Found metallic particles in the oil filter...

[dleccord]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Step one... change your oil AND filter ASAP. Use a BMW Long Life 1(LL1) approved oil: 0w30, 0w40, 5w30 or 5w40.

Step two... change your oil again in a few thousand miles and recheck for metallic particles. Having your old engine oil wouldn't be a bad idea too.

Always change your engine oil at least once per year. Really twice per year is the bare common sense minium. IF you drive your car on lots of short trips... change your oil more often. Any yellow gunk on the inside of your oil fill cap ? Change your oil more often!


Oil changes are cheaper than engine parts.




Dackel

Thought the yellow gunk was from short driving. Unless you’re talking about coolant contamination...

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by dleccord

Thought the yellow gunk was from short driving. Unless you’re talking about coolant contamination...

Yes. That was what I said.
Yellow gunk on the inside of your oil cap is caused from lots of short trips.

The engine oil doesn't get jot enough to burn off unburned fuel(from cold starts) and condensation that forms inside the valve cover. This is why one should change your engine oil more often when you do lots of short trips.

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by TylerD

I always used Mobil 1 New Life 0w40 for my cars and it does have BMW LL1, so no worries

Since my first e36 325 the oil change intervall is once a year or every 10.000km whatever comes first. Next change is in two months. Will check the filter again for "gold". I still wonder if any of you guys check your oilfilter when changing oil. And by checking I dont mean just looking at it from the outside, but really take it apart like I did. Maybe it really is normal.

There has never been any yellow stuff on the fill cap. Normal oil "consumption" (<0,5l on 10.000km).

I have been cutting mine open. I usually find 2-3 flakes in the filter. You have several flakes in every pleat. Not normal, but no one is going to be able to tell you where it's coming from without tearing it down. Just make sure oil pressure is OK and drive it lol. What else can you really do?

[T1M]

It's not abnormal to see some flakes like this especially with long OCI's and few changes since the car was new. I'd recommend doing a couple of 1000-2000km intervals to flush the engine and get some detergents through it and then continue as you suggested at 7500-10,000km intervals and monitor.

Few people will cut their filters and inspect so it's really hard to know what other cars are doing.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by TylerD

I always used Mobil 1 New Life 0w40 for my cars and it does have BMW LL1, so no worries

Since my first e36 325 the oil change intervall is once a year or every 10.000km whatever comes first. Next change is in two months. Will check the filter again for "gold". I still wonder if any of you guys check your oilfilter when changing oil. And by checking I dont mean just looking at it from the outside, but really take it apart like I did. Maybe it really is normal.

There has never been any yellow stuff on the fill cap. Normal oil "consumption" (<0,5l on 10.000km).

The amount of metal in your photos is NOT NORMAL.

I would not wait too long for your next oil change. Like I said change your oil NOW... bc in a few months... your engine might have a knock in it. That metal is coming from somewhere... probably your rod or main bearings.

Your oil was too old and could not provide any real lubrication. You had metal and metal wear. That is not good.

In changing your oil again... you can open your oil filter pleats (again) and see IF you have no metal particles or less or more. And oil change is pretty cheap peace of mind compared to rebuild or a new engine.

Every engine failure I have seen has been with guys running high boost)+18 psi) or homemade tunes when they get their A/F mixture all wrong and run lean.

I have cut open my oil filter before... you should only see a spec of metal or silicone here or there. Nothing like what you had in your oil filter. I would also recommend only using a BMW filter or a Mann or Mahle filters(OEM).

Dackel

[TylerD]

Thanks so far guys, guess I will follow your advices and change the oil asap and then again after 2000km.

I was just about buying the good old "Mobil 1 New Life", but it has been replaced by "Mobil 1 FS". The latter does not have BMW LL1 anymore it seems. It might only be a license thing, but I'd like to be safe.

Any suggestions on a good Mobil 1 New Life alternative?

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by TylerD

Thanks so far guys, guess I will follow your advices and change the oil asap and then again after 2000km.

I was just about buying the good old "Mobil 1 New Life", but it has been replaced by "Mobil 1 FS". The latter does not have BMW LL1 anymore it seems. It might only be a license thing, but I'd like to be safe.

Any suggestions on a good Mobil 1 New Life alternative?

So you are saying the Mobil-1 0w40 European Blend (LL1 approved) oil is no longer made ?

Maybe check out a Shell oil... to see IF it has a LL1 rating. Personally I use German Castrol 0w40 that has a LL1 rating.

Dackel

[TylerD]

Yes, it has been replaced, sadly

I am living in germany too, so I will switch to the castrol oil you mentioned.

Is this the one you are using?

https://oeldepot24.de/castrol-edge-0...4-5-liter.html

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by TylerD

Yes, it has been replaced, sadly

I am living in germany too, so I will switch to the castrol oil you mentioned.

Is this the one you are using?

https://oeldepot24.de/castrol-edge-0...4-5-liter.html

Yes, that is the oil I am using(Castrol FST).

Dackel

[TylerD]

Bought

Will do the change this weekend and keep this thread updated just in case someone has a similar problem.

I also read somewhere, when changing oil types/viscosities etc. to something different than the engine was worn in with, there can/could be a temporary increase in wear. Could that be true?

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by TylerD

Bought

Will do the change this weekend and keep this thread updated just in case someone has a similar problem.

I also read somewhere, when changing oil types/viscosities etc. to something different than the engine was worn in with, there can/could be a temporary increase in wear. Could that be true?

Nope. I think that is a myth.

[TylerD]

So I changed the oil and checked the filter again. Looks ok this time. There are still very few tiny metallic flakes present, but I guess that could be normal now.

Will change the filter again in 2000km and see how it looks then.

[siim138]

Hello!

I did a regular oil service for my N55 35i in June 2018. On this day I said for my mechanic that he should look old oil filter if there is something ... mine is from "bad" those first N55-s, it is from 2010/06 and so I know that the pistons and rod bearings are also quite weak. And BOOM, my mechanic found metal chips in the oil filter!
Today (only after 2400km with the new oil) we repeat the oil service, and the chips are still there on the filter! The old oil is clean, only the filter has those particels.

Please look at the photos.
How bad is that? How much can I still drive and what should I do? My car has already 140 000 miles on it.

Thanks

Siim

[Dackelone]

@TylerD Any updates on your metal particles ?


siim138 IF that were my car I would do the following...

Did you buy your car new? IF some start contacting BMW.

Are you using a BMW oil filter and BMW LL4 approved oil ? IF not start using them!!


In the meantime... I would change the oil and filter a few times in short driving. Say once every few days(and tear apart your oil filter) to see IF the metal particles are going down or increasing. This might sound excessive but I would want all that metal particles out of my engine ASAP!

Maybe buy a good oil drain plug with a strong magnet on it like from Dimple. I thought $30 was kind of steep... but it does a great job pulling very fine metal particles out of the oil.

www.drainplugmagnets.com

Have your old oil analized. There are lots of labs that will analyze your old engine oil. Most people in the USA seem to use Blackstone Labs...

www.blackstone-labs.com/free-test-kits.php


https://www.google.de/search?rlz=1C1....0.mzqNaJQHgPc

Dackel

[The Wind Breezes]

Interesting thread. I wouldn't be surprised to find something like this in my filter. I guess I'll give her a little check.

[TylerD]

@siim138
Like Dackel said, you cant really do much, apart from keeping an eye out on the filter and always use good oil, original filters and short change intervals. Analyzing an oil sample is a good thing, i think, but I would use a rather old sample (8-10k km maybe?). For me, I just drive the car now without worrying too much, hell, even going stage2+ the next days.

@Dackel
Only been driving 2500km since january, but going to change the filter again soon, just out of curiosity.

As for the magnet, the particles in my filter where non magnetic, so that wouldnt help much guess its aluminum.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by TylerD

I always used Mobil 1 New Life 0w40 for my cars and it does have BMW LL1, so no worries

Mobil-1 New Life 0w40 no longer has a BMW Long Life(LL1) rating. It used to have a BMW LL1 rating, but not any more.

Dackel

[TylerD]

Originally Posted by TylerD

I was just about buying the good old "Mobil 1 New Life", but it has been replaced by "Mobil 1 FS". The latter does not have BMW LL1 anymore it seems.

Switched to castrol back then, thanks to your advise

[zx10guy]

I wonder where the source of these metal flakes are.

This reminds me of the problem Ducati had with their rocker arms which had chrome flaking off of them.

[JCip91]

Not sure if this will help but I have a magnetic drain plug from ECS. It does a really good job at picking up metal flakes. UUC makes one as well if I recall correctly.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by JCip91

Not sure if this will help but I have a magnetic drain plug from ECS. It does a really good job at picking up metal flakes. UUC makes one as well if I recall correctly.

While the ECS and UUC plugs work... they are no where near as powerful as the Dimple plugs. See my write up here...

Dimple magnetic oil drain plug - two thumbs up!
https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show...3&postcount=43

PS: The Dimple drain plug seems to attract a lot more fine metal particles, still to this day - when I change my oil. It's a little hard to show in my video... but the Dimple plugs are about ten times stronger than the UUC one. I am sold on Dimple, even tho they aren't cheap.

[TylerD]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Yes, that is the oil I am using(Castrol FST).

Dackel

Well, exactly one year later and here we go again
No more LL-01 for Castrol...

I opened a thread on this here:

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1638298