Oil analyis reports - virgin BMW 15W-50 vs 6,000 mile sample

[deilenberger]

Below, as promised earlier are two reports on BMW 15W-50 Synthetic oil, used in an R1200R. The first sample is a baseline report on a virgin sample of oil. The second is a report of the BMW oil after about 6,000 miles of use (in an engine with ~36,000 miles on it.)

Virgin Sample:


6,000 mile Sample:


As can be seen by the two reports - the extreme wear additive package, and the acid neutralizing package both have lots of additive left in the 6,000 mile sample. Blackstone suggests the mileage could be extended on this engine between changes. Wear trace metals remain low (actually improving!), viscosity is still within spec, and the flash point is better then specification.

YMMV, depending on if you beat your engine..

Oh - a BIG thanks to Blackstone Labs who did the virgin sample analysis for free for the benefit of all the R1200R forum members!

[zei220]

Don,

Just a thank you for sharing this information.

Dave

[cwrose]

Don,

Thanks for sharing this very useful bit of information. And if any Blackstone Lab associates are browsing this forum, my thanks go out to them, as well.

BTW, about how much does one of these oil analysis run?

[deilenberger]

The basic analysis is $20.. the extended one I get is around $35 - but it includes the measurement of the TBN number, which tells you how much remaining life the oil has in it. Blackstone is good people - and my thanks again for their generous test of the virgin oil sample.

[gsmoto31]

Thanks for the info, Don. I used to change the oil on all of my boxers every 3K miles. I switched to every 6K miles about 2 years ago. This report confirms that I was wasting oil in the past. I also change my tranny oil every 6K. Maybe I should switch to 12K here?

[Bill Stevenson]

Don,

Thank you very much for making this effort. And thank you Blackstone Labs for your generosity in testing the virgin sample. Now if I can just get home to service my bike, I will send in my sample for test. Written from a motel room, have been on the road for work for the past 2 weeks. No riding, no fun.

Bill

[deilenberger]

Now if I can just get home to service my bike, I will send in my sample for test. Written from a motel room, have been on the road for work for the past 2 weeks. No riding, no fun.

Bill

Bill - next time - take the bike

[Bill Stevenson]

That would have been a great ride. In the past 2 weeks I have been to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Baltimore, Lancaster, PA, and the Delaware Water Gap. All great places and all worth riding to, although it was 110 degrees in Las Vegas which is a bit warmish for riding. Alas, all of this travel was for business and would not have been possible on my bike.

Bill

[Bill Stevenson]

Don,

I just received the oil analysis report from Blackstone. The bike has 18,000 miles on it. As you may recall I was interested in the level of oxidation for the oil at 6,000 miles because it is hot down here and I ride in heavy traffic quite a bit. According to Blackstone, the key parameters that address my concern are Insolubles % as broken polymers show up here, and viscosity as oil that is breaking down will lose viscosity. Insolubles were 0.3%, and viscosity was 89.6 (SUS) or 17.88 (cSt), (in other words not much break down, but more than you are getting as should be expected based on prevalent climatic conditions in our respective states). Blackstone recommends staying with 6,000 mile intervals for me, although they said I could extend it a bit if I wanted to. I don't. Once again I would like to thank you for your help with this analysis. BMW synthetic oil seems to be a very high grade product and we already know their engines are extremely durable. A great combination.

Bill