Oil Analysis Reports

[dparm]

Originally Posted by kimiraikkonen

From the latest Blackstone oil sample:

"The vast majority of wear metals look great at 107,738 miles, but nickel is a bit high. Typically, we don't pay a whole lot of attention to nickel as it's normally just an alloying metal or perhaps a coating of some sort, but the S65 normally doesn't leave a whole lot of nickel in the oil, so this 5 ppm does stick out. That said, the other metals, including lead from the bearings, look great, so let's just wait and see how nickel looks next time. After all, 5 ppm is not a lot of metal in the grand scheme of things. The TBN is fine at 5.3. Good report overall."

What's the feedback on nickel content for our S65 engines?

I'm not sure, that is kinda weird. Nickel is used in bearing coatings, but I'm not sure if the S65's have any. It's also an alloy for valves, the crankshaft, and camshaft in some cars. Again, not sure where the S65 used nickel.

In previous analyses, did you have any nickel show up? If you don't have any previous reports, I would just keep driving and monitor things. If the nickel is elevated from last time, I would watch closely on the next one.

[kimiraikkonen]

Originally Posted by dparm

I'm not sure, that is kinda weird. Nickel is used in bearing coatings, but I'm not sure if the S65's have any. It's also an alloy for valves, the crankshaft, and camshaft in some cars. Again, not sure where the S65 used nickel.

In previous analyses, did you have any nickel show up? If you don't have any previous reports, I would just keep driving and monitor things. If the nickel is elevated from last time, I would watch closely on the next one.

Thanks dparm. Here's my full report as fyi. I know older BMWs from the 90s had the Nikasil issue, but shouldn't be any nickel coating on the S65s.....

[dparm]

Originally Posted by kimiraikkonen

Thanks dparm. Here's my full report as fyi. I know older BMWs from the 90s had the Nikasil issue, but shouldn't be any nickel coating on the S65s.....

BMW hasn't used Nikasil for a long time.

The rise of nickel over time is suspect given that your change intervals appear to be similar. Also, to be clear, are you really adding 5 quarts of oil in between changes? That would mean you're burning almost 1 quart per 1,000 miles driven. How did that suddenly happen in early 2016?

You may want to post this on BITOG to get some other opinions, but something is wrong if the car is burning that much oil and has nickel rising over time.

[kimiraikkonen]

Originally Posted by dparm

BMW hasn't used Nikasil for a long time.

The rise of nickel over time is suspect given that your change intervals appear to be similar. Also, to be clear, are you really adding 5 quarts of oil in between changes? That would mean you're burning almost 1 quart per 1,000 miles driven. How did that suddenly happen in early 2016?

You may want to post this on BITOG to get some other opinions, but something is wrong if the car is burning that much oil and has nickel rising over time.

The first oil change 0.75 qt is misleading, as I did the oil change shortly after I got the car.....so unknown status on how many qts was put previously by the owner during that oil service period.

That being said, the car has been fairly consistent at 1200 mi / Liter......so am chalking this up to how some S65 motors consume oil.

[OlBloo]

Wow a liter per every 1k is huge especially w/ 10w60. Bad piston rings or valve seals maybe?

And for myself, as I'm considering cashing in my warranty, at what range of lead levels are considered high?

[dparm]

Originally Posted by OlBloo

Wow a liter per every 1k is huge especially w/ 10w60. Bad piston rings or valve seals maybe?

And for myself, as I'm considering cashing in my warranty, at what range of lead levels are considered high?

Every engine is different. Some will consistently show 0, so anything >0 is considered high, and others will consistently show 10, so anything above 10 would be high.

This is why you want to do reports over time and establish a baseline.

[Richbot]

Cams are a high nickel steel alloy IIRC, but I would think you would also see more chrome if it was cam wear and that's a zero (chrome and nickel content are around the same approximate concentration in those alloys)

[akina335]

My latest oil report on my 09 M3 with Mobil 1 0W40 (not the FS formulation). Prior analysis was with the same oil and before that was 10w60.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by akina335

My latest oil report on my 09 M3 with Mobil 1 0W40 (not the FS formulation). Prior analysis was with the same oil and before that was 10w60.

Am I reading this right -- you only drive 2,000 miles a year?

Pay for TBN & TAN next time. I'd be curious to see what's happening there. You could try calling Blackstone to see if they have enough left over to run those for you.

[notouching]

Just bought the car about 2 weeks ago and asked the dealer to collect an oil sample before they changed out oil pre-sale. The report seems good, I was nervous about it.

[last1left]

What year and how many miles?

[notouching]

Originally Posted by last1left

What year and how many miles?

'12 with 40k.

[DougM3]

Attached are the results of the first 2 UOA's on my 2009 M3. Following are some notes:

• I have always used TWS 10W60.
• I always allow the oil to fully warm up before driving hard.
• The car is driven about 50:50 highway and city mileage.
• The car is stored in a garage, but it does get down to -35°C (-30°F) in the winter here.
• I have been sending the oil to a local company for analysis before I heard about Blackstone. The Blackstone comments seem more useful, so I may switch in the future.

I would appreciate any thoughts on these results.

Cheers,
Doug

[CarPoor]

Here's a VOA of the oil that I understand went into my S65 in June/July 2017. I had Blackstone re-run the viscosity with it coming back the second time at 21.84cST @100C. UOA coming shortly.

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by apecush

Oils used in reverse chronological order:
Redline 5W50
Redline 5W50
Redline 10W60 w/2 qts 5W40
Castrol 10W60

Mileage is in kilometers, not miles.

Went back to Redline 10W60 for the most recent change.

Since I got 8 qts redline 10w60 lying around, I might try with 2 qts of redline 0w40.

[CarPoor]

BMW Twin Turbo Power 10w60 UOA (Right) and VOA (Left). Build date is 12/10. I'm not looking to extend OCI's so no TBN.

[highwaystardoritos]

My 2nd oil report. Not bad, i guess the iron is high since I've been using the old girl as a daily than the previous owner. So far so good! I changed the oil to the Shell T6 so we'll see in 6k how the report on that is.

[dmitriyo]

Acquired a new to me 2010 BMW e90 M3 with DCT. The same day I changed the oil. In retrospect shouldve gotten a sample done with whatever was in the car when I got it.

Spec:
10/2009 Production Date
Mileage at Test 90850
Mileage on oil ~5600
Motul 8100 X-power 10w60

Mostly highway miles for now.

I will be doing a test every oil change to verify consistency in numbers.

[aussiem3]

Hmmm!

[Cbozz]

I just got mine! I guess I can still wait for bearing change!
This was a 10k oil change run

[CarPoor]

Originally Posted by aussiem3

Hmmm!

That is quite the spike in lead. Hopefully a particle streak. Looks too low to be from leaded fuel.

[kyrix1st]

Make this thread a sticky already.