Blackstone report in, need advice

[StickMon]

I think I'm still OK. Low lead and no copper.
Need to start a new page pretty soon.

[Patrick Gent]

I started with a horrible Blackstone report -- 44 ppm lead. My car is a daily driver, no track, some somewhat spirited driving. My Blackstones have come way down. Part of it is shorter intervals; I was aiming at 5,000 using the "miles to next oil service," but of course on an M 15,000 miles is not necessarily 15,000 miles.

The real key, though, I believe, is that I let the car warm up in the morning, and if it sits at work all day again before I drive off at night. I don't wait for it to get fully warm, I wait until the orange bar is at the 6500 level, which in the warm months is only one less bar that startup, takes maybe 3 or 4 minutes. And of course I drive very easily until fully warm. I truly believe it has made a radical difference.

[NickyC]

Ok, I received my third report from Blackstone this afternoon (thanks for the amazingly quick turn around BS, 5 business days!). My story is a good one for people to see how you shouldn't jump to conclusions over one bad report, rather, build a history of what's going on inside your motor. Quick background, I purchased this Z4M back in July and the BS report was AWFUL. However, I had a feeling the lead was so high due to some sort of octane booster/fuel injector cleaner the prior owner might have used. My mind was put a bit at ease on my second report 2,300 miles later, and now another 6k miles later (I consider 6k to be a full run and will be my oil change interval going forward) my engine got an A+ report. I've included all the reports below, beginning with the bad one.

Point of the story, don't panic in regards to one bad report!!

*EDIT*, had to remove the reports from here as my dumbass didn't realize they have all my personal info at the top and these reports showed up in a damned Google search. I really hate the internet sometimes.

[jmillet]

Follow-up on post #21. Analysis of Greddy 10W-60 oil shows lead dropping down to 10 PPM with copper and iron remaining consistent.
Blackstone Oil Analysis S54 August 2014.pdf

[CFoote]

Thank you all for posting these reports, it really helps to see what other owners are receiving for numbers.

Chris

[intoflatlines]

I have only two reports for my Z4M so far. Mileage is pretty low as are my change intervals. The car is only driven on the street occasionally, and also for 15-20 autocross events annually. I change the oil every spring regardless of miles driven. I will probably change the oil early in August in preparation for a track day (or are you supposed to change it after the track day?).

[StickMon]

Here's another data point for the thread. Uptick in lead this time.
This was the first oil change since I replaced my Vanos.
Maybe the rebuilt had some shmutz in it.
Maybe.

This is a DD that I shift at 4k 99% of the time and hasn't been over 6k in the last 50k miles.

[XMetal]

Originally Posted by StickMon

Here's another data point for the thread. Uptick in lead this time.
This was the first oil change since I replaced my Vanos.
Maybe the rebuilt had some shmutz in it.
Maybe.

This is a DD that I shift at 4k 99% of the time and hasn't been over 6k in the last 50k miles.

That an excellent report, especially on a high mileage car! Mine is only about 1/4 of your mileage and I'm already in the teens on lead readings I have to keep a close eye on mine - as soon as copper/iron creeps up, I'm swapping bearings...already started saving for it

Note: The first 2 analysis had Castrol TWS in it and the most recent had Redline in it. With only one sample for Redline, it doesn't look like there's anything difference (in terms of wear-wise) with using one oil over another. I'm trying out ZDDP in the current oil (Castrol TWS) - will see if that helps on the next analysis.

[jmillet]

Follow-up on post 48. Switched back to Red Line 10W-60 and lead increased to 31ppm.
Blackstone Oil Analysis S54 August 2015.pdf