What’s the best oil for tuned and highly boosted N54 engines?
- Thread starter Jeffman
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On my car, which is more representative of a mild streetable N54, I run Motul X-Cess 5W40. On the shop (race) car Tony runs Amsoil.
Rotella
Just dropped off the blackstone from when I pulled the twins and put on the single, I will update this post when I get another sample with the single.
Just dropped off the blackstone from when I pulled the twins and put on the single, I will update this post when I get another sample with the single.
It’s a screenshot from the Project Farm YouTube channel linked above. I may be wrong, but I don’t believe Amsoil paid or otherwise influenced Project Farm to come up with these results.
i have been reading and supposidly this Project Farm guy is legit.Thats just from what others have said.i have no proof of it myself.
550 ratblog has best info better bitog members have pointed to it few times. An engineer tested like 100 oils and posted their sheer strength and film strength which the film is what protects. It was found that alot of additives can reduce protection. Their were instances where it helped but it's not smart to mess with additives. What I remember off top of my head is bio syn was really good and amsoil signature series. Also its explained that heavy weight increases pressure not protection. Also lower weight increases flow and that's where film strength comes in cause you want flow to take away heat and film strength to prevent metal on metal contact .
So the net of this might be ... lots of oils that basically prevent significant wear ... by the observation that we see few reports of worn out engines. N54 Top 10 list of owies does not seem to include worn out reciprocating parts. Does it even make the Top 20 list? I don't believe I've seen one post relative to turbo failures for the N54 that blames oil coking, for example - but plenty of posts about turbo design, seals, tuning, abuse, balancing, drainage. Bent rods aren't oil related. I've not seen anyone blame oil quality for dirty valves from vapors across the valve overlap. Oil pan leaks are not blamed on oil quality. When's the last time someone pulled a bottom end because of rod bearing failure due to "lower quality" oil? While scratching my noggin, I'm not sure how I conclude that Project Farm's backyard tests are what one actually would want to test relative to the performance dimensions one desires from oil ... and that his tests are effective representations in those dimensions. Love to hear a counterpoint since I've teed up the "where's the beef" post 
!
I'm wondering if the question should be, rather, any oil one should particularly avoid?
Filippo
!I'm wondering if the question should be, rather, any oil one should particularly avoid?
Filippo
While I respect what the guy is doing, he gets a surprising amount of hate for his tests. His transparency with the tools he uses and the process he goes through for his experiments is concerning. Also many other forums state that his tests DO NOT reveal the actual effects of the oils in an actual engine. Although the knowledge he shares is useful, there is a reason why oil companies actually test their oils in engines and not just through machines.
Without a doubt he over simplified what is important. But also he simplified what is important so I would not take it as bible and guide ,however it def can be used to rule out certain oils if they don't meet his standards. Kinda like one item on a checklist for requirements to run.
I do like the POV on flow vs psi it reminds me of vargas always pointing out psi is restriction nothing more. Obviously everything has limits and you need some psi to reach all areas and it must be a oversimplified observation cause otherwise heavy weight oils would not be defacto on high hp builds. I do realize tolerances have large effect but most manuals say reg duty one weight and race or heavy duty a thicker rec. Maybe it's just as simple as higher temps will thin it more or to anticipate breakdown idk.
I don't have one for 0W-40 on an N54 as I run the 5W-40 Castrol Edge on my N54 (I've attached my blackstone report for that one). However I do run the 0W-40 on my wifes Audi (2.0 TFSI, Turbo GDI). I've attached the Audi's blackstone report as well.
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Starting a new thread to avoid yet another thread jacking in response to another Spoolstreeter’s question about oil. I’m sure this has been discussed before, but hey, motor oil technology does improve over time, no?
Here is the previous question and my reply in the new FCPEuro thread:
Take a look at that Project Farm video on oil testing someone else posted the other day (linked below for your convenience). Looks like Amsoil, Redline and Pennzoil are top performers. It would be good to know which of these would be “best” for our highly boosted and modded N54 / N55 engines. I don’t mean to cause another thread jacking so, I’ll also start another thread, LOL
There are standardized tests that can provide you with all of the technical data for each oil. Google "SAE J300" for how they determine viscosity... Looks like he just read up on the procedures for some of the basic standardized tests and he's trying to replicate them. You could just look at the oils actual data sheet... LL-01 represents approval for BMW's specific testing as performed in a BMW engine.
These DIY tests and things like "540 RAT" are kind of useless for real world performance in an actual engine. Most of this guys videos are cool/fun but that is all that they are.
With that being said, I kind of agree with his conclusions based on the data sheets I've seen. The new Pennzoil is good stuff. Very low NOACK %. Good for a turbo gdi engine. It's on the thinner side though. which is why most wouldn't run it. Amsoil, schaffers, redline... all boutique race oils known to be of high quality and expensive so it's not a surprise to see them come out on top. in regard to all the other oils, take note that he is testing the basic stuff off the shelf in 5w-30. The Castrol Edge probably isn't the EU formula. Either is the Mobile1 he "tested." So yeah, there is nothing here in this video that tells me Pennzoil is the best average shelf oil for our cars... Even Pennzoil itself has 15 different types of oil on the shelf. Few are LL-01 approved oils.
If I was going to run Pennzoil then I would run the Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5w-40 which carries the appropriate BMW LL-01 approval. Not worth the premium price over Castrol Edge EU though imo. The platinum Euro is hard to find too.
https://www.pennzoil.com/en_us/prod...m_Euro_SAE_5W-40_Full_Synthetic_Motor_Oil.pdf
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You can run non LL-01 oil in n54 non diesel engines with great results even though the manual says needs to be LL-01 and still not pay a premium and have great protection.
Here's another motul x-cess 5w/40.
One bit that concerns me: why would I have 13x the titanium in my analysis as compared to another motul x-cess user earlier in this thread? Ive comparable mileage on the oil yet he shows 0 and I show 13?
Worried because I found this:
"TITANIUM (Ti): Titanium is also an alloying metal in high alloy and stainless steels. Trace amounts of titanium with higher amounts of iron usually indicate shaft wear. Titanium can also indicate turbocharger wear. "
This is the first oil change after installing RB Next gens running at 21psi. Do turbo shafts need to break in or something?
One bit that concerns me: why would I have 13x the titanium in my analysis as compared to another motul x-cess user earlier in this thread? Ive comparable mileage on the oil yet he shows 0 and I show 13?
Worried because I found this:
"TITANIUM (Ti): Titanium is also an alloying metal in high alloy and stainless steels. Trace amounts of titanium with higher amounts of iron usually indicate shaft wear. Titanium can also indicate turbocharger wear. "
This is the first oil change after installing RB Next gens running at 21psi. Do turbo shafts need to break in or something?
Yeah I get this.. you miss the point though that LL-01 is literally BMW's testing and approval of oils for their engines. People will trust some random backyard test on Youtube but not BMW? You'll buy Pennzoil 5w-30 based off this video but you wont run the Pennzoil 5w-40 Euro formula with the LL-01 badge? You're looking for which oil is "best" for your car so you'll turn to Youtube and forums for peoples opinions but when it comes to buying an oil badged with proof that it is robust enough to meet some of the strictest standards in the market you just shrug it off as not necessary? Not you personally... that is just generally how these threads go...
I am with you. you can run any synthetic on the shelf for 5-7k miles and get perfectly normal blackstone reports. This is relative though. Someone doing 40minute races probably isn't going to run Amazon basic oil and probably won't get the same life out of their oil. The average bro doing some pulls in the street? They'll be just fine... I think most people understand this though to the point it shouldn't need to be said.
Just another example... Amsoil's LL-01 oil is specifically badged European car formula and it is a FULL-SAPS oil. If you watched this video and said "damn I am going to run Amsoil now" why wouldn't you go for the LL-01 Amsoil? SAPs might be bad for exhaust but it's good for anti-wear and cleanliness thus allowing for longer oil change intervals and less wear on the engine.
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I'd also reach back to Blackstone on this question ... let us know what they say, if you talk to them.
Filippo
What's everyone's take on Mobil 1 10w40?
Have tried basically every 5w40 under the sun and am still having oil consumption issues. We suspect turbo is simply getting too hot from running "send it" boost and breaking the oil down.
Have tried basically every 5w40 under the sun and am still having oil consumption issues. We suspect turbo is simply getting too hot from running "send it" boost and breaking the oil down.
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