1987 BMW 535is - Chevron Supreme 20w50 3278 miles

[Samrsnow]

This is a big sigh of relief for me. Last two uoas as you can see we're high in copper and I had no idea why. I recently changed my oil pan out that had been cracked to [censored] and back and held together with JB weld. The JB weld was coming apart inside the pan apparently which is the only thing I can attribute the copper to now. Very happy with these results. Refilled with Rotella t4 15w40 and I'll check that out next time.

 

[SR5]

Looks good, 4ppm iron in ~3300 miles is nice low wear numbers.

Nice slug of Moly ~140 ppm in that oil.

Old school 20W50 still doing it's job.

 

[Popsy]

I'm surprised they say the viscosity was normal for a 20W50? It is in the 40 territory, is this a regular behavior with this oil?

 

[andyd]

A buddy of mine put 560K on his 86 535i. As for assuming 40 grade viscosity,IDK, But 20w50 is about that, It was the recommended oil for that engine

 

[Samrsnow]

Originally Posted by Popsy
I'm surprised they say the viscosity was normal for a 20W50? It is in the 40 territory, is this a regular behavior with this oil?


I'm not sure, I've never seen anyone do an analysis on this oil before. If you look at the first sample from 7/16/18 which is Valvoline VR1 20w50 you can see the viscosity at 210F is similar but with more miles granted I did add oil later in that OCI (an HDEO) So maybe there is some shearing but I'm not certain. Most of this OCI was long trips on the highway/interstate to work. Per a 2018 PDS, it states that the Chevron starts out around 18.2cst @ 100c.

 

[Samrsnow]

Originally Posted by andyd
A buddy of mine put 560K on his 86 535i. As for assuming 40 grade viscosity,IDK, But 20w50 is about that, It was the recommended oil for that engine


That is nuts but not surprising considering how well BMW built the e28 5 series platform. I love the m30 engine to death, so easy to work on. No bottom end work done for his? I was almost considering rod bearings for mine if copper persisted as a trend.

 

[MCompact]

I miss my 1987 535is; I only sold it because I was getting into HPDEs and I didn't want to modify it extensively. It's since gone through three more owners and had over 300k miles on it the last I heard. Maintain those M30s(and watch the banjo bolts under the valve cover) and they will last nearly forever.