Just got my BLACKStone report back!

[retrojay2345]

What do you guys think of my report?

[GRUESOM3]

No way!

[pbonsalb]

So what is your plan based on the high lead count?

[retrojay2345]

Originally Posted by GRUESOM3

No way!

??

[retrojay2345]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

So what is your plan based on the high lead count?

?? From the notes it says that everything is normal.

[Iyzmi]

One single report is useless unless it shows something really egregious. You need to establish trends before there is any valuable information to analyze. Even after you establish trends, the value of these reports is debatable. My car showed average lead counts and yet the bearings still didn't look good when I replaced them.

I think the only thing these reports are truly good for is warning you of an obvious issue where lead count is through the roof. I suspect that lead sky rockets just before the engine goes boom though, so it would be quite lucky to actually catch a report like that before it's too late.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showpos...&postcount=678

[MMachines]

OK so here's the thing, there are countless threads and paranoia and the old school members get frustrated. As lyzmi mentions, one single report is useless, maybe the entire test for this purpose is useless. Here's my stance, there is no abundance of rolling shell E9x M3's for sale and wrecker motors are most certainly available. Since rust hasn't been killing these cars this means that people are crashing their M3's faster than we need used engines, at the very least. I don't see many dealers putting 25k engines into what was a 25k car while running. I felt justified.

Here's my post explaining why I did bearings with lower lead counts than yours and copper showing on 4 bearings.
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...8#post23141198

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by retrojay2345

?? From the notes it says that everything is normal.

As long as you are comfortable.

There is no test I would rely on unless I owned the car from new and tested every change or changed the bearings to replacement lead bearings and tested every change after.

[Richbot]

I changed mine with lead in the same range (20-21) after averaging 8 for the first 90000 miles.

Check again in 5000 miles. If still up there I would change the bearings.

[Scharbag]

The reason I swapped bearings was:

1 - some really smart engine builders shared data and evidence BMW specified the wrong clearance for high performance engine bearings in the S65 and S85
2 - almost every rod bearing (Lead/Copper and Tin/Aluminum) removed from an S65 engine and posted on this forum showed premature wear and in some cases, catastrophic failure was going to happen soonish if the bearings were not replaced

UOA can help identify issues but history is required to allow you to reach any conclusions. With Tin/Aluminum bearings, UOA's value is diminished.

After hearing that DeansBimmer sees blown S65s monthly, I am even happier that I changed the bearings even though mine were one of the better examples on this forum.

Happy motoring.

[anerbe]

FWIW, had 13 lead for first sample with 50k, engine blew 500 miles later (and showed 20 lead, 10 copper with spun bearing) got a used engine and put VAC bearings in it, and my last 3 oil samples for the past 15k have been 0,0 and 1. It really is the lottery, so it's up to you and if your wallet allows now.

[///M Power-Belgium]

I saw dream Blackstone reports .While the bearings looked like crap !
Don't trust Blackstone.....