z4mc 07 oil

[mmm-five]

Hi mmm, what are the "signs" you mention for the rod bearing failure?

The signs of failure are usually a bottom-end knocking.

The only way to check for wear (without stripping) is to take regular oil samples and get them tested at somewhere like Blackstone labs for elevated copper/lead levels (from bearing wear). But you need a few consecutive readings over time to see the trend, so a one-off sample may not tell you much.

Mine was fine for 140,000 miles, of more than prescribed oil servicing, but it went from quiet to knocking between a lap of the Nurburgring and starting up again after filling up with petrol for my next lap. I could probably carried on driving it, but I wanted to get it to a garage before I was stranded with potentially a much bigger repair bill for a full rebuild, rather than just the bottom end.

The alternative is to do a preventative bearing shell change every 50-60000 miles.

 

[R60BBA]

The signs of failure are usually a bottom-end knocking.

The only way to check for wear (without stripping) is to take regular oil samples and get them tested at somewhere like Blackstone labs for elevated copper/lead levels (from bearing wear). But you need a few consecutive readings over time to see the trend, so a one-off sample may not tell you much.

Mine was fine for 140,000 miles, of more than prescribed oil servicing, but it went from quiet to knocking between a lap of the Nurburgring and starting up again after filling up with petrol for my next lap. I could probably carried on driving it, but I wanted to get it to a garage before I was stranded with potentially a much bigger repair bill for a full rebuild, rather than just the bottom end.

The alternative is to do a preventative bearing shell change every 50-60000 miles.

Replacing the shells every 50-60,000 miles is unnecessary. Especially on a car that this is well maintained and driven with mechanical sympathy.

Every 100,000 miles as part of an Inpsection II is more feasible.

 

[Mr Tidy]

I think how long you leave it before replacing bearing shells depends on the history of the car.

If you don't know its' history 50/60K sounds like a sensible time for a precautionary change. I've seen a set that came out of someones' car in that range that were showing plenty of copper, more than mine were when I had them done at 78K.

But having had mine replaced I'd be quite happy running it for 100K on them, if I ever get that far!

 

[R60BBA]

I think how long you leave it before replacing bearing shells depends on the history of the car.

If you don't know its' history 50/60K sounds like a sensible time for a precautionary change. I've seen a set that came out of someones' car in that range that were showing plenty of copper, more than mine were when I had them done at 78K.

But having had mine replaced I'd be quite happy running it for 100K on them, if I ever get that far!

Would agree with that.

However to add, you can use oil samples to gauge copper levels.

Although you need at least three or so for it to really mean anything, and even then oil samples should only be taken as indications and not gospel.

 

[Ed Doe]

The rod bearings on mine let go at 51k and lunched the whole engine - needed a new block rods crank oil pump etc. (all covered under bmw warranty would you believe it!) Full bmw service history always used recommended oils...

It also subsequently scored the cams and flattened the followers at about 70k, again always run on the correct bmw approved tws.

My understanding is the millers stuff being ester based offers greater protection than the oe bmw non ester based stuff. Also oil tech has moved on massively since these cars were new...

However.... Fwiw I'm still running the oe bmw castrol tws, am religious about driving gently with low loads and keeping revs below 3k until it's warm, and it gets an oil change about every 3k at this point, albeit those 3k incorporating a couple of trackdays and a long weekend st the ring.

I'm quite torn on whether to switch to something newer and ostensibly 'better' simply because it does worry me that the engine will have been designed with a certain oil in mind and that it may induce other issues changing to a different manufacturer with different additives, even if the same grade....

Aaaanyway I digress.

 

[R60BBA]

The rod bearings on mine let go at 51k and lunched the whole engine - needed a new block rods crank oil pump etc. (all covered under bmw warranty would you believe it!) Full bmw service history always used recommended oils...

It also subsequently scored the cams and flattened the followers at about 70k, again always run on the correct bmw approved tws.

That’s bad luck. Definitely not common though.

Fwiw I'm still running the oe bmw castrol tws

You mean Castrol Edge? You can’t get Castrol TWS anymore...

I'm quite torn on whether to switch to something newer and ostensibly 'better' simply because it does worry me that the engine will have been designed with a certain oil in mind and that it may induce other issues changing to a different manufacturer with different additives, even if the same grade....

Aaaanyway I digress.

Motul 300v and Fuchs Titan Race Pro S (both in 10W-60 spec) are popular choices of oil amongst those who regularly track their S54s.

No need to worry though. Any high quality 10W-60 will do (incl. the Castrol Edge you are running). The only oil to be wary of is the Millers…

What is more important is how well the car is driven and maintained. Which it sounds like you are aware of seeing as you have mentioned that you warm up the car before giving it some welly and change your oil every 3,000 miles - which I presume is every year? The only thing I would add to this is to avoid short trips so that the oil gets up to temp (which reduces fuel dilution). But I’m sure you knew this already.

Anyways, don’t overthink it mate. Just enjoy the car!

 

[Ed Doe]

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is the 'TWS' simply stands for 'Ten W Sixty' - hence yes my understanding is I'm running the Castrol Edge TWS?!?!

Yep been considering both the Motul & the FuchsTitan as alternatives of late - will be making a final decision ahead of the annual oil service in the spring.

I try not to overthink it but the top end bill was substantial, and there is always a little background anxiety! heyho, I try to ignore it, keep the car regularly serviced and just send it!

 

[R60BBA]

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is the 'TWS' simply stands for 'Ten W Sixty' - hence yes my understanding is I'm running the Castrol Edge TWS?!?!

Yep been considering both the Motul & the FuchsTitan as alternatives of late - will be making a final decision ahead of the annual oil service in the spring.

I try not to overthink it but the top end bill was substantial, and there is always a little background anxiety! heyho, I try to ignore it, keep the car regularly serviced and just send it!

Yes and no.

TWS stands for Ten W-Sixty - yes. However Castrol used to produce an oil called ‘TWS Motorsport’ which was specific to BMW M cars during the early 2000s. This oil contained ester. It was also only available from BMW dealers and sold in one litre bottles.

Castrol then replaced TWS Motorsport with Edge Professional TWS around 2010, which had a different formulation and most importantly didn’t contain ester.

Edge Professional TWS was then superseded by Edge Supercar around 2016, which was then replaced again with Edge last year I believe (which is what is available currently).

As far as I am aware, the base formulation for Edge, Edge Supercar and Edge Professional TWS is the same (although there may be slight variances - some have reported a change in colour for example).

When people say TWS, usually they are referring to the old TWS Motorsport oil (with ester in it).

 

[Ed Doe]

Yes and no.

TWS stands for Ten W-Sixty - yes. However Castrol used to produce an oil called ‘TWS Motorsport’ which was specific to BMW M cars during the early 2000s. This oil contained ester. It was also only available from BMW dealers and sold in one litre bottles.

Castrol then replaced TWS Motorsport with Edge Professional TWS around 2010, which had a different formulation and most importantly didn’t contain ester.

Edge Professional TWS was then superseded by Edge Supercar around 2016, which was then replaced again with Edge last year I believe (which is what is available currently).

As far as I am aware, the base formulation for Edge, Edge Supercar and Edge Professional TWS is the same (although there may be slight variances - some have reported a change in colour for example).

When people say TWS, usually they are referring to the old TWS Motorsport oil (with ester in it).

You learn something new every day! Cheers for that

 

[mmm-five]

No we see why no-one can agree on what is the 'correct' oil - if BMW/Castrol use the same name for 'different' specs (just like the RS oil which was used in some engines/regions and also used as BMW Motorsport's race oil - until they removed the esters and BMW swapped to a different oil for racing)

BTW, I think there are some old tins of monograde 'Cazzy R' in the shed from my dad's classic (50s/60s) British bike fad.