PranK

Ok, so I just had a chat with my mechanic. He said there is no real source of lead in the engine, the bearings and pistons are aluminium and the rings I think he said are steel. He doesn't recall what additive he used but that along with the thicker 20w50 he used could be a source of lead. It's put me at ease a little bit and I guess I'll just have to wait 5000 k's to do another change and see if anything is different. I appreciate you guys chiming in. I have a habit of immediately thinking worst case with things like this.

Ok that makes sense, I was circling around the idea that this kind of wear would only occur with too long intervals between oil changes but I see what you're saying about the cause being something else.

I had a thought. I still haven't confirmed what additive was used but, the oil from this analysis was only 5,000 k's old and I believe was Mobil 1. Given that the oil was good and fresh, would there still be wear in the engine? What I'm trying to articulate is, I understand that internal wear will happen with incorrect viscosity or not changing oil enough (and maybe other reasons also). But would the wear continue to occur when the oil is changed? Surely it would stop wearing, ie the damage was done? If thats the case, could this suggest maybe that the lead count is not wear? I dont know if that makes sense. It does in my head.

They didn't. This is their comments; I'm not sure why they don't have the OEM specs.

My engine has only an oil pressure switch from factory and I've installed an after market sensor that will alert me to pressure loss (https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/484431-my-bmw-335i/page/3/) . These engines can definitely feel long left/right handers which is why I added this sensor. There are no other symptoms at all. No strange noises (in fact after the turbos were replaced the mechanic made a note of how sweet the engine was running), no smoke, no glitter in the filter, nada. I'm just a stress head with car issues, I hate there being anything at all wrong with my cars, even if its basic. I just immediately get anxious and start thinking about catastrophic failure.

I'm reading that lead is likely from bearings. Can these be caught before it's too late or is it doomed already?

I forgot to mention also that he cut the filter open and saw no glitter at all in there. Yep, I'l give him a call shortly. Fingers crossed!

So, I wish I'd done an oil analysis before changing my turbos because my analysis shows elevated (53 ppm) levels of lead. I don't have an analysis before this, so there is no trend. I'll do another change and analysis in 5k to establish a trend but I'm curious about whether this is just a sign of a steady decline? I have no knocks and oil pressure seems ok. Is this something my engine can recover from or is it on borrowed time? My mechanic did add some additive for stem seals in the last oil change which would be in this analysis. I'm not sure if that would affect anything. Also, the oil in this analysis is the first oil change I did with the car so I have no idea how long it had been since the previous one. I was given a service history but I don't fully trust these. I know we don't have heaps of info and I'm kinda freaking out a bit, maybe prematurely.

Its even cooler now. What a job!

Perfect, thanks.

@sycotix can you please make sure you *cant* PM? There should be a restriction on you PM'ing until you hit 15 posts (your next one) - it will just help me ensure this is working as it is a new anti-spam restriction we introduced only a week ago or so.

Note in @soviet_merlin's post above "Fully qualified and fully insured." - this insurance is what should cover you.

Surely you have a fair claim with CarInspect. Try reaching out to Dept Fair Trading or similar if CI are no help. I would assume you'd have channels available here.

Damn thats cool.

Oh shit man. I'm so sorry! What failed in the roadworthy and structurals? Maybe it's not a lost cause?

Gotta love free horsepower! I'm sure we used to have a free horsepower thread but I cant find it now...

Hi Andy and welcome! Got any pics of the customers cars you're talking about?

Money pump was done recently. So, it must be that.

So I'm not a genius? Is that what you're saying? What else would change in volume based on climbing or descending ?

So the X5 has recently started making a whirring noise in the front. Volume of the noise is related to road speed, not revs. We just discovered today that it goes away when going up a hill and is back when on the flat or going down a hill. That makes me think it could be bearings as there would be less weight on the front when climbing. Does that sound sane? We will take it in for an opinion from my BMW guy on Thursday but in the meantime just trying to work it out. We did try to load up each front side at 70ish kph by doing a bit of a slalom. I did hear that you can isolate each wheel this way but we heard no difference from each side. I'm just hoping its the bearings and not the front diff or something else. Not after what I just spent on the E90!

Welcome Alex!

its hard to tell in the pics just how far it is turned. Let us know how you go.

This is what I was thinking.

Looks to me like going over the top would be better but that would require some custom lines. How often is the wheel turned that far? I think @GTSBoy's suggestion of adding a sleeve and letting it rub seems like a valid option?

Again, it looks great! Its funny, when I bought my Gtst I had 30 min drive straight home (around 5pm) and then straight to bed as I had to drive to the snow around 3am the next morning. So, much like you, I got a very decent "first" drive to familiarise myself and just enjoy it on some good roads. In my GTR I drove it to Lismore once and I had to put some cushions on the seat. Like you I'm a bigger guy and the stock GTR seats killed me on long(er) drives.