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Oil Analysis Lab Test Results

227K views 834 replies 127 participants last post by  biodiesel 
#1 · (Edited)
We know you have posted your results elsewhere in the Forum. Now there is one place to look for oil analysis and related commentary. Encourage you repost results if you want, all new test results here please. Thanks.:)
 
#442 ·
Updated... longest run to date on the oil pretty good i think.

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i don't understand your report. Time on unit and time on oil is in hours. For most tests the number is the same for time on unit and time on oil. One test has a blank for time on oil but has a number for time on unit. Another has a blank for time on unit but a number for time on oil. I would expect the time on unit to be the sum of time on current and all previous oil tests. The numbers don't make sense as hours and seem high for miles. What are the units and what are the totals on the truck?
 
#450 ·
I have had no problem with either the Blackstone bottles or the ones I send to Oil analyzers. I did note that the time I used Blackstone their website has a writeup to give the post office if there are any problems mailing it. CHeck their website for the info sheet. I tell the lady at the window it is an oil sample and never have had a problem.
 
#448 ·
I would hope your numbers are good, as the owners manual states oil changes every 10k miles and you have only a little over half of that. Or am I missing something?
 
#453 ·
So nearing 50k, I finally got around to have a OA done. All oil changes to date have been at the dealer. 1st (4) were from the dealer I bought the truck from, due to an unbeatable package. Last oil change I just did a few weeks ago at a closer dealer, who I asked to pull the sample which they did. So this OA is from 4th interval at original dealer who told me they had switched to the Rotella. Based on the report, it looks like that's not the case, specifically eyeballing the magnesium and calcium numbers - what say you?? Otherwise, pretty happy.

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#454 ·
So nearing 50k, I finally got around to have a OA done. All oil changes to date have been at the dealer. 1st (4) were from the dealer I bought the truck from, due to an unbeatable package. Last oil change I just did a few weeks ago at a closer dealer, who I asked to pull the sample which they did. So this OA is from 4th interval at original dealer who told me they had switched to the Rotella. Based on the report, it looks like that's not the case, specifically eyeballing the magnesium and calcium numbers - what say you?? Otherwise, pretty happy.
No that's not T6. It's looks very much like the Euro L..........Ca is high, Mg is low.
 
#459 ·
I expect Buck is correct but that doesn't seem thorough to me. They should also be looking at the degradation in the oil's additive package and making comments about that. Perhaps the fact that TBN isn't part of their base analysis gives a hint that their focus is mostly wear components. When I submitted my first report to OilAnalyzers they advised that they did not have a new analysis of the Pennzoil Ultra Euro to compare the results against so I sent them a new sample. Now, I was a bit aggravated that I had to pay to have the analysis done on the new oil, but decided to do so anyhow.
 
#461 ·
They, Blackstone, should also have picked up on the viscosity. Since oil typically thickens as it is used, they should have wondered why the viscosity was so low for 5W40 T6. In the 5W30 range it is on the upper end of the scale.

Oil Analyzers is more thorough in my opinion. I've used both.
 
#462 ·
Just got my first oil analysis back. What do you guys think?
I changed the factory T6 fill for Amsoil DEO 5W40 with Archoil AR9100 at 1500 miles. This oil sample is of the Amsoil with 4800 miles on it. From this point on I will be changing oil once a year with the Amsoil/Archoil (should be about an 8-9,000 mile annual useage). I have little to no experience with these oil reports (this is the first one I've ever done). Any insight you can offer is appreciated.

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#463 ·
Just got my first oil analysis back. What do you guys think?
I changed the factory T6 fill for Amsoil DEO 5W40 with Archoil AR9100 at 1500 miles. This oil sample is of the Amsoil with 4800 miles on it. From this point on I will be changing oil once a year with the Amsoil/Archoil (should be about an 8-9,000 mile annual useage). I have little to no experience with these oil reports (this is the first one I've ever done). Any insight you can offer is appreciated.

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I don't understand the report at all. The comments by Blackstone refer to 8000 miles on the oil yet the results portion of the form says and your note says 4800 on the oil. Your note seems to indicate 6300 on the vehicle but the form says 5497 on the vehicle. The whole story doesn't hang together well. Results look OK to me for a new truck with very few miles on it and the oil. Why don't the various mileage numbers agree? When something this simple doesn't it does not build confidence in the more complex numbers that you cannot check.
 
#466 · (Edited)
I have attached my first analysis; it was at around 48 k miles and the oci was 10 k exactly. Everything looks really good; this was with amsoil 5w40 premium, which is a cj4. The next one will be with their max duty 5w40 ck4. I am really interested to see the comparison between the two oil specs. Also note, I am running GDE
 

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#467 ·
Finally I had my first report, Looks like iron is very low. Not sure if this is me idling till over 120F coolant/oil or the fact I made 95% miles on long highway trips. GDE tuned, which I am sure shows in low fuel dilution, despite the fact I idled the engine before oil sample, against the advice from Blackstone. Euro L on this report, I switched to Rotella T6 and will compare when the oil change time comes.

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#469 ·
Your logic is correct, but if you open several test sheets, there are reports of iron being much higher on trucks with higher mileage (which trucks definitely passed the break in period and would not warrant high iron in oil). I also factored the oil change interval, like if one gets 16ppm iron on 8k oil interval, it should be about 20ppm on a 10k oil interval. There are reports that have lower-upper 30s ppm for 10k interval, some even higher. I would be interested to find out the operating environment on those trucks, is it lots of stop and go, start from cold, etc.
 
#470 ·
Here is my last OA that the dealer did for free with the flash update. Doesn't look like T6. Makes me wonder what they used?
Third was 5W-40 Amsoil Premium Diesel Oil, Second was Shell T6, first was factory fill of 5W-30 I suspect.
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I used 5W-40 Amsoil DEO again this time and will run it longer.
 
#471 · (Edited)
Here is my last OA that the dealer did for free with the flash update. Doesn't look like T6. Makes me wonder what they used?
Third was 5W-40 Amsoil Premium Diesel Oil, Second was Shell T6, first was factory fill of 5W-30 I suspect.
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I used 5W-40 Amsoil DEO again this time and will run it longer.
I'm sorry, but a soot value of <0.1% is simply not believable in these engines. If the oil is opaque black, it has to be over 5%. Which begs the question; is this a GDE tuned engine? How did the oil visibly look when you drained it?
 
#476 ·
This is the OA from my "winter" oil. Lots of idling to warm up and not a lot of mileage. This winter it was 6,300 kms, with 39 hrs idling and 119 hrs driving.

This was my 2nd OA with a Pronto filter and I was glad to see my previous positive hit for glycol was either a a false positive or some contamination from the road on my EZ Valve. Overall, it looks like the engine is settling in nicely.

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#479 ·
I just got my newest one back. I'll spare you the numbers unless somebody insists that I put them up. But here is what they said in the comments:
Blackstone Laboratories said:
BRYAN: Another 10,000 miles have come and gone, and this diesel looks healthy as ever. This report is practically the spitting image of our last look in January, and we're pleased with the consistency. Internal parts are holding up their end of the bargain with no signs of mechanical issues brewing under the hood. You stuck with Rotella T6 this time around, and it's treating your engine well. The viscosity is appropriate for the grade, with no signs of harmful contamination in the sample Try 12,000 miles on the next oil. Keep up the good work!
This was mostly in-town driving with my new food delivery job. After changing the oil, I immediately trailered a pair of WaveRunners to Miami and the truck sat for a week before trailering them back. I think I will try going the 12,000 as the truck is now at 83,000 miles and with my off-road tune I'm pretty sure any warranty would be toast anyway.
 
#480 ·
Virgin oil analysis Shell Rotella T6

I just did my first oil change and sent in a sample of unused oil for a baseline before hearing elsewhere on this forum that BITOG (Bob Is The Oil Guy) has them,
They are hard to find on BITOG because there is no search function, even though I registered.
The BITOG posted T6 virgin analysis (VOA) is from 2012 from Blackstone and my VOA is from May of 2017 from WIX (bought the kit at NAPA for $18 then had to pay for postage).
There is quite a bit of difference in the Additive Metals content between the 2012 and 2017 sample analyses, particularly for Magnesium (1261 vs 93), Calcium (820 vs 2079) and Boron (65 vs 198).
These differences seem too large to be due solely to different analytical machinery or procedures.
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#482 ·
My first UOA (ever). Note that my fuel level in the oil is a little high. This round of oil was from this past winter, and I do some idling and short trips. I try to counter that with periodic highway time to get things fully warmed up, but its possibly not working. Once fuel gets in the oil, does it evaporate during a long drive, or does it always remain in the oil? Thanks for looking at my numbers!

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#483 ·
My first UOA (ever). Note that my fuel level in the oil is a little high. This round of oil was from this past winter, and I do some idling and short trips. I try to counter that with periodic highway time to get things fully warmed up, but its possibly not working. Once fuel gets in the oil, does it evaporate during a long drive, or does it always remain in the oil? Thanks for looking at my numbers!

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yes the fuel is high and I do not recall seeing that on any of the many previous samples in this thread. Ref your question it will definitely burn off and relatively quickly when your engine gets up to heat. THe 203 deg F + running temp of the oil vaporizes a lot of the diesel very quickly and with harder use and hotter oil temp it should virtually all disappear. In your normal winter usage that this sample was from what oil temps did you see?
 
#484 ·
Howie...thanks for taking a look. I don't watch oil temp regularly, but the times I do it seems to follow coolant temperature. Just prior to doing this oil change I had done a trip down to Des Moines (I live in Mpls area) and I would have thought that everything would have been burned off by then. I found the comments below on a lubrication site, and got to wondering about the bio component. I live in MN where biodiesel is mandatory. I spoke with Blackstone (great guys BTW) and he mentioned that the bio component has a much higher flash point and may not burn off. I happened to install an EZ Drain this past oil change so I'll probably take another sample in 3-4k and see how it looks.

"A third effect of fuel passing through the crankcase is related to biofuel. Currently, both diesel fuel and gasoline include biofuels in their formula (biodiesel in the first case, and bioethanol in the second).
As the fuel is subject to high temperatures in the crankcase, some of it evaporates, meaning that, in the case of diesel fuel, the portion of biofuel becomes concentrated. This causes the biodiesel to be less fluid and more viscous than the diesel fuel, which causes the lubricant to thicken.
For example: if we take a diesel fuel comprised of 7% biodiesel, the diesel fuel portion evaporates in the crankcase, meaning that the concentration of biofuel can amount to more than 10% of biodiesel. Due to this effect, the viscosity of the lubricant and fuel mixture increases, and the wear on the bearings can speed up significantly."
 
#485 ·
interesting. That could be why FCA wants more frequent oil changes for higher percentages of biofuel in the diesel. I did find some specs that indicate it is well above our typical oil temps so it could well accumulate and concentrate as the dino diesel boils off. I also see that its energy content is 9% less than typical dino diesel which may explain some of the fuel economy differences seen by Forum members.
 
#488 ·
Here is my second OA. This is a direct comparison between Amsoil's CJ-4 Premium 5w-40 and the oil that replaced it as their flagship CK-4 Oil, Amsoil Max Duty Signature Series. What I find interesting is with 500 less miles. The TBN is lower on the newer oil. This is interesting to me because all the Oil companies are saying CK-4 offers better protection and longer oil drains. What are everyone's thoughts on this comparison betweeb CJ-4 and CK-4 that is replacing CJ-4
 

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