikered30
Are you sure you dont have an injector leaking?


No, but then when I've had the laptop hooked up to it the fuel trims are perfectly normal, so that would lead me to believe that the injectors are fine and this is simply the combination of cold start enrichment, really cold oil, and a car that generally runs rich due to the factory fuel trims.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The car certainly has a rich fuel map, but the trip to work is MAYBE 3Km and it makes that drive daily. The oil temperature is just coming off 0 by the time I get to the office

I would think that is your problem. That is a very, very short trip, and we all know what the weather has been like lately.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The car certainly has a rich fuel map, but the trip to work is MAYBE 3Km and it makes that drive daily. The oil temperature is just coming off 0 by the time I get to the office

I would think that is your problem. That is a very, very short trip, and we all know what the weather has been like lately.



Exactly. Which is why I'm thinking of changing out the next fill early, because it will have suffered the same treatment.

It's a shame though, because man does this oil hold its TBN

Oxidation was good, pretty much everything was good except for fuel and the slightly elevated iron

(which I think are probably related, but anyway...)