[Arith2]

So my engine blew on a dyno and I had been using Liquimoly. The oil had less than 5000 miles on it but I shot a rod through the block and my piston exploded. Literally. Rod bearings were never done but car only has 71k miles. I'm reluctant to put more Liquimoly in it, especially after finding that the oil seems to be oriented on additive sales. I also was using Ceratec. While it's not completely on the oil, oil starvation is what caused the failure. I might add it was only the 6 piston that this happened to.

I've been thinking Castrol or Motul. What do you guys suggest? Do you have oil lab reports?

[Andrew]

Arith2 It sounds like the current "5,000" mile oil was not the cause, but there was damage already done to the engine while you were on the new oil and it was just a matter of time before the rods went. Your oil is the scapegoat.

It's hard to diagnose where the rods went bad, but lots of users have been running Liquimoly GT1 10W60 on their S54 with no problems. Personally I've ran Liquimoly on my race car for 2 years and I see up to 280+ in oil temps on track - 0 issues. I still beat the crap out of my engine and my engine is still healthy.

If you want to run a different oil, I highly recommend Redline 10W60 as well. James Clay at Bimmerworld will tell you it is the only oil he will use on his cars.

Just to touch on some possible causes of premature failure, it may have been the following:

• Running high RPMs while engine is still cold
• Low oil pressure due to clogging
• Degradation of oil compound due to overheating

[Andrew]

Arith2 Following up on this, I created a thread for oil analysis: https://e46m3.bimmerpost.com/forums/...0#post25991550

You can see my results with the Liquimoly 10W60 there.

[performance_outlaw]

I don't know do you guys get Millers NT10W60, but that is my choice and easy to get in every EU country.
TWS is gone, and 10W60 Castrol supercar is "liquid shit".
Never had LM, but Millers has a great base, smoothens idle, and is great for track abuse. You can find all specific detail info on their website with complete data sheets for each oil.

[Arkie_3_fan]

Seriously though, only use 10w60 Castrol TWS. I've also heard of some using Gulf 10w-60 for race applications, but as far as I'm concerned there is only one oil every going inside my engine.

[devbuilt]

I've always used 10w60 Castrol TWS go with BMW specifications

[lauz]

Castrol tws is gone ?

[Dmot]

Just a heads up, I'm a e46 m3 wit 226 on the clock. Last year I switched over to 5w 50 motor oil..No Problems in fact, car warms up faster and smother, no change in performance for street use. (5w 50 Mobil 1) is 10 buck a quart.

Cheers

[1FastSicilian]

Originally Posted by Dmot

Just a heads up, I'm a e46 m3 wit 226 on the clock. Last year I switched over to 5w 50 motor oil..No Problems in fact, car warms up faster and smother, no change in performance for street use. (5w 50 Mobil 1) is 10 buck a quart.

Cheers

I've been hearing alot about this 5w50... I'm curious to hear more about people's experiences on and off track and in cold climate

[Dmot]

for track i'd stay with 10w60, for street I use the 5w50 with no issues.
Cheers

[lauz]

Redline 5w50

[Angry As Hell]

What oil? This stuff above. Prior to BMW switching, I only bought TWS. When this Shell oil came out, I use the blue bottle stuff. I have 196,000 miles on my rig, original bearings, retired it from auto-x and track days at 75,000 miles, and from that point, I drove it like a normal person. With this many miles, YOU CAN NOT expect to exercise the motor foolishly and expect it to stay bolted together. 5K oil changes religiously, and Ceratec on occasion. Happy motoring fellas…