I purchased my justa Clubman CPO at 32xxx miles, at 36xxx the oil change reminder went on, so i did the change with royal purple 5W30 (4qts). at 46xxx I quelled my ansy feelings about the 13000 mile change in my computer and did a change with AMSoil 5w30 and pulled a sample halfway through the drain and sent it to Blackstone labs. I just got the anaylsis back, here's the text:

MIKE: There's quite a bit of metal in this sample. Aluminum shows piston or bearing wear and iron is from steel parts like shafts and cylinders. Our averages are based on 6,900 miles on the oil, which is probably
shorter than the factory recommendation, but considering your longer oil run, we're guessing at least some of this metal is just a result of the longer run rather than a problem. We'll know more on that as trends build.
In the meantime, we'd stick with a similar interval for next time to get a good apples to apples look at wear. If metals drop, longer will be okay.

Well, its mostly highway i do at 500+ miles a week.. so at the next 10K I will do another sample and we will see whats up.

 

Can't wait for how the results will compare the RP to Amsoil. Post the sheet they gave you if you can.

 

+1 will be looking forward to the next sample, and post the report if you can. My long interval changes with RP show almost no metals. (maybe there is none left cause of the milage)

Nik

 

ooooh...i've been contemplating on doing this too. thanks for sharing.

 

Xsmini, how long are your intervals? I do mine at 5-6k with RP too.

 

15,000 to 24,000 miles, gen 1 Cooper S. Reports on this thread.

Nik

 

yeah I am thinking that the previous owner to me only did the 13,000 LOF with the mini oil... the RP probally cleaned up the passages! I am anxious as well for the next 10k change... the nerd is salivating within me!

 

Well go drive around and rack up the miles. Hurry up as enquiring minds want to know.

 

I change my oil regularly around 3-4k miles. I wonder how my analysis would be...

 

I'm on it! heh..

blackstone-labs.com $25 answers that question (personally I think 4000 miles is wayyy too soon for a modern engine and advanced synth oil)

Soooo... my dad had a great idea... change at 10k, but change the filter at 5k, as when filters get clogged, contaminants bypass it.

but as for the next LOF, i will send a sample in to get a pattern... then i will do the filter at 5k... $5 and 15min is a cheap bit of insurance.

 

Outside of the metal did they give you reading of the oil viscosity and such. I'm just curious how good the oil is at doing its job after so many miles.

 

I am a service writer at a toyota dealership and we had a customer today that INSISTED he NEEDED an oil change in his prius at 5000 miles. I took him out during the drain and the oil came out the color of maple syrup.. was not even dark. The engine does not run half the time.

His mind was changed.

I got more sample kits from blackstone and will be doing samples on our 10K change cars for empirical data.

 

Latest oil anaylsis in!!!!

9011 miles, AMSoil 5/30, heres the text!

MIKE: A shorter oil run is perfectly fine. You can run whatever interval you want -- it doesn't affect us any.
Wear actually looks really great here. Aluminum and iron decreased nicely. We can't say that's because of
the shorter interval or not. Maybe your oil is very picky about how long it can be run, or maybe whatever was
causing the wear last time worked itself out. Regardless, lower metals are good, and we're happy to see it.
Insolubles look good at a low 0.3%. No fuel or coolant was detected. You could do more than 10,000 miles
on the next run if you want to try.

last oil change was royal purple, this was AMSOIL.

I will be changing the filter ONLY this run at 5000 miles and doing the change again at 10000 miles...

stay tuned!

 

Looks good. I have another 3k or so before I send in my next sample.

Nik

 

I have decided not NOT change the filter this weekend... i don't see a reason to

 

I'd rather take this $25 and apply it to another oil change which costs less than $10 more. Every 5k miles here, and I don't have to run around sending samples away to Blackstone.

 

Everyone needs to do what they feel is best/ comfortable with. I don't like spending every six weeks or so changing oil, I rather do an oil change every 6 months.....

Nik

 

you should just blindly change your tires every 10000 miles too, and all your light bulbs before they burn out. (sarcasm, sorry)

Yeah, do what you want, but I would like to know through data when is the real time my oil breaks down, not guess and throw money at it. I now know that its a waste of money for me personally to change the oil or filter at 5000, and even 10000.

I spent $25 so im not spending $35 every 5000 miles and adding waste oil to processing stations.

the more you know. (enter rainbow and piano)

Im going 13000 this time, and one more analysis.

 

Really? Comparing oil to tires, lighting? Yes, you have to use sarcasm, because you don't have that much of a leg to stand on. You say I waste money changing my oil, and I say you waste money getting your oil tested.

Let's compare how our cars are holding up in another 50 to 100k miles. I'm happy to revisit this thread and how I wasted so much money on my DYI oil changes anytime.

 

It is data from a lab. its scientific anaylsis of a chemical compound. What more of a leg do I need? It tells me how the compound is doing its job and when its NOT doing its job. Right now at 10000 miles it is still doing its job and shows very little wear or contamination.

It is EXACTLY like changing your tires without looking at the wear pattern, or tread depth, its analysis. That is Science, no belief necessary; that is what this thread is about, examining that lifeblood that the engine runs on. Feel free to use your money to change something that you don't know why you are changing. That's all you buddy.

math time: $35 per oil change for you every 5k = $70... I spend $45 every 10,000 + $25 on analysis they both equal $70, but I know how my oil is doing, and by analysis, my engine wear.

Or i can cross my fingers and hope im doing the right thing.

I pick scientific data.

I have run my Subaru rally cars on Royal Purple for over 200,000 miles with oil anaylsis every 3000, 5000, 10000 after a rebuild.

Yes it was *joking* sarcasm, im sorry. Geez, grow a thick skin, sorry to hurt you over the internetz.

Have a great weekend.

 

This is an argument neither side is going to win. I've been hearing it on this forum for over 10 years now. "Change every 3k, change every 5k, its cheap insurance" .... blah blah blah "If you run long intervals you'll have to replace your engine sooner" Well I've been running long intervals, have great oil analysis reports, engine show no signs of wear (remove valve cover and oil pan to inspect), no oil build up what so ever, and still performs great. If I would have done an oil change ever 3k or 5k I would have spent between $5600 and $9300 and changed my oil from 60 to over 100 times.(I've changed mine maybe fourteen times) For me the results of the oil analysis, and the performance of my car speak for themselves. But everyone needs to do what they are comfortable with, no need to defend your point here, I highly doubt you'll change anyones mind.

Nik

 

yeah, you are right. I guess I just don't handle the "i will do whatever i want no matter what proof is in front of me, fingers in my ears LALALALAAL" people very well.

I just don't like having a thread about, data, proof, etc and have people pop in just to pee on my fire saying its not hot.

Its not what the thread is for. Its for info and adding info.

 

Amsoil 5-30 european is pretty much the best you can put in these cars. Rp scored horrible in testing against all other major brands amsoil was on top or close to top in all categories rp on bottom

 

I assume "Rp" = "Royal Purple"? If so, can you give some more info about this testing? I've seen plenty of people who swear by the stuff; getting some data on the testing, methodology and results would be incredibly good info!

Thanks!

 

shipjumper, your first oil analysis showed a lot of metals and the next did not, do you credit that to the different brand oil or what?