https://www.blackstone-labs.com/prod...ree-test-kits/

For those who don't know, Blackstone is an oil analysis lab. In addition, oil analysis is one of the best ways to determine the health of your engine and engine oil.
We just sent a sample in during our mid-year ritual of oil services for all of our vehicles, which we send samples in for all of our vehicles.

The notes that they write are pretty extensive, as well as the break down of the oil minerals.

For example, this was for our recent Mini comments:
Although ours is high in some elements, the next sample will really tell us what's going on with our engine and if it's wearing more than normal.

One key part of the analysis is the properties section, where they test the viscosity and flashpoint of the oil, which helps determine if you're using the right oil and oil weight for your engine.
This has been helpful, along with other factors, in finding the right oil for our vehicles.

Highly recommended, and pretty cheap at $28 a sample, plus shipping.

 

Been around a long time.
Trust worthy.

Mike

AngryScot -
Your sign off - "Straights are for fast cars. Turns are for fast drivers."
You've apparently not gone..."straight"...very fast, or quick..!

 

Wish more folks would do this before spouting off on what they think is the best oil to use.....

 

My street/track car has a hp/lb ratio of ~3.5lbs/hp (or ~620hp/ton). I'll let you guess if that is quick or not.


Especially since people's use will differ. A car that only sees street duty is going to have a different oiling need than a track car or autocross car. We won't know what's best for our use until a few more oil samples, but we have a baseline now.

 

"The notable finds are in the spectral exam. Iron (cylinders, shafts), copper and lead (brass/bronze
parts such as bearings) are elevated next to universal averages. For this engine type, averages are based
on a 5,900-mile oil run. Not every engine wears like averages, so it's possible metals are related to hard
use, such as racing, rather than a mechanical issue, but we'd keep an eye on them till trends tell us more.
Harmful contamination is not a problem in this report. The viscosity read in the 5W/30 range. Try another
4,000-mile run for a comparison to this report."

If bearing metal or cylinder/piston metal is showing up in he oil at elevated values compared to universal averages I'd not run the oil another 4K miles. I'd change the oil now.

It doesn't make sense to use the presence of bearing metal in the oil as an indicator of when to change the oil. The idea is to replace the oil before it loses its ability to properly protect the engine against wear.

If the car is being subjected to hard usage, racing, it could be appropriate to change the oil even sooner. As an aside I was taught even for just an auto cross to always show up with fresh oil in the engine. While I never did a real road course event in any car I certainly would show up with fresh oil in the engine.

 

Proof comes by the length of miles you cars get on them, before failure. If you find and oil getting you more that 400K miles and still running good, stick with it. The proof is in the engines longevity!
I really do not want to get into this anymore than that! There are too many things to consider!

 

I'll step up to be the counterpoint. I'm a bit of an oil geek, having sent oil samples to Blackstone religiously on the BMW race car for a decade, and a bit less religiously on the tow vehicle and various daily drivers.

Re. "it doesn't make sense to use the presence of bearing metal in the oil as an indicator...." I would argue that's the wrong way to look at it. The oil analysis result can tell you that you've a problem. But unless your oil choices are really bad or the oil is way overdue for a change, the cause of the bearing problem isn't the oil. The messed up oil is most often a symptom. Bearings don't rely on your oil being fabulous for protection. They rely on your oil simply being "there". The hydrostatic wedge that is formed between bearing surfaces is independent of the chemistry and pressure of the oil...the oil just needs to "be there". So if the supply of oil is interrupted for a heartbeat, or there are large particles in the oil, the bearing will take damage. That damage accumulates until you've too much bearing gap for the oil pump to reliably fill. Then bearing damage gets bad in a hurry.

Caveat. Viscosity matters to the bearings. An oil that is too thin can be a problem. Since oil thins over time due to gas contamination and molecular shearing, the oil analysis mention of the sample's viscosity is helpful when determining how much life the oil had left in it. Not the only variable of course, but an important one.

So if there's bearing material in your oil, the questions that follow are "is my oil supply to the bearing being interrupted? Do I have grit in my oil somehow?" The question isn't "do I change my oil?"

Cylinder and top end lubrication is different then bearing lubrication. They depend on mostly on anti-wear properties of the oil and that is dependent on oil chemistry. Therefore good oil choices matter.

Changing the oil for each autocross. Determining a reasonable oil change interval (OCI) for your engine and your usage patterns is a good fit for oil analysis. Send out an oil sample at each change. I started racing >10yrs ago. The crowd talked of changing oil for each event, call it 2hrs of track time. But as my oil reports accumulated, I started extending OCIs. Now I go prob 30hrs of track time, call it 18mos, between oil changes. To combat the loss of visc, I "top off" the 10W40 oil load with 20W50. Determining reasonable oil change intervals for a daily driver would be a bit different because the oil load will get more hours. For example you'd need to watch oil acidity and ZDDP (anti-wear) #. The Blackstone report notes will point out the things that should get your attention.

 

I've been using Mobil1 5w-30 since I bought the car in 2006, and last year finally had an oil analysis done by Blackstone, and results came back perfectly. No anomalies, or abnormal readings of any kind. At 163k miles, my engine is in perfect health. I'll stick with Mobil1 5w-30.

 

Like most xW30's that's low on ZDDP, the best anti-wear additive. If you're burning oil, being low on ZDDP is a good thing because it's supposed to be hard on cat convertors. But if you're not burning oil, I'd orient on an oil that has more ZDDP because the improved anti-wear properties. That should make a difference in cylinder/ring wear and top end wear (but not crank bearings).

 

What......?

 

I'm gonna take a stab at what he means... which is, if the oil isn't breaking down and retains it's viscosity, you could potentially use it much longer than you would think.

 

Along this topic, there was someone on here in one of the many threads of oil changes and Blackstone testing that was going to have their oil tested at 5000 miles, and it turned out good they were going to extend it the next time and continue to do so till they got a not so good report back from Blackstone and that would tell him just how many miles he can actually run between oil changes and be safe of oil break down. That has been the debate since MINI came out on here is the 1st Gen car's computer would let you run 15,000 between oil changes and alot of people said that was crazy.. I followed the computer except for my very first oil change and when I sold the car it had 160,000 miles and it is still running the roads locally without engine troubles... I never did see the thread again to see what the out come was for the person who said they were going to do that testing on their car.... Most any synthetic oil will last 5000 miles pretty easy. Most synthetic oils are advertised to be able to run much longer to offset the extra cost. If your changing oil every 3000 miles I see no reason to pay extra for synthetic except for the fact once you go synthetic you have to stay synthetic...and BMW/MINI all come with synthetic to start with...

 

For most engines and most usage patterns 10k miles with a quality oil should be fine.

The idea that "once you go synthetic you should stay synthetic" dates back to some problems when synthetics were first introduced in the '70's(?). Even then it was mostly urban legend. Fast forward 50yrs and it's completely wrong. Besides, in the context of oil, the word "synthetic" doesn't actually mean synthetic. Thank Castrol for that. https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forum...opics/950311/1

 

It is hilarious you mentioned ZDDP because I only just heard about that over the weekend when I was up at EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, WI, getting a ride in a 1912 Ford Model T. The owner was explaining some of the history of the vehicle, and such, and at one point, I asked about motor oil, and he mentioned about ZDDP, and how high-levels will ruin catalytic converters, so most modern engine oils don't typically have that, whereas much older cars, especially ones over 100 years old will have those types of additives.

To answer your question directly, I probably am burning some oil, but can't be for certain because I would tend to see oil drops on the concrete floor over time. I just recently went through, and replaced a bunch of seals, and gaskets, but still have some oil leaking out, so I'll still add some oil to the car at times. More than likely, I'm leaking oil more than I am burning it.

 

ZDDP came into vogue some years back when cam lobes/lifter issues were while not common were cropping up. The real fix was improved cam and lifter metallurgy and quality control. But ZDDP is still touted as the magic bullet for preventing wear.

The way ZDDP works is under pressure and heat -- enough pressure and heat -- it forms a layer of glass like material which prevents metal to metal contact. But the layer of material quickly breaks up and goes away. In doing so it carries some base metal with it. Thus there is wear. More importantly the erosion of metal results in the metal surface becoming rougher which results in less effective lubrication. The ZDDP if it even works can contribute to the wear one seeks to prevent by using oil with this additive in it.

Really one should not rely upon some 1000PPM or more of any additive to prevent metal to metal contact. The oil chosen should be capable of ensuring no metal to metal contact under the type of usage the engine is subjected to, and changed before it is no longer capable of this under the type of usage the engine is subjected to.

This can be after a track session or after 10K miles of highway/freeway driving.

With previous cars I have changed the oil before heading out on a nearly 5K mile road trip. Back home after a week on the road with the bulk of the miles racked up in just few days at the start of my week off and then a few days towards the end of my week off the mileage hits 5K miles. Since I change the oil every 5K miles I then as soon as I can change the oil. I have observed even after 5K miles the oil still has some amber color to it and the stream of oil draining out is translucent. It seems to me that the oil could be capable of if not going another 5K miles could go another 2K to maybe 3K miles further provided my usage continued to be hundreds of miles of highway driving per day.

By way of comparison the same car/engine with the same oil driven 5K miles mostly commute miles the oil when drained will be quite dark with no amber color and not at all translucent.