Castro Edge 0w/40 2013 BMW N52

[GJM120]

Slow getting this out here.

This was an very short change interval mileage wise. It was a year from the last change and I've been going on 7,000 miles or a year - whichever comes first. The car does often see short runs (~8 miles)

Blackstone thinks I could wait longer. I do my own changes and it's pretty inexpensive so I'm inclined to stay with my current regimen.

The only thing I wondered about is the 100 C vis was down a bit from the virgin spec of 13.1.

 

[gonefishin]

If it were mine, I would stick with your once a year regiment. Cheap insurance and it gives you an opportunity to look for any leaks developing while you are under the car.

I see what Blackstone is saying about oil is just sitting in the oil pan. My belief is it makes a difference if your car is garage kept or parked in the driveway. A garage kept, seldom ran vehicle is in a more climate controlled environment. The oil in the pan with a car in the driveway is subject to wide variations in heat and cold, humidity changes, condensation opportunities, etc.

Edge 0w40 is the same oil I use in the wife's BMW with confidence.

 

[mightymousetech]

The viscosity degrade is probably just due to fuel dilution. Try taking it on longer highway runs more frequently, or just take the long way home to get the oil up to temp. I would still to the once a year. If doing it yourself, it is extremely cheap insurance. Why worry about $40-$50/year?

 

[TiGeo]

The drop in viscosity seems pretty normal to me?

 

[GJM120]

Humidity isn't terrible high here and the car is garaged. Viscosity drop is probably fuel dilution as mightmousetech mentioned. Looking at a recent Edge 5W/40 UOA posted on here, the vis at 100 went from 14.1 to 11.22 after 9,500 miles. So I guess my decrease isn't that severe.

Certainly going to keep on doing 1 year or mileage.

BTW - this was the older German/Belgian Edge. I still have one more o/c left as I loaded up on it when it was cheap at WalMart.

 

[KCJeep]

Most of the Xw40's seem to shear down to about that range, regardless of brand. I have heard of no issues because of it, and certainly the manufacturers that spec those oils must be aware of it and are apparently unconcerned.

I personally doubt you are having much fuel dilution with a flashpoint of 410. I think it does confirm (as often speculated here) most shear occurs earlier in an OCI.

 

[kschachn]

Along with an apparent inability to accurately measure flash point, Blackstone has also demonstrated difficulty in measuring viscosity.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted by kschachn
Along with an apparent inability to accurately measure flash point, Blackstone has also demonstrated difficulty in measuring viscosity.

Are they even an accredited lab?

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by GJM120
Slow getting this out here.

This was an very short change interval mileage wise. It was a year from the last change and I've been going on 7,000 miles or a year - whichever comes first. The car does often see short runs (~8 miles)

Blackstone thinks I could wait longer. I do my own changes and it's pretty inexpensive so I'm inclined to stay with my current regimen.

The only thing I wondered about is the 100 C vis was down a bit from the virgin spec of 13.1.

That is significant drop for 1800 miles run, especially in port-injected engine.
Are coil packs OK? You need to run that thing longer on the road. I have never had Castrol 0W40 or Mobil1 0W40 drop below 12 in my DI cars, let alone port-injected.

 

[GJM120]

No issues with ignition whatsoever. Plugs were changed just about the time of putting in that oil. Like I mentioned in another thread, the Edge 0W/40 starts out with a 100C vis of 13.1. With that in mind, do you still think the degradation is a lot?

 

[GJM120]

Originally Posted by GJM120
No issues with ignition whatsoever. Plugs were changed just about the time of putting in that oil. Like I mentioned in another thread, the Edge 0W/40 starts out with a 100C vis of 13.1. With that in mind, do you still think the degradation is a lot?


I'm editing this post -

Looking at other UOA's for the same oil (appreciating that each engine is different) this does seem like a big degradation. I'm really wondering if they messed up the analysis. Above posts cast some doubts on Blackstone's accuracy. Then when I look at the low fuel percentage and a flash point that is pretty much the virgin spec, I really start to think it's a bad analysis.

 

[Deleted member 89374]

I wish the broken links would be fixed. The PDF attachment for this UOA can't be opened. Thank you.