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      01-15-2019, 12:47 PM   #67
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GuidoK View Post
I wonder how sodium coming from coolant from a radiator leak can find its way to motoroil.....
Wondering the same thing since these cars have a separate oil cooler
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      01-15-2019, 12:56 PM   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GuidoK View Post
I wonder how sodium coming from coolant from a radiator leak can find its way to motoroil.....
The leak was at the top seam of radiator. The fan blows it toward the intake thus getting mixed into air intake. That is my guess.

I changed gas to Union 76, Mobile, and Valero from Chevron. I used Chevron exclusively and see if there are any changes with sodium. I am due for an oil change once rain stop here in NorCal.
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      01-15-2019, 02:39 PM   #69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RobMCoupe View Post
The leak was at the top seam of radiator. The fan blows it toward the intake thus getting mixed into air intake. That is my guess.
You have a stock intake?

The fan blows agains the middle of the block.
The stock intake sits in front of the radiator, so thats impossible, unless you poored it in. A csl airbox or such sits way at the side, also very unlikely. Especially at a minor leak. It would also mean your air intake sucks out masses of air from the engine bay, especially hot air as air coming from the fan is per definition hot (as I said, the fan blows towards the center of the engine block) instead of drawing air in from the outside.

My guess, if you really have elevated levels (maybe you use oil with some sodium), and it is related to coolant, it has to come from a gasket leak.

But my guess is that other factors are just as likely. Driving in salt air, roadsalt elevated sodium level in the oil itself or such.

I also think that if there would be coolant in the oil, not only sodium but also the potassium level should rise.
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Last edited by GuidoK; 01-15-2019 at 02:52 PM..
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      01-15-2019, 03:26 PM   #70
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Doesn't look like BMW coolant have potassium, if I'm reading the MSDS correctly
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      01-15-2019, 03:42 PM   #71
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hmm yeah looks like thats potassium free (at least in high quantities). So trace elements of potassium might not be the best marker.
I looked up some more and they mainly contain sodium based salts, although it seems that each manufacturer uses different ingredients, sometimes displayed with "Aqueous solution of inhibiting salts" rated "not classified, so that could be anything really as long as its not harmful. Some do seem to contain potassium (like potassium ethylhexanoate and such) but certainly not all coolants indeed. Its a very mixed bag.

But it would still be bad if hot air from the fan and engine would reach the intake.
Usually everything is done to prevent that, so I still think that there are numerous other ways sodium can get in an oil analysisreport.
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Last edited by GuidoK; 01-15-2019 at 03:56 PM..
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      01-15-2019, 03:48 PM   #72
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I'm not sure about coolant leak is the caused. I noticed it went down a bit after replacing radiator. At this time, I am checking if it is fuel additives by switching fuel brand.
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      01-15-2019, 04:10 PM   #73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RobMCoupe View Post
I'm not sure about coolant leak is the caused. I noticed it went down a bit after replacing radiator. At this time, I am checking if it is fuel additives by switching fuel brand.
Please keep us posted with your findings. I am using Chevron 90%+ of the fills...so maybe I should start filling up with different brands as well. But then again, it could also be our California fuel blends too.

Another trend that I've noticed is that most of the S54s that have high sodium readings are Z4Ms...just another datapoint.
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      01-15-2019, 04:55 PM   #74
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XMetal View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobMCoupe View Post
I'm not sure about coolant leak is the caused. I noticed it went down a bit after replacing radiator. At this time, I am checking if it is fuel additives by switching fuel brand.
Please keep us posted with your findings. I am using Chevron 90%+ of the fills...so maybe I should start filling up with different brands as well. But then again, it could also be our California fuel blends too.

Another trend that I've noticed is that most of the S54s that have high sodium readings are Z4Ms...just another datapoint.
I'll do an oil change this and send it out for analysis and report back.
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      01-30-2019, 10:12 AM   #75
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My Blackstone report for sodium is a bit lower with one fill up of Chevron gas. I will use one specific brand near my house exclusively and check sodium level on next analysis.





https://www.dropbox.com/s/eo9umpiy91...oupe.pdf?raw=1

Last edited by RobMCoupe; 01-30-2019 at 10:23 AM..
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      01-31-2019, 10:28 AM   #76
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Thanks for the follow up, Rob! It looks like my sodium level may get a lot worst before it gets better if it follows your trend. Like you, I will try to stay away from Chevron for this oil change interval to see if that may be a factor. Glad to see that at least sodium is starting to drop on your analysis and hopes that it keeps following that trend!
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      03-06-2019, 07:09 PM   #77
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Had them changed out yesterday at 58k
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      03-06-2019, 08:54 PM   #78
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^^ those look pretty good for 58k, no?
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      03-06-2019, 09:31 PM   #79
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^^ those look pretty good for 58k, no?
It looks good if 100k, not 58k. You would not expect to see copper for less than 60k
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      04-08-2019, 09:12 AM   #80
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Doing my bearings on 4/22. Going with BE bearings. Should I do OEM bolts or the ARP?
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      04-08-2019, 09:37 AM   #81
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Doing my bearings on 4/22. Going with BE bearings. Should I do OEM bolts or the ARP?
This is really your preference. I don't believed there's a big enough difference to justify the extra cost. No one had complained about the OE bolts and I had not heard a single thing that's wrong with the OE bolts. If ARP was really that superior, I'm sure Lang would have pushed for those when I had mine done, but he didn't.
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      04-08-2019, 09:46 AM   #82
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That's pretty much what I thought. If I were planning on another bearing change I would go with the ARP because they can be reused.
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      04-17-2019, 05:03 PM   #83
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Does the tri-armor coating have to be removed from the parting lines before install on the be bearings?
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      04-23-2019, 06:26 PM   #84
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Done, pretty bad wear 63,000 miles And you don't remove the coating from the parting lines. Direct from BE bearings.
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      04-23-2019, 06:46 PM   #85
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Yike

Glad to see you got this taken care of
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      04-23-2019, 08:09 PM   #86
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Yep, copper on three of them.
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      02-11-2020, 04:53 PM   #87
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Looks like my WPC treated bearings are wearing-in nicely I also decide to add a can of Ceratec to "coat" the new bearings on this sample since they appeared to work so well the last time I had used it...so the results you see here are from Castrol 10w60 with Ceratec added.

One interesting note, my sodium reading has dropped for whatever reasons The only change I had made (from the previous 2 samples) was a change in filling-up habits - going from mostly Chevron 91 to Shell 91. I will continue to trying to stick with the Shell blend this year to see if it will further reduce those sodium levels.
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      02-23-2020, 11:49 AM   #88
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Very nice!! I'll update thread with my next oil analysis if Chevron gas is caused for high sodium. I need to rebuild my vanos soon. My car has over 116k and don't want to push my luck.
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