jisleyjr

The last oil change i sent a sample to BlackStone Labs.

84808 miles on my car, 7118 on the oil with <5% on mid. Using Mobile 1 5-20w with Wix oil filter, i put a Mobile 1 filter on this time, going to see if that changes the results for the next test.

The wear metals look high but some people around here say that these results don't mean anything. Everything else looks good.


PS: I have a ticking noise when the engine is idling, happens when it is cold or warm. If i raise the rpm's a little i can't hear it. I am assuming valve tick, but with the results saying possible wear on piston or cylinder i wonder if the noise could be something worse.

johnfilice

Thats pretty awesome! I didn't know you could even do this. I'll have to consider doing this if I have any problems in the future.

mau108

ya that doesn't look that great. Switch to another oil and see if wear drops. A better filter is not going to help much.

I'd give Pennzoil Platinum or ultra 5w30 or 5w20.

I'd also post this on BITOG as the people there are oil nut jobs, they will decipher that oil analysis and pin point where the problem is.

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

Is this conventional oil or synthetic Mobil 1?

Flick

I've had 6 oil samples done on my Tl with 142000 miles on it and the best combination/results come from running Mobil 1 5W/20 Extended Performance for 10000 miles with a filter change at 5000 miles.

jisleyjr

I'll have to check out BITOG then.

Mobile 1

Any chance you could post up your results?

jisleyjr

Update:

On the oil change after this (at 5k miles) i forgot to sample the oil. I had the container sitting on the ground ready to go. I pulled the plugged, crawled out and went in the house to get a beer, when i opened the frig i realized my mistake.

At that point i switched to Penzoil Platinum 5w-20. (syn)

After 6000 miles i tested that sample.

Here is the report:

I hate cars

I don't want to be the one to rain on the parade but these spectral analysis tests are worthless for determining wear and that's putting it mildly. The "experts on bitog" are mostly uninformed, self proclaimed internet experts. Do no believe anything you hear over there. I've watched guys who knew nothing about oil, don't know the first thing about how an engine works and within a month, they're giving "expert" advice to noobs which is basically repeating what they've heard other say and suggesting the forum boner of the month oil.

I've mentioned the reasons why many times so I won't go there. The only accurate way to get an idea of wear is with a particle count. Spectural analysis will only "see" a particle in a narrow, smaller size range. You could have much larger particles which are typical of rapid wear not show up. You can have an oil that cleans super good like Redline turn in terrible wear metal results because it's picking up oxides that the oil has cleaned off of metal surfaces. Some people believe that a "bad" Blackstone test is actually good since more small particles can mean less aggressive wear or that the oil is cleaning and suspending stuff as it's supposed to. Mobil One got a bad rap years ago for high iron. It took a while before people figured out it was just cleaning oxidation really well which showed up as wear metal in these flawed tests.

Blackstone should have asked if you had just swapped types of oils. This is completely normal when changing to an oil that cleans well.

Use these tests so see fuel dilution, coolant in the oil, silicone/silicates, oxidation, TBN, TAN, and viscosity. They're good for that and you can use that information if you're attempting to go for extended drain intervals..... But wear metals, ignore it. I might do one every few years to see if I have a bad 02 sensor or if the head gasket is weeping but that's it.

esco115

^agree