Here's my latest UOA with the entire UOA history for the last 2 years and 34,000 miles. Although I like the way the Pennzoil dino has performed, at least in relation to the M1, I don't regard the results as spectacular. I think the lead and iron wear are still too high.

There's was a spike in the Si on this report, but I suspect that I picked up some crud from around the dipstick hole and slid that into the oil at around 4,000 miles. Not sure if that was enough to do it, but it might be possible.

I've determined that 4K is the max interval for this oil. I'm currently trying out Mobil Clean 5000, and will run for 4K... maybe two fills to compare to the Pennzoil. Then I'll try either the Clean 7500 or switch back to M1, to see how it will do now that there's no question the engine is "broken-in".

 

if i have not already said so, thank you.

because of you and your introduction of Blackstone Labs and bobistheoilguy.com to this forum, I began submitting my oil for analysis about 3 oil changes ago.

everything in the engine looks good and I have peace of mind that my change interval of 4,500-5,500 miles is sufficient running on Mobil 1 5W30.

i'd post my numbers, but they are on my home computer

thanks again.

vinh

 

You're welcome. I surprised even myself that I've been doing this for almost two years. Some guys smoke, drink, gamble, or eat too much...I like seeing how different oils perform and what's in them when it's time to change. It's my little hobby that's cost me a measly $240 over the last two years.

drsifu.. When you get a chance, post your results, I'd be interested. I've found that I don't like the M1 in my VQ, but it seems to work just fine for almost everyone else. I keep wondering what it is I'm doing differently.

Here's the BITOG thread... UOA

 

here ya go....

 

Vinh,
Sorry to bring up an old thread but I'd like to comment on these results. I think that you need to use something a bit thicker, like GC 0w-30, which is Castrol Syntec 0w-30 MADE IN GERMANY, at Autozone ONLY.

If that doesn't solve your issue, next place to look is to check your air filter or intake system, as the elevated Silicon and the presence of Na shows a possible intake leak somewhere.

However, with the increasing Na, I'm getting this gut feeling that you're getting some type of chemical ingestion.

MW

 

MW,
Did I miss something here? How can GC 0w-30 be "thicker" than the 5w-30 that's being used now? (or did you mean 10w-30?)

Colin.

 

I think it is easy to be mislead by the dino oil's lower wear metals. Just because the analysis numbers are lower, some people believe the dino is actually a superior lubricant. Nothing could be further from the truth. In order for the wear metals to be measured, they have to be "in solution" with the drained oil. The modern synthetics have very good additives that hold the contaminants and prevent them from settling out, depositing, and causing sludge. Therefore, the wear metals may be higher in the sample, but they are out of the engine whereas the dino may allow 50% or more of the contaminant to remain. I have seem the insides of enough dino only motors vs. synth. only motors to tell you there is a HUGE difference in cleanliness after 100K miles. BTW, my analysis was very good and the only oil ever used in this engine is M1 5W/30 at 7500 mile intervals. Just put in the M1 5W/30 Extended Performance to see what difference if any it makes at the same interval. If it looks good at 7500, I will probably go 10000.

 

Eric... Awesome UOA. I don't think I've ever seen an M1 UOA with such low wear metals. Do you drive like a granny? Maybe you do mostly highway?

Are you sure the M1 was in there for the entire interval? Those numbers look like a 3K run, not a 7500 mile interval... and you can see I've been doing UOAs almost from Day1, and with Mobil 1. I've always thought my wear numbers to be unusually high, in fact I've never seen anyone with higher numbers than mine. Hence my switch back to dino and shorter intervals. I'm sure synth with shorter intervals will provide slightly lower wear metal resukts, but with the result that I'm seeing with the Pennzoil, the M1's extra cost does not justify its usage.

However, the new Mobil oils, 5000, 7500 and 15000... they may change my plans. The 7500 seems to be receiving pretty good feedback at BITOG, I think that will be my next fill... I'll try a 5K interval.

BTW... I know dino is not a superior lubricant, at least not in comparison with most synths. But I also believe the additive package in many newer dino oils compare favorably with those of synthetics, so I'm not yet "sold" on your theory that dino may leave more contaminants in the engine than synths. I will concede that it's possible, but I'm completely not sold on that point yet. I'll see what my next few UOAs have to say for themselves... I'm a little over 2000 miles into my current 4K interval, so I'll do my next analysis in early October.

 

I've been wanting to test out the newer Mobil1 Extended oils but haven't since I have a hefty stock of Havoline 5W30 SM/GF4. It's hard to beat at $1.3/qt. I've been doing my intervals on all the vehicles around 5k. Althought I haven't sent in for blackstone, I haven't been able to find a good enough reason to switch. I have been on BITOG alot and read up on alot of information there. I've seen KA24s (incl one in the garage) that ran on dino for 100k miles... clean as can be. My guess is it's all up to maintenance and the add pkg they put. The newer SM/GF4 dino oils seem to be getting really good reviews and results. For now I'll have to stick to dino. But great to hear feedback from everyone on this topic.

 

Chinee,

The M1 5W/30 is all that has ever been in the motor since about 2200 miles at the first oil change. And it was a 7888 mile run. I am anxious to get to 60000 miles to compare the 5W/30 Extended performance that is in there now. I did break the motor in pretty hard and early. I did not baby it at all. At 250 miles, I was doing short bursts of full throttle up to 3rd gear. Did that a few times a day through the 1000 mile mark, letting it cool down between WOT runs. So maybe I just got through the tolerances sooner, hence the lower metal numbers now. It does use a qt. about every 5000 miles. I just had to add a qt. last week.

 

With M1 10W30, my VQ consumed oil as well, if I remember correctly, I was down almost 2 qts in 7.5K, that's slightly more than you're seeing. But it's reduced substantially with dino, consumption is around 1/2qt in 4K miles. Now I drive pretty aggressively, not a lot of WOT, but I often see a lot of 5K rpms.

I also suspect my driving style and the climate in So FL may be affecting my results. The last two UOAs on dino were done during the cooler months, but the summer heat toady may very well make for a harsher operating environment.

Only time will tell... and furture UOAs going forward.

 

It also seems that the Dino oil fell out of the acceptable range for viscosity when the Mobil did not.

 

Change the oil in the VQ every 3-5K miles and your VQ will perform flawlessly. It doesn't matter what oil you use. I've seen torn down high mileage (150-300K) VQs with multiple owners. The cylinder hone marks are alway visible and everything is within spec (compression, bearing wear, valve clearance, etc). These motors really don't wear and seem to get stronger with age. I know 3.0 VQ got stronger.

About the only time these motors fail is when you apply boost to them and don't utilize the right safeguards and/or the driver misshifts.

 

Probably true. But I have an interest in going 10-12K miles between changes because it is a pain in the **** to drop it off at the dealer, and I refuse to use kwik-lube R us in any form. If my next analysis with the M1 EP is OK, I will feel confident in extending the interval. By the time the next change is due, it will be out of warantee anyway. And I fully agree that the VQ gets stronger with age. No doubt this car pulls harder than ever.

 

Good catch SixFive... this was one of the comments made over at BITOG. 4K miles seems to be the limit for Pennzoil dino and my application.