Doesn’t seem any better than a Kio Niro

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All lives won’t matter until Black Lives Matter too. Along with Asian lives as well.

“No, I don’t take responsibility at all.” - Don Trump

“The buck stops here.” - Harry Truman

Black Votes Matter.

"Is BMW a better car than a Mercedes? " Tat sort of comparison would be best suited in a specific model v specific model basis. Brand v brand is overly broad.

I've heard a BMW NA employee call Mercedes-Benz "the German Buick."

BMW's (motorcycle) riding school at BMW Spartanburg, SC has a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van for moving motorcycles around. They went to great effort and expense to put a BMW kidney grill on it.

Here's the fundamental problem with building 240 MPG cars. MPG is a stupid metric, the reciprocal of the relevant metric.

Driving 10k miles/year, going from 10 MPG to 20 MPG saves 500 gallons/year of fuel. But, driving 10k miles/year and going from 40 MPG to 50 MPG only saves 50 gallons/year of fuel.

Driving 10k miles/year, going from 40 MPG to 240 MPG saves 208 gallons/year of fuel, or about $1000/year in fuel in Germany and about half that in the US.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/attachments/off-topic-discussion/160978d1610023990-lego-style-house-gallons-per-10k-mles-vs-mpg.jpg

Out of probably 8 N55 BMW engines that I have replaced valve covers on only one of them did not have indications of poor oil supply to the rear cam lobes. I feel owners have something to do with what I perceive as a "lessor" car.

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Jim

I've read about that problem. The N55 takes 6.5 liters of oil. So, it takes a while for it to get warmed up. Bubba Estates is on a US highway with a 55 MPH speed limit. The back entrance to Bubba Estates goes out onto a scenic road with a 35 MPH speed limit. Leaving the house with a cold car, I go out the back of the 'hood and wander through downtown Bubbaville Beach, driving 1.3 miles before getting on the highway in a 45 MPH zone. The oil's up to about 150 F by then.

Doesn't it increase in viscosity i.e.: 5w 20 = ( 5 winter 20 heated). I never believed that but isn't that the theory?

The SAE Viscosity Indices are each a line on the viscosity vs. temperature graph, with the graph being logarithmic in viscosity. The index lines decrease with increasing temperature, meaning the viscosity is lower at higher temperatures. The viscosity lines are roughly 15 degrees F apart horizontally for every 10 index points (no units) (i.e. a SAE 40 at 215F will have about the same viscosity as a SAE 30 at 200F.

The multi-viscosity ratings (with a W in the first value) means the lines are more horizontal. The W does stand for "winter." Specifically, the W rating is the maximum viscosity index value at 32F, and the non-W rating is the minimum viscosity index value at 212F. Multi-vis' oils still get "thinner" as they get hotter, just not as much.

Notice that viscosity scale goes 1, 10, 100, 1000... , not 1, 2, 3, 4... So, at cold temperatures 5 viscosity index points are a big deal.

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You might not have that bolded part incorrect. They demonstrate higher bulk viscosity at higher temps. On an overall basis. Mostly because of additive molecules which when cold curl up into tiny balls and do just about nothing. But as they warm they unfurl (think spaghetti) and create viscosity by gumming up the works so to speak. These long stringy things now have to slip across each other.

I asked my "Design of Machine Elements" professor what the SAE multi-vis ratings meant back when I was getting my BSME in the early 1980's. He said "BTFOM, Auto." This was before Al Gore invented the Interwebs. So, I went to the university library and looked up the definitions in the SAE documentation.

Yes, viscosity improvers (VI's) become more viscous with higher temperature. But, multi-vis oils containing VI's still get thinner (less viscous) with increased temperature (as shown on the second graph).

A multi-vis oil's viscosity line is at or under the W SAE viscosity rating at 32F, and at or above the SAE viscosity rating at 212F.

BMW has their own spec's for oil. Their Long Life 01 spec' is for a SAE 5W-30 oil. But, the viscosity at 212F is almost that of an SAE 40. But, because it's less than the SAE 40 viscosity rating it's labeled as a 5W-30.

That professor was in his '60's. He's schedule our exams for when he was out of town on business travel. A beautiful, late-40-something hottie would show up to proctor our exams. Somebody asked him who she was. He grinned and said "That's my wife." He became our king.

"late-40-something hottie would show up"

Did you ever see her daughter at the recycle bin? Nothing like a Fl hottie.

I am of the opinion that the problem is mostly the computer controlled oil pump. The one that came in to the shop with a locked up engine had just recently had the oil filter housing gasket replaced by the dealer. It had been maintained by the book using the same dealer.

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Jim

My eye candy event today was a cute Walmartian. She was beautiful with a short skirt and a sort of denim vest barely holding in a couple of whoppers... and what's really unusual... no tat's!

The trick at the big Walmart in Bubbaville Beach is to go in and out through the automotive shop in the back of the store. That avoids most of the weirdness. But, I had to hit the garden center up front today. I never take a BMW to Walmart. I stopped by and got my Chevy Cobalt out of the storage shed. I also hit a BBQ place with a cramped, not BMW-worthy parking lot. In addition to being cramped, there's a vape shop in the little strip mall. Vape heads are on my list of people to avoid, along with Walmartians.

So far, so good with my N55 at 73k miles. I had the valve cover gasket and oil filter housing gasket changed about 2k miles ago. Limiting oil pressure to gain a few tenths of an MPG. Great.

You shop at Walmart, and be definition are a 'Walmartian' and then you say this?

I write down everything I spend on a spreadsheet, including the places I buy/spend. Yesterday was my first trip to Walmart in 2021. I've stuck pretty much to Publix, Winn-Dixie, Sam's Club, Autozone, and Lowe's this year, especially pre-vaccination.

The hottie's back was to me when I was heading into the garden shop. But, coming out, she was on the other side of the two lane isle. She moved over to my side and and was less than a foot from me when we passed each other. She wanted to show me those whoppers. Maybe she caught me checking her out on my way to the garden department.

My Walmart run today was for "blue ice" bricks and some spikes to hold the weed control mat down in my shrub beds. Walmart's garden department is small, but luckily they had the spikes. Lowe's and HD didn't have blue ice bricks. Walmart's almost across from the BBQ place, so it was a two-for-one trip.... four-for-one if you count the whoppers.

I never leave the house without an ice chest full of cold water, hence the blue ice bricks.

I got a smile from a middle-age Hispanic mommy in Olive Garden when I was there for dinner. It must be the beard I'm growing. When I smiled back, her hubby gave me a dirty look.

A few years ago, BMW NA announced they'd stop selling BMW LL-01 5W-30, replacing it with BMW LL-01FE 0W-30. In addition to having a low "W" SAE viscosity index, the LL-01FE has a lower high-temperature viscosity than LL-01. But, BMW NA changed their minds and kept selling LL-01.

I have to "smuggle" my #1 and #2 plastics, and magazines over into the next county's recycling bins, 21 miles from my house. It'd be environmentally stupid to make a special trip, so I wait until I'm heading that way. I've only seen two people there in about two years. But, the recycling trailers are in a paved parking lot of the county complex. Recycling trailers on pavement is a rare thing in NF Floriduh. So, I can drop off recycling and not get my cars' carpets dirty!

The county complex has a library. That's now my go-to place for pissing and crapping on my way home from P'cola. Once I get out of the car for recycling, that starts the... well... "flow from below" and I don't want to have to hold it in for 21 miles.

The courthouse is closer to the recycling bins, but is crowded if it's court day. Some woman there once was asking me where traffic court was. I couldn't resist saying "I don't know, I just stopped by to take a crap."

Cats like to run a "victory lap" around the house after taking a crap. I've pick up a lot of cat mannerisms over the decades, including that one. I really don't run. I just sort of run in place and say "meow, meow, meow..." Frau Putzer finds that disgusting.