Some truth to "lifetime" fluids (UOAs inside)

[Rated-M3]

As much as I would like this to be an ongoing thread, the rate of updates will be long as my wife nor I put over 10k miles on her car a year. That said, I will post my initial used oil analysis' (UOAs) and hopefully not forget to update in the following years. That said, maybe members can contribute there own UOAs throughout time.

The car:
We have a 2010 128i, N52 engine and GM GA6L45R automatic transmission with the paddle shifters. We bought it CPO with 15,xxx miles on it. Based on the service records, it really looks like the owner traded in as soon as the service light came on for the first oil change... Driving habits: unknown.

Our diving habits:

My wife: I would call her a little lead footed to an extent. I am accustomed to a chauffer driving style, not jerking the passengers around with sudden hard throttle and braking (I really don't have room to speak when it comes to this car). She's not bad, but she's not that smooth which leads me to that conclusion. She does not know how to use the paddle shifters and I can't really say if she uses DS mode when I'm not around. Her work commute consist of short highway mileage and she carries out all her errands/personal needs around town in this car.

Me: I won't lie, I dog the car. I drive an E36 M3 and am competitive in autocross at a local level even though my car is built following BMWCCA I-Stock classing; therefore, I don't even class properly in autocross. I often engage DS mode at a light if I feel a short drag is about to go down. Sometimes, I do it just to ring the engine out in hopes of blowing out some of the gunk build up associated with direct injection (Trying to avoid needing to get the valves walnut blasted anytime soon). That said , I really do put limited mileage on this vehicle. We have a family car that I use most of the time since I don't drive my E36 regularly.

We have autocrossed the car, about 5 times, sharing the car at several events and both of us driving it on our own at others. This car has never seen track time.

UOAs:

Since we recently came off the dealer's warranty, I did a transmission fluid and filter change as well as a power steering fluid and filter (Filter's built into the reservoir) change at 50,1119 miles. Both were factory fill original fluids. Like most, I really don't believe in the lifetime fill, which has been defined by BMW as 100,000 miles. So I decided to get a UOA done on both to look for any abnormal wear. I made a DIY both fluid/filter changes in the DIY section (Transmission, Power steering),

Here's the UOA of the power steering fluid. It's worth noting, because of where I drained the power steering fluid, there may be some contaminants explained in the UOA. I would do it differently by taking fluid straight from the reservoir next time.



Now here's my transmission fluid UOA:



And here are 2 more pulled from E9x cars from this thread. Note these are older, slightly heavier cars and possibly have AWD.





My transmission fluid looked good in comparison to the other UOAs. Too many unknown variables to explain why.

So, it's time to hop on board with synthetic fluids. There is some truth to them that they don't break as fast as mineral based fluids based on the properties of the fluids from my UOAs. Would I run them 100,000 miles? No. I am more worried about contaminants than the fluid breaking down. But, now I am certainly more comfortable servicing them at longer mileage intervals such as 50k miles. Forgot the term "Lifetime" and consider them "Long Life" as they classify there oil specifications. I leave it to you to judge when to do your fluid changes. I would recommend a fluid change in the early life of the vehicle (<15k miles) to get rid of all the break in junk. Then, follow a long life service interval. Don't forget there are so many other variables that play a role in wear too. I.e. driving habits, environment, manufacturing, etc.

I will be changing the oil at 52k miles. That would be an oil change interval (OCI) of 8k miles since the last oil change. I have always done a filter change in between oil changes since the On Board Computer (OBC) intervals are condition based. But as of my first oil change, I timed the filter change at 4k miles and will change the oil at 8k miles. I will post the UOA once that is done. I have no plans to change the differential fluid as I would really like to get an LSD in the car, therefore death to the current diff.

[Dackelone]

The BEST oil is NEW oil!

[Rated-M3]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

The BEST oil is NEW oil!

While I don't disagree, what we want to avoid is replacing good fluid. Just like saying the best sparkplug is a fresh sparkplug. Do you want to replace an iridium plug at 15k miles when it is supposed to last 100k? If you can afford it, more power to you. But you aren't getting your money's worth.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Rated-M3

While I don't disagree, what we want to avoid is replacing good fluid. Just like saying the best sparkplug is a fresh sparkplug. Do you want to replace an iridium plug at 15k miles when it is supposed to last 100k? If you can afford it, more power to you. But you aren't getting your money's worth.

Well... I would not run any spark plug for 100K miles. Just bc it CAN last that long, doesn't mean the performance doesn't tailer off. I think for a NA 50K plug changes are ok. For a tuned turbo car like the N54/N55's... 30K mile change intervals are best.

Just look at all the issues with BMW's long oil change intervals... even BMW has changed it now to a 10K mile OCI instead of 15K miles. I think 5K to 7K is about right. Seems like you can avoid a lot of long term issues by changing your oil more frequently than BMW says too. Then again... lots of people are leasing their cars these days and could care less about servicing the cars.

[Iron Man]

Thanks for the UOA's. I believe the N52 does not have direct injection, so you need not worry about carbon build-up. The N53 did have the DI.

The research I've read shows that trannies have the most metal wear in the first 5-15,000 miles, then after that, the wear level drops dramatically. Therefore, I agree, a fluid change early to remove the metals, then go a good 60k or so before the next (depending on driving conditions and type of vehicle, for Bimmers, 60k on a synthetic should be good). When I changed the tranny fluid in my wife's car the first time, there was a thick paste of metal shavings on the magnetic drain plug. The next drain and fill, the amount was greatly reduced.

Additionally, it does not looked like your fluid sheared much, so it was still good, but the metal levels seemed high to me.

[Iron Man]

I forgot to add, you should not worry about changing your oil filter between oil changes. If you use a BMW, Mann, Mahle or Hengst filter, they will easily last 10,000 miles or more, so you are just wasting your money. I think an OCI of 7-8,000 miles with an approved LL-01 oil should be pretty good for how your car is driven.

[Rated-M3]

Thanks Iron Man, for some reason I was under the assumption that all new motors were DI and didn't even think to search it... I can definitely sleep better knowing this. I'm using BMW oil filters but I need more proof that the filters are good to run in extended internals as well.

[JHZR2]

None of those UOAs look particularly good or bad to me after looking at thousands (Im also a mod over at BITOG). Still, UOA is a trending tool, and something that can perhaps pinpoint glaring issues (like a gasket seeping coolant into the oil), not something that can really compare one lube against another or anything like that.

We can take away though that the fluids all sheared down, and some were actually dirty with insolubles (Im hoping it was your technique).

These fluids were run for a long time and have wear metals in them. Nothing to be alarmed at, though honestly Im a bit surprised at the PSF viscosity, especially if it is supposed to be an ATF-like fluid).

I generally agree with the comments in the UOAs, these can probably be run a bit longer next time, but that's your call.

Thanks for taking these and sharing!

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by Rated-M3

Thanks Iron Man, for some reason I was under the assumption that all new motors were DI and didn't even think to search it... I can definitely sleep better knowing this. I'm using BMW oil filters but I need more proof that the filters are good to run in extended internals as well.

Sorry for my delayed response, since I missed your reply. Not sure what proof you need, but BMW oil filters (as well as Mann HU 816X, which are identical) are top-notch quality filters. They are well constructed and I believe contain synthetic filter media as well. They should easily go 8,000 miles between oil changes.

In fact, I have more faith in the BMW oil filters than I do BMW motor oil. Their oil filters are of similar media construction to the spin-on filters Mobil 1, Bosch, Fram etc. advertise as being 10-15,000 mile filters.