Oil Analysis Issue/Question

[Got f1?]

Cross posting this here from the M2 Forum since this side will have more S55 experience.

I just got this oil analysis done on my M2C. Bought it with about 3,500 miles and had oil changed at dealer at about 8600 miles. The break in service was completed at about 1500 miles. So about 7100 miles on the oil.

My questions is has anyone had a similar result? Any suggestions on what to do other than change again in 5000 miles and retest?

I was thinking I'd go to dealer and have them open a repair order with this info on it just so it is on the record.

Appreciate any advice.

[gatorfast]

lol your dealer won't do anything simply based on a used oil analysis.

I would take the results with a major grain of salt since, as indicated by black stone, it's only the first oil change the car has seen since the run in service and the engine is likely still breaking in which produces more wear metals than a mature engine.

Also the engine oil is noted as mobile 1 5w30 I assume that's a mistake?

[hellokitty]

Looks normal as engine is still breaking in at 3,500 miles.

Get a magnetic drain plug and retest in 3,000mi / 10k.

[M3 Muscle]

I'd run a different oil other than Mobil 1 5W-30. All Mobil 1 5W-30 oils are limited to 800 ppm phosphorus and 900 ppm zinc. Based on the oil analysis I've done on other vehicles and thousands of OA's on industrial equipment, I find that oil's with zinc levels above 1,100 always out perform those that are 900 ppm and under. With the other anti-wear additives in oil today this shouldn't be considered a golden rule, but I have yet to see a case where this doesn't hold up.

[TheBreeze]

I'd do oil service much more frequently, 5k miles or 1 year, whichever comes first. Also only use approved oils. Mobil 1 isn't really appropriate oil for the s55. Elevated aluminum in the analysis is not uncommon if the car has been driven hard for any extended periods of time (ie tracked) since the last oil change.

[blxxlee]

Like the others have said, I wouldn't worry about it. The whole point of oil analysis is to have multiple analysis done and see a trend of your values. Don't take the first one as a source of truth information, you need to do them multiple times to see what it looks like.

[SD ///M4]

Just wanted to echo what others have said about Mobil 1. It is not a recommended oil for the S55 engine so you shouldn't be using it. As long as your car is in warranty, just use the recommended BMW oil at least until it's no longer under warranty, that way there's no issue with your warranty if something goes wrong. Oil change kits are available for the S55 from getbmwparts.com for less than $100, including 7 liters of oil, a BMW oil filter, and a crush washer. Let BMW do the 10,000 mile oil changes under the maintenance agreement and do them yourself at the 5,000 miles in between.

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by blxxlee

Like the others have said, I wouldn't worry about it. The whole point of oil analysis is to have multiple analysis done and see a trend of your values. Don't take the first one as a source of truth information, you need to do them multiple times to see what it looks like.

One thing to add: use the same oil if you are doing a trend analysis. UOAs should trend positively (less wear) over multiple oil changes.

[JeffO]

Originally Posted by Got f1?

Cross posting this here from the M2 Forum since this side will have more S55 experience.

I just got this oil analysis done on my M2C. Bought it with about 3,500 miles and had oil changed at dealer at about 8600 miles. The break in service was completed at about 1500 miles. So about 7100 miles on the oil.

My questions is has anyone had a similar result? Any suggestions on what to do other than change again in 5000 miles and retest?

I was thinking I'd go to dealer and have them open a repair order with this info on it just so it is on the record.

Appreciate any advice.

I think your wear rates are too high. Mine at 5800 miles were AL - 15, Iron - 14, Copper - 6, Tin 2 on the BMW 0w-30 oil. The M1 I assume is a mistake as the oil elements look more like BMW oil. My question is are you driving the car too hard with cold oil? BMW says it takes 6 miles to warm up. Another issue can be excessive idle warm up, or lugging the engine when you drive. Try to keep engine in the 2k to 3k range until fully warmed up. Your Cu seems very high to me. A source could be valve guide wear. My opinion is the BMW oil breaks down too quickly for a 10k interval, 5k should be max on this oil. In your case I would reduce to 3k to 3.5k to see if wear stabilizes. I also like the magnetic drain plug, but have seen some of the cheap ones disintegrate in the oil.

[Got f1?]

Originally Posted by JeffO

I think your wear rates are too high. Mine at 5800 miles were AL - 15, Iron - 14, Copper - 6, Tin 2 on the BMW 0w-30 oil. The M1 I assume is a mistake as the oil elements look more like BMW oil. My question is are you driving the car too hard with cold oil? BMW says it takes 6 miles to warm up. Another issue can be excessive idle warm up, or lugging the engine when you drive. Try to keep engine in the 2k to 3k range until fully warmed up. Your Cu seems very high to me. A source could be valve guide wear. My opinion is the BMW oil breaks down too quickly for a 10k interval, 5k should be max on this oil. In your case I would reduce to 3k to 3.5k to see if wear stabilizes. I also like the magnetic drain plug, but have seen some of the cheap ones disintegrate in the oil.

I do not drive the car hard until the oil temp gets to no less than 180-200 degrees F. Revs stay below 3k until 180 then 4k until 200. My morning idle warm up lasts no more than 3-4 minutes. I did run an HPDE session just prior to this change, however. total of 5 15 minute sessions over 2 days.

I checked with the dealer and they used Shell 0W30 Full Synthetic. So obviously different from what is on the report. Not sure if that oil is universal across all dealers or not.

Thank you all for taking the time to share thoughts.

[TheBreeze]

Originally Posted by Got f1?

I did run an HPDE session just prior to this change, however. total of 5 15 minute sessions over 2 days.

DING DING DING, we have a winner! I used to see the same thing on my s65 after an HPDE, elevated AL. When you do an oil analysis, you need to be specific in your notes - the type of oil, mileage of oil, type of driving (daily, tracking, etc.). Blackstone will take all that into account in their report.

Originally Posted by Got f1?

I checked with the dealer and they used Shell 0W30 Full Synthetic. So obviously different from what is on the report. Not sure if that oil is universal across all dealers or not.

If your BMW dealer isn't used approved BMW oils, I'd find another dealer.

[JeffO]

Originally Posted by Got f1?

I do not drive the car hard until the oil temp gets to no less than 180-200 degrees F. Revs stay below 3k until 180 then 4k until 200. My morning idle warm up lasts no more than 3-4 minutes. I did run an HPDE session just prior to this change, however. total of 5 15 minute sessions over 2 days.

I checked with the dealer and they used Shell 0W30 Full Synthetic. So obviously different from what is on the report. Not sure if that oil is universal across all dealers or not.

Thank you all for taking the time to share thoughts.

My report had 5800 on the car buy only 2865 on the oil. I also had one track day of 4-30 min sessions and an autocross. So maybe not directly comparable. I felt like after the track day I wanted to see how it was doing.

[Remonster]

Originally Posted by SD ///M4

Just wanted to echo what others have said about Mobil 1. It is not a recommended oil for the S55 engine so you shouldn't be using it. As long as your car is in warranty, just use the recommended BMW oil at least until it's no longer under warranty, that way there's no issue with your warranty if something goes wrong. Oil change kits are available for the S55 from getbmwparts.com for less than $100, including 7 liters of oil, a BMW oil filter, and a crush washer. Let BMW do the 10,000 mile oil changes under the maintenance agreement and do them yourself at the 5,000 miles in between.

I agree with you about Mobil 1 5w-30, its additive package is not very strong at all so it isn't one I would personally use in this engine despite its viscosity meeting one of the recommended specs. Mobil 1 0w-40 is a fantastic oil and that one would be on my list of good oils, among many others, for this engine.

Originally Posted by Got f1?

I do not drive the car hard until the oil temp gets to no less than 180-200 degrees F. Revs stay below 3k until 180 then 4k until 200. My morning idle warm up lasts no more than 3-4 minutes. I did run an HPDE session just prior to this change, however. total of 5 15 minute sessions over 2 days.

I checked with the dealer and they used Shell 0W30 Full Synthetic. So obviously different from what is on the report. Not sure if that oil is universal across all dealers or not.

Thank you all for taking the time to share thoughts.

Do you know if they used Shell-branded oil or are they talking about the current BMW TwinPower Turbo oil that (I believe?) is made by Shell? I've been hearing from people in the industry that the current BMW 0w-30 is absolutely terrible, Noelle has been making some waves in the industry as a tuner that offers a factory-matching warranty as long as certain conditions are met and one of their requirements is that the engine is NOT run on the new BMW factory oil at all, they simply won't warranty an engine running BMW's new oil formula and is isn't because they want to sell you any particular oil since they don't require a certain brand is used. They are not the only ones I've heard stuff like this from over the past year.

[gatorfast]

Originally Posted by Remonster

I agree with you about Mobil 1 5w-30, its additive package is not very strong at all so it isn't one I would personally use in this engine despite its viscosity meeting one of the recommended specs. Mobil 1 0w-40 is a fantastic oil and that one would be on my list of good oils, among many others, for this engine.

Do you know if they used Shell-branded oil or are they talking about the current BMW TwinPower Turbo oil that (I believe?) is made by Shell? I've been hearing from people in the industry that the current BMW 0w-30 is absolutely terrible, Noelle has been making some waves in the industry as a tuner that offers a factory-matching warranty as long as certain conditions are met and one of their requirements is that the engine is NOT run on the new BMW factory oil at all, they simply won't warranty an engine running BMW's new oil formula and is isn't because they want to sell you any particular oil since they don't require a certain brand is used. They are not the only ones I've heard stuff like this from over the past year.

What exactly is terrible about the BMW 0w30? That is the first I am hearing of this. I have not heard of any engines having oil related issues by using this.

[DJM4]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Looks normal as engine is still breaking in at 3,500 miles.

Get a magnetic drain plug and retest in 3,000mi / 10k.

Magnetic drain plug with an aluminum engine block?

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Remonster

I agree with you about Mobil 1 5w-30, its additive package is not very strong at all so it isn't one I would personally use in this engine despite its viscosity meeting one of the recommended specs. Mobil 1 0w-40 is a fantastic oil and that one would be on my list of good oils, among many others, for this engine.

Do you know if they used Shell-branded oil or are they talking about the current BMW TwinPower Turbo oil that (I believe?) is made by Shell? I've been hearing from people in the industry that the current BMW 0w-30 is absolutely terrible, Noelle has been making some waves in the industry as a tuner that offers a factory-matching warranty as long as certain conditions are met and one of their requirements is that the engine is NOT run on the new BMW factory oil at all, they simply won't warranty an engine running BMW's new oil formula and is isn't because they want to sell you any particular oil since they don't require a certain brand is used. They are not the only ones I've heard stuff like this from over the past year.

BMW 0w30 is A5/B5 because the HTHS is 3.0.

Euro tuners typically prefer A3/B5 or C3 (HTHS 3.5 or more). That would be LL01/LL04.

BMW oil is top shelf GTL motor oil made by Shell.