1st Blackstone report - 40k miles

[KevinC]

Just got my first Blackstone analysis back. Came back VERY clean, a huge relief. I bought the car last year with 34k miles on it, just over 40k now. It will be interesting to see how my rod bearings hold up, given that everything is apparently in good shape now, and I don't really beat on the car at all - no track days etc.

[sirhodjibob]

What oil are you using?

[KevinC]

Castrol 10W-60, whatever they call it nowadays (used to be TWS).

[Finnegan]

That's a great report! And great news!

Yet, rod bearings are a mystery wrapped in an enigma....

My 40+ track day Z came back at 50k miles with pretty much the same readings as yours and a "we'd never have guessed a single track day on this motor" message from Blackstone. I changed oil every 3-4 track days, never kept track of miles, since it was well under 2,000 - 3,000 per change.

I regularly red lined my old Z after the oil was fully warm, and didn't baby it, drove it like it wanted to drive...go go go. I also didn't lug the engine, especially when cold, and was super gentle with the throttle until warm, and didn't drive it unless I was going to be driving 20 miles or more.

My new to me Z, 50k miles, mostly freeway, and gentle use, but quite a few shorter trips too. It has lead levels that have made me mothball it until I can get the bearings done next month. (Not unexpected...you roll the dice on bearings, I'd planned for this.)

My wife's car's bearings were toast at 49k, some copper showing, lots of scoring. That car spent it's first 15k miles in San Francisco, where I'm pretty certain it was never warmed up fully, put under heavy load (hills, hills, hills), and driven short distances. Bearings were scary bad.

My suspicion is that it's largely how the car is driven when cold, and, if used for short trips. But that's just conjecture I think. We're back to an enigma.

Note: I'm seriously thinking about moving to Redline 5-50, since the 60 shears down often below 50 anyway, and the better moving oil on start may help with cold engine wear. As with anything oil related, YYMD!

[KevinC]

I know these reports don't guarantee anything, and I don't know how the car was driven for its first 34k miles, other than one apparent BMW track day by a previous owner. I too baby the car until fully warm and never lug it, but who knows how it's been treated?

I see lots of reference to the switch to Red Line 5W-50 and it all seems to be positive, with nobody chiming in to say it's a bad idea. Perhaps I'll go that route myself on the next change.

[XMetal]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Note: I'm seriously thinking about moving to Redline 5-50, since the 60 shears down often below 50 anyway, and the better moving oil on start may help with cold engine wear. As with anything oil related, YYMD!

Finn,
I don't think changing out the viscosity will help much. If you read my bearing thread, you'll see that I've experimented with various oils and additives, including Redline 5-50. Nothing helped (well...may be Liqui Moly Ceratec did something?) - at least that's what the Blackstone reports indicated.

[racerbruce]

Great report!
Great to see such positive results - let's discuss motor oil....

BMW spec engine oil for the S54 engine (Castrol 07-51-0-009-420 TWS Synthetic Oil 10W60: 832511)

Is this folklore, or was it true that when the S54 had massive connecting rod bearing failures in the early 2000's and BMW entered a recall and repair of S54 issues, that the oil I've referenced (above) was specifically designed for the S54....is this true? Has this oil been replaced, or is this specific oil still available? I've stayed with Castrol the entire time (owned the Red Roadster as a second owner only a few years and 12K miles into it's life).

[KevinC]

TWS as a name went away, but it lives on as Castrol Edge Supercar 10W-60, either unchanged or very close to it. I ASSume this happened when BMW switched over to Shell as their "recommended" brand a few years ago. If you get an oil change at a BMW dealer nowadays, I ASSume they're using the Shell stuff - "Twin Power Turbo" 10W-60.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by XMetal

Finn,
I don't think changing out the viscosity will help much. If you read my bearing thread, you'll see that I've experimented with various oils and additives, including Redline 5-50. Nothing helped (well...may be Liqui Moly Ceratec did something?) - at least that's what the Blackstone reports indicated.

I'm not certain either, I'll run some tests over the next year to check. My thought process to support the 5-50 concept was around track use and colder temps.

I live in an area that sees colder temps than Socal. Certainly not Canadian temps, but 30-40 regularly during the winter. Garage stays right at about 37. Will the 5 help with that? Maybe.

The 50 and shearing consideration is that track use contributes to that issue as I understand it. Will it help? Maybe.

I know that's a lot of maybe.

Thanks for the reminder re: oil thread. Lots of great info there! In one post on that thread I stated I was more or less resigned to this being a 50k miles maintenance item. I think that's probably still the best place to plan and act from. It's human nature to try and find a solution, but I don't know there an easy one here. We can do a lot of bearing changes for the price of a motor.

I think we're back to rod bearings being a mystery wrapped in an enigma. One that's best addressed in 50k intervals .

[racerbruce]

Originally Posted by KevinC

TWS as a name went away, but it lives on as Castrol Edge Supercar 10W-60, either unchanged or very close to it. I ASSume this happened when BMW switched over to Shell as their "recommended" brand a few years ago. If you get an oil change at a BMW dealer nowadays, I ASSume they're using the Shell stuff - "Twin Power Turbo" 10W-60.

Thanking you -