Oil Analysis thread (post yours up!)

[Chris@FreedomMotorsports]

That is a great report overall! Are you changing the oil each time you test or are you attempting to extend the intervals even farther?

 

[lathrash]

That is a great report overall! Are you changing the oil each time you test or are you attempting to extend the intervals even farther?

I tried to slowly increase the intervals each oil change. I still have it analyzed each change regardless of the interval.

 

[DirtNasty]

Yeah i have my next sample on my desk, need to send that out in the AM.

 

[Chris@FreedomMotorsports]

The longest interval I have ever seen was in my Dmax (I know I know...lol). But I ran AMSOIL diesel & marine oil for a little over 18K miles and the lab report said to run it for another 7K and text again. But, I changed it out at that point to test another oil that was at the time newly designed for the DPF equipped trucks. In a gas engine vehicle I have found that it depends a lot on the engine and environment. My wife had a 2008 Kia Sportage with the V6 that would eat oil up BAD. No matter what brand, I couldn't run ANY oil in it more than 2-3K miles, if I did, the dipstick and under side of the fill cap would be absolutely covered in varnish and if they are then you know good and well that the valve train is too. But in my LS engines Amsoil has done really well. I still change my oil around every 10K miles on those without new testing because it is cheap insurance and past tests have shown that I can do so. I now test on those vehicles every once in a while to try to keep an eye on the engine itself.

Once I get a Raptor I plan to test the oil in it BEFORE I change the oil to get a baseline and then change over to Amsoil and see what happens. I am interested to find out if Amsoil will hold up for the much farther extended intervals that they themselves Guarantee.

 

[ESRaptor]

The longest interval I have ever seen was in my Dmax (I know I know...lol). But I ran AMSOIL diesel & marine oil for a little over 18K miles and the lab report said to run it for another 7K and text again. But, I changed it out at that point to test another oil that was at the time newly designed for the DPF equipped trucks. In a gas engine vehicle I have found that it depends a lot on the engine and environment. My wife had a 2008 Kia Sportage with the V6 that would eat oil up BAD. No matter what brand, I couldn't run ANY oil in it more than 2-3K miles, if I did, the dipstick and under side of the fill cap would be absolutely covered in varnish and if they are then you know good and well that the valve train is too. But in my LS engines Amsoil has done really well. I still change my oil around every 10K miles on those without new testing because it is cheap insurance and past tests have shown that I can do so. I now test on those vehicles every once in a while to try to keep an eye on the engine itself.

Once I get a Raptor I plan to test the oil in it BEFORE I change the oil to get a baseline and then change over to Amsoil and see what happens. I am interested to find out if Amsoil will hold up for the much farther extended intervals that they themselves Guarantee.

I plan to do the same thing. I don't put many miles on my truck, so it will be awhile before my first oil change to Amsoil. Huge fan of Amsoil.

For those still unfamiliar, the GT500 forum has a UOA thread by Unleashed Beast. It has a ton of information about different oils used in the participants GT500's (5.4 motor). It is an interesting read to get better aquainted with oil testing.

 

[Chayse]

Interesting. I have a sample ready to go out to Blackstone from my first change. I changed it around 6500 miles. I know I should have done a sooner change for the first one to get the break in stuff out. Oil life indicated 18% left at the time. Not sure how much stock I put in that though. I Put in Amsoil 5-w20 and the EA oil filter. I'm now at just over 13,000 total miles on the truck, so about another 6500 on the Amsoil. I just got another test kit from Blackstone, so I'll change the oil again and see how everything fared. I'll send both test kits out at the same time and see what they say for the next interval. I do 80 miles a day on average. Most of that is my commute back and forth to work, mix of highway and surface streets.

 

[Vash]

I just got back the first oil analysis for my 2011 Raptor 6.2L. The comments said that Boron was a bit low for the lubricant that I'm using (Amsoil OEM 5w-20) and my TBN is significantly low. I'm also running the regular Motorcraft FL820S oil filter. This change was with about 5065 miles on the tested oil. My truck had about 27956 miles on it at the time I did my last oil change and sample. I'm just wanting to get some opinions on whether these "abnormal" results are something to be alarmed about. I'm not going to for extended drain intervals at this point and all oil changes have been done at the regular (7500 mi) or severe service (5000 mi) intervals.

In case it matters, this test was done by Oil Analyzers Inc. with a kit provided by my local Amsoil dealer. I've also been using Amsoil OEM Synthetic 5w-20 since my first oil change at around 2000 miles.

 

[Chris@FreedomMotorsports]

There are some specific conditions that can make the TBN drop that low. The TBN basically measures how well the oil will be able to defend against the acids that form in the oil over time. There are two main things that usually cause the TBN to drop that low. The first is if the truck sits for long periods of time. The oil, even when the truck isn't running, is still fighting against the acids and wear materials in the engine. Because of this, vehicles that sit for long periods of time, for example, are only driven once a week or every other week or something along those lines, can have an adverse affect on the TBN.

That being said, the most detrimental cause of the lower TBN is short trip driving. For example, when the truck may be driven daily, but for trips not lasting more than 5, 10 or 20 miles at a time. That type of driving habits causes more condensation build up in the engine and as a result, corrosion and increased acidic levels cause the oil TBN to be lower because of more "work" so to speak.

If the driving habits are possibly a combination of the two, short trips combined with long intervals between driving periods, then that would explain why your TBN dropped that low in just 5K miles.

If I may ask, how long was this interval in months?

 

[Vash]

Chris,

I only drive about 4.2 miles each way between home and work, so short trips is likely the cause for the low TBN. I mostly do short trips and then periodic longer trips of 45 miles or so maybe once a week at most along with maybe a 179 mile trip once a month. Thanks for the quick response.

The oil in this test was used from 04 AUG 2013 to 03 FEB 2014 so right around six months.

Should I be concerned about the low boron reading? Is that also an effect of short trips. It seems like based on these results, I should definitely stick with the shorter severe service interval. Other than that, would you agree that my other numbers look good based on how many miles I have and the oil I'm using? Once again, thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it.

 

[Chris@FreedomMotorsports]

Yes Sir, you should stick to the severe duty service intervals, I would NOT attempt to go beyond 7500-10K miles. That would be the same with any brand oil as well, the brand doesn't matter, with your driving habits, you will have the same types of results from any oil you run.

The boron is lower because it is protecting against wear where the TBN is also lower. Boron is a wear additive, but hasn't dropped far enough according to that report to be concerned with the number as yet. Like the low number on the TBN, while they are "flaggable" or that you need to keep an eye on them, means that they are still doing their job and you need to either test again at "in 3500 miles" or simply change the oil at that point.

One thing to also keep in mind is that this is your first change with Amsoil. When you first make the change over to a new oil, it is very likely that there was a good amount of the old oil still in the engine that wound up mixing with the new oil, whereby causing lower than normal numbers on the report. The longer you run it, the less this will happen. But yes indeed, with your driving habits, you are definitely in the severe duty cycle/interval range and should adhere to those recommendations.