[Taylorsi]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P-Q...ew?usp=sharing

How cooked am I?

2011 328i xdrive manual w/ 163K. Purchased at 157K with well documented maintenance history and first oil change w/ MANN filter and liquimoly 5w-40, no glitter. Second oil change at 162K with BMW brand filter (purchased from amazon, so maybe a fake?) and Motul 5w-40. Currently at 163K. Car idles smooth, drove well, and no codes in ISTA, but coming home from work I heard an odd noise emanating from the oil filter housing and then it died right as I pulled into my driveway. Removed oil filter and noticed it was a bit crushed and the cage was loose so I replaced the filter and refit the cage. When replacing the filter it seemed like the oil was a bit odd color for having recently changed it, but after replacing the noise from the filter housing when away after a quick drive around the block and all seemed well. Pulled the filter again to see if it was crushed again or the case was loose, but since the sun had came out, noticed excessive glitter in the OFH. Decided to drain the oil to find the forbidden glitter show above.

Last weekend I replaced the VANOS non-return valves with OEM BMW parts, but both were clean anyway. Not sure how replacing these could have caused an issue. When I pulled the non-return valves the oil that came out did not have any metal in it.

I've read when the oil filter cage isnt seated correctly it can cause the head to be starved of oil, but fairly new to BMWs (purchased in July of 2024). Planning to run fresh oil through it tomorrow with a fresh filter, then drain and fill again to see how it looks. Sad day for an otherwise clean car.

[StradaRedlands]

Send an oil sample to Blackstone, you can ask them to please expedite.

[Taylorsi]

Good call, sending a sample of the original oil from the video above to Blackstone this week.

I cut open the filter and it wasn't full of shiny bits or any chunks of metal. After adding fresh oil/filter I took a quick drive around the block to get the oil up to temp. No strange noises and idle is smooth. Car didn't seem to lack power but I didn't drive it very hard. Peaked under the filter and there was still a bit of glitter but significantly less.

Planning to another drain/fill/filter but will hold off on taking any other action until I get the results back. Fortunately I have a backup car, so for now she sits.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Taylorsi

Good call, sending a sample of the original oil from the video above to Blackstone this week.

I cut open the filter and it wasn't full of shiny bits or any chunks of metal. After adding fresh oil/filter I took a quick drive around the block to get the oil up to temp. No strange noises and idle is smooth. Car didn't seem to lack power but I didn't drive it very hard. Peaked under the filter and there was still a bit of glitter but significantly less.

Planning to another drain/fill/filter but will hold off on taking any other action until I get the results back. Fortunately I have a backup car, so for now she sits.

It's obviously something causing that, but hopefully nothing terrible!

[PKlauser]

Blackstone ironically won't find particles large enough to see, so you could end up with a clean report that isn't actually worth anything, I've seen it in the E46 community.

That looks like a lot of glitter to me, but I like your approach, see what the drain and fill shows you.

[Taylorsi]

Thanks for the advice, wasn't aware the filtering Blackstone does prior to their spectrometry process can remove visible particles, but makes sense.

Here is the filter cut open: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PB4...ew?usp=sharing

No large chunks anywhere to be seen, just what appears to be very fine particles at the center of the pleats.

At this point I've accepted its likely done for based on the amount of visible metal, but I lost motivation last weekend to pursue further. For science I'll do a drain and fill this weekend since I have more oil and another filter, then decide if its worth sending to Blackstone.

[Taylorsi]

Blackstone kits haven't arrived.

Drove around town for ~30 minutes this morning and all seemed normal. Pulled the filter to inspect the oil in the OFH and found very minor amount of glitter, possibly a bit less than after the initial oil change.

Planning to drive a bit more today/tomorrow and monitor the OFH for material buildup or other strange issues. I try to remember to take pictures, for science.

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by Taylorsi

Blackstone kits haven't arrived.

Drove around town for ~30 minutes this morning and all seemed normal. Pulled the filter to inspect the oil in the OFH and found very minor amount of glitter, possibly a bit less than after the initial oil change.

Planning to drive a bit more today/tomorrow and monitor the OFH for material buildup or other strange issues. I try to remember to take pictures, for science.

They are pretty slow to ship. The waiting must be agonizing.

[Taylorsi]

Agonizing indeed lol

Kits finally arrived today so I'll aim to get a sample of the oil currently in the sump along with a sample of the oil from the initial video sent off in the next day or so. Then after another agonizingly long wait I'll know more, likely sometime in early to mid July

[Taylorsi]

Not great videography on my part, but you can still see a good bit of material suspended in the oil:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pf2...ew?usp=sharing

Subjectively it seems like there is less material this time around, but that's probably expected given the low run time compared to the original sample.

Sent a sample of the oil from my first video as well as a sample from the oil above off to Blackstone today, time to play the waiting game again.

[Taylorsi]

Well got the results of the oil sample from my original post/video. Sample was from the drain pan so likely contaminated to some degree. Not very encouraging based on the commentary. But I'll know more next week when the next sample is ready.

Feeling like I wasted my money as this sample was contaminated and the next one only had a few hours of run-time. Might just have to send it and see how it goes.

[TriumphTim]

Was the vanos recall done? Maybe a vanos bolt just started to back out and is machining itself?

BMW has issued a recall (Campaign No. 23V-707) to address this issue by replacing the affected bolts.
Here's a breakdown of the recall:
Affected Vehicles:
The recall primarily affects BMW vehicles with N51, N52K, and N52T engines produced between September 2, 2009, and July 12, 2012.

[Taylorsi]

Vanos recall has not been officially completed but previous owner replaced both vanos adjusters by an indy in 2017 using OEM parts because the bolts had backed out.

Annoyingly had an appointment to have the recall addressed a few hundred miles before this issue appeared but I cancelled after realizing a PO had replaced them, thinking if it aint broke, dont fix it.

Foolish in hindsight but this entire situation feels like a series of unfortunate mistakes on my part...

[TriumphTim]

I wouldn't beat yourself up, it really isn't easy keeping any older car on the road even if the internet makes it look that way lol...

Weird to me that it has both high al and iron but I don't have experience with those oil tests.

Do the reviews on that Amazon filter mention anything similar?

I guess maybe a compression and leak down test to check general health?

After that I would probably do a couple engine flush treatments right in a row, make sure filter cage and cap in good shape, use 100% official filters, and then just drive and enjoy the car. I feel like any damage, if any at all, is done at this point, which might be not that bad if the car still runs and feels normal?

I don't see anything substantial in the cut filter so maybe the contaminants aren't being pushed to vital parts of the engine, just laying in the pan?

It is a difficult call...

[Taylorsi]

Amazon listing did have a few recent 1 star reviews suggesting the filter is counterfeit, however none mentioned the filter specifically failing. Several of the 1 star reviews mentioned bad o-rings which caused an external leak. Unfortunately, the listing has been pulled from Amazon so I cant investigate further.

When I replaced the problematic oil filter the small o-ring was very stiff and tore when attempting to remove it, usually these are pretty tough even after 5k miles. My theory is the strange noise I heard coming from the filter housing was pressure escaping past the small o-ring but this is purely speculation as I never got a low oil pressure warning.

Compression/leakdown test is probably a good idea for peace of mind, but I'll need to buy equipment.

Overall the engine seems to run well, very smooth idle, consistent power delivery, 0 codes in ISTA, same MPG, etc but I've only put a few hours on it to get the second sample for Blackstone.

I might do another drain/fill + filter (MANN) this weekend while waiting for the second Blackstone test, then most likely I'll send it for 1k and send off another sample to Blackstone and look into compression and leakdown tools.

Appreciate everyone's input and advice on this strange situation.

[TriumphTim]

Honestly, maybe even skip the compression testing if it is running fine, I know I suggested it.

If a comp test finds "something", you are still in the same boat of having a running engine with no codes vs a teardown of the engine according to comp and oil tests.

Does Blackstone know the mileage of the car? 175K is significant comparing to lower mileage engine averages.

I would just change the oil and drive it till it completely fails, any engine can fall apart the next mile or decade. If you love the car that much, just start saving for a engine rebuild or swap at some time in the future, if it never happens you have a nice nest egg.

[Taylorsi]

Yeah I put the mileage on the Blackstone slip, I suspect their concern is the higher amount of wear metals given the ~1K miles on the sample vs their average of ~5.6K, regardless of total engine mileage. However given the contamination and unique nature of a counterfeit filter, I'm not going to give up hope yet.

I'm just going to start driving it again and do several short interval oil changes to flush the crude out, then test more samples to get a larger dataset to reference against. At the end of the day it either keeps working or it fails, worst case I have to get a tow and, to your point, that's true of any car really.

[Taylorsi]

Attached is the second oil analysis. As expected, essentially inconclusive due to the low number of hours and the fact that the prior sample is based on mileage and this based on hours (as noted by Blackstone).

Still planning to drive it to gather more data. Purchases a few oil changes worth of filters and oil so will do a few short interval drain/fill cycles, then aim for ~1K miles for the next oil analysis to see how it compares to the original sample and go from there.

I suspect the shiny bits I observed are residual bits of counterfeit filter material, but obviously purely speculation at this point. Only choice now is further testing or a full tear down, and further testing will be cheaper/easier for the time being.

[StradaRedlands]

Hopefully the 1k interval is fine!

[TriumphTim]

Any follow up? lol just looking in to my past posts... hope things are well...

[Taylorsi]

Thanks for inquiring!

So far so good, though I've only managed to accumulate ~500 miles (office went WFH for the summer) since the incident. Spot checked the oil via the OFH a few times and it generally looks good but there is still a minor amount of extremely fine something in the oil; can't feel it between fingers and it doesn't shine under a flashlight.

Overall the engine continues to run well, idle is super smooth and I can hardly tell its running once warm, fuel economy remains the same as before, oil temps remain in check even during +90F weather with the AC on in stop and go traffic, and oil consumption doesn't seem to have increase but its likely too early to tell. Engine pulls hard the few times I've revved it out, at least as hard as an NA 3L should, and no codes in ISTA the few times I've checked since the incident.

Remaining cautiously optimistic the glitter was disintegrated filter material which maybe caused short term accelerated wear but not catastrophic damage. I have another Blackstone kit on hand once I hit 1K miles which will provide a good comparison against the first sample tested, then, assuming all remains well, I'll run it for another 1K miles and test again.

I'll be back in the office a few days a week starting September so I should manage to hit 1K in the next few weeks, maybe early October.

[Taylorsi]

Finally hit 1K miles.

Changed the oil and sent a sample to Blackstone. Oil still had a bit of very fine shine but I suspect this was residual filter material. No glitter between the filter pleats.

Overall car is still running great, hopefully Blackstone comes back with lower wear metals and I'll bump the OCI out a few K and retest.