Red Line 5w-40 2003 BMW 330Ci

[shanneba]

Here is the latest UOA data from my 330Ci.

The 06/04/2009 and 06/14/2009 are the same oil, it wasn't changed on 06/04/2009, a half quart of the "old" Red Line 5w-40 with lots of moly was added to make up for the sample.

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Miles on oil 5011 5000 4300 5958 4514 5347 5017 3839 7,250 5,100 7786 7400

Total miles 21130 26100 31407 37365 41879 47226 52245 56084 63,334 68,400 71120 78494

Date 5/17/05 10/17/05 3/31/06 6/19/06 3/05/07 6/16/07 3/29/08 9/18/08 10/18/08 6/04/09 6/14/09 12/13/09

Make up oil 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0

Oil Brand BMW Castrol Castrol BMW Castrol Castrol Castrol Castrol RedLine RedLine RedLine RedLine

Weight 5w-30 0w-30 0w-30 5w-30 0w-30 0w-30 0w-30 0w-30 5w-40 5w-40 5w-40 5w-40



Filter BMW Mann BMW BMW Mann Mann Mann Mann Mann Mann Mann Mann



ALUMINUM 4 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 4 2 3

CHROMIUM 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

IRON 9 7 6 4 8 6 11 9 7 7 9 8

COPPER 28 22 15 18 22 8 15 9 5 17 21 15

LEAD 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 4

TIN 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

MOLYBDENUM 124 19 4 104 16 4 3 2 3 149 207 33

NICKEL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

MANGANESE 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 2

SILVER 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

POTASSIUM 9 1 6 1 2 0 8 3 2 3 5 2

BORON 38 9 3 21 4 2 3 2 1 4 5 2

SILICON 5 3 3 3 3 2 4 3 4 6 7 5

SODIUM 2 4 3 5 3 3 4 2 3 9 12 7

CALCIUM 3446 2125 1704 2463 2702 2985 1864 1891 2452 2142 2574 2530

MAGNESIUM 18 311 455 83 129 147 448 551 86 30 36 17

PHOSPHORUS 853 748 781 662 737 782 872 885 988 1032 1134 1076

ZINC 1050 889 964 847 878 1001 1115 1087 1282 1228 1446 1345

BARIUM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0



SUS @ 210F 65.6 62.5 63.2 64.1 63.8 65.8 64.2 65.5 73.9 78.2 78.4 77.6

cSt @ 100C 11.76 10.91 11.11 11.35 11.27 11.82 11.38 11.75 13.97 15.08 15.11 14.92

Flashpoint F 375 375 325 415 360 395 380 400 440 385 410 420

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 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 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0

Insolubles % 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

TBN 1.8 4.0 4.7 3.2 2.9 2.6 2.9 4.9 4.0 1.7 1.3 2.7






Blackstone comments:
We're happy to report that copper has finally started to improve. It's still above average but not by
much and it's headed in the right direction. We aren't sure why it's been reading high but hopefully it
continues to improve in the next sample. The viscosity of the oil was again slightly high for a 5W/40, which
could be contributing to the excess wear. If you look at the last three samples, you can see that the high
copper and viscosity have gone hand in hand. The TBN read 2.7 so there was still some active additive left
in this fill.

The VOA I have from Blackstone on the Red Line 5w-40 shows a viscosity of 15.1, I don't really understand thier comment about the viscosoty being high for a 5w-40.

I have also had high copper with xw-30, so I don't think the 14-15Cst viscosity has anything to do with the copper. I suspect it may be a part of the variable cam timing (VANOS) and either AutoX or Track days with full throttle runs.

One track day at Road Atlanta with 100 Octane Sunoco unleaded racing fuel, probably the cause of the lead being 4.

I also changed the air filter to a AFE oiled cotton filter before my trip to Road Atlanta in September, it didn't seem to add to the silicon reading.

I like the data for the Red Line 5w-40 at about 7500 miles, I am running it again and have at least one more change in my stash.

 

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: shanneba
...
The VOA I have from Blackstone on the Red Line 5w-40 shows a viscosity of 15.1, I don't really understand thier comment about the viscosoty being high for a 5w-40. ...

Seems strange to me too.

Looks like a nice uoa, even with a "weak in the knee" dose of moly.

Nice silicon numbers across the board.

-Dennis

 

[jpr]

The high copper seems to have a correlation with higher moly. I'm not sure what mechanism would cause that, but a switch to a low moly oil such as GC or AFL might be a good experiment. (yes, I know you've got some high copper with GC on other UOA's, but that might be due to a flushing effect from prior high moly runs. The 3/08 UOA looks like an abberation, but perhaps the flush theory still holds)

The higher viscosity looks to be accompanied by a lower TBN as well, suggesting more crud in the oil. Other than the Sunoco, what fuel do you typically use and do you think that might be factor?

 

[shanneba]

I normally use Chevron gas, it is "reformulated" for emmissions here in Houston. I almost always get better mileage when I fillup with "conventional" gas on my trips.

I have wondered if maybe the copper is related to fuel dilution and is worse with the Chevron gas.

The Red Line 5w-40 OCIs have been 50% longer than the GC / BMW oil OCIs. about 7500 miles compared to 5000.

The Red line 5w-40 has been doing very well for me. I may try the 0w-40 Red Line later.

 

[jpr]

Maybe try a different fuel brand, or same brand but different station, or switch to premium if you aren't already using it. While Chevron is generally good stuff, maybe there's something odd in the local blend. I don't suppose you can recall anything you did differently fuel-wise in 2008 than 2009?

Everything does seem pretty good but the anomallies with the copper spike and the more recent thickening/TBN depletion would certainly nag at me until I could account for it.