2002 Mercury Sable Duratec w/ Exxon Superflo 5W20 + LC and 9848 MI/oil, 57K/motor

[TomJones76]

I was curious as to whether Lube Control really could make the cheapest "Manufacturer Approved" oil I could find last 10,000 miles.
The left-most analysis posted below was a nearly 10K run with Exxon Superflo SL 5W20 and Lube Control.
Take a look at my below results and let me know what your conclusion is.
The car is a 2002 Mercury Sable LS Premium with the 3.0 Liter 24V Duratec V6. Do not confuse that with the Vulcan engine of the same size available in this model.
Usage was 60/40 highway-city driving. Oil analysis by Schaeffer’s Manufacturing.

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Date 3/13/06 7/19/05 6/23/05 3/21/05

Lab Schaeffers in all cases

***Vehicle ID***

Make Mercury in all cases

Model Sable LS in all cases

Year 2002 2002 2002 2002

Engine Duratec 3.0L in all cases.

Miles on Vehicle 57454 47606 43170 38646

***Oil Identification***

Oil Brand Exxon Exxon Pennz Kendall

Oil Series Superfl Superfl Conv. Bulk Conv.

Oil SAE J300 5W20 5W20 5W20 5W30

API SX SL SL SL NR

Miles on Oil 9848 4435 4524 1946

Months In Service 7 4 2 2

***Elements***

Antimony Sb NR NR NR NR

Cadmium Cd NR NR NR NR

Vanadium V NR NR NR NR

Aluminum Al 6 5 6 7

Chromium Cr 0 0 0 0

Iron Fe 23 8 14 15

Copper Cu 6 5 5 3

Lead Pb 1 0 0 0

Tin Sn NR NR NR NR

Molybdenum Mo 128 259 218 33

Nickel NR NR NR NR

Manganese Mn NR NR NR NR

Silver Ag NR NR NR NR

Titanium Ti NR NR NR NR

Potassium K NR NR NR NR

Boron B NR NR NR NR

Silicon Si 16 17 17 12

Sodium Na NR NR NR NR

Calcium Ca 1262 2463 1997 2317

Magnesium Mg 5 11 7 10

Phosporus P 498 981 1014 924

Zinc Zn 619 1104 1027 1017

Barium Ba NR NR NR NR

***Viscosity***

cST @ 100 C 7.02 7.55 7.25 9.35

SUS @ 210 F NR NR NR NR

***Misc***

Flashpoint (F) NR NR NR NR

Fuel % N N N N

Antifreeze % 0 0 0 0

Water % 0 0 0 0.2

Insolubles % NR NR NR NR

Sulfur 7 6 8 5

Oxidation 10 3 2 0

Nitration 24 10 7 6

TBN NR NR NR NR

Ferrous Debris NR NR NR NR

Fuel Soot % NR NR NR NR

Additives LC LC LC None

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Schaeffers lab comment was, as it has been for the last two previous intervals, "CONTAMINATION AND ADDITIVE DEPLETIONS LEVELS NORMAL. MAINTAIN CURRENT OIL DRAIN INTERVAL."

 

[TomJones76]

Two points spring to my mind at first.
1. I just don't care for that Iron. I realize this was a lot of miles, and on a PPM Iron / Miles basis I'm ahead of the rest of my analyses, but.. still I don't like it.
2. The viscosity. It's down even further on this drain than on the previous two, and TooSlick pointed out that both of those are below the normal range for 5W20.

 

[TomJones76]

It looks like this has the additive signature for "Mobil Clean 5000" per a post I found on here right around the time I bought the oil.
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000321#000001

Ignore my post in the referenced thread where I tried to clarify SL/SM. I didn't realize it at the time, but I didn't have enough data to make that statement.

I'm posting my results next to the results of a VOA that I imagine is for this very oil.

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Date 3/2006 6/2005

Lab Scha Blacks

***Vehicle ID***

Make Mercury NA

Model Sable NA

Year 2002 NA

Engine 24V 3.0 NA

Miles on Vehicle 57454 NA

***Oil Identification***

Oil Brand Exxon Mobil

Oil Series Superfl Clean 5000

Oil SAE J300 5W20 5W20

API SX SL NR

Miles on Oil 9848 VIRGIN

Months In Service 7 NA

***Elements***

Antimony Sb NR NR

Cadmium Cd NR NR

Vanadium V NR NR

Aluminum Al 6 0

Chromium Cr 0 0

Iron Fe 23 1

Copper Cu 6 0

Lead Pb 1 0

Tin Sn NR 0

Molybdenum Mo 128 109

Nickel NR 0

Manganese Mn NR 0

Silver Ag NR 0

Titanium Ti NR 0

Potassium K NR 1

Boron B NR 65

Silicon Si 16 2

Sodium Na NR 249

Calcium Ca 1262 1237

Magnesium Mg 5 3

Phosporus P 498 520

Zinc Zn 619 620

Barium Ba NR 0

***Viscosity***

cST @ 100 C 7.02 8.51

SUS @ 210 F NR 53.9

***Misc***

Flashpoint (F) NR 395

Fuel % N NR

Antifreeze % 0 NR

Water % 0 NR

Insolubles % NR NR

Sulfur 7 NR

Oxidation 10 NR

Nitration 24 NR

TBN NR NR

Ferrous Debris NR NR

Fuel Soot % NR NR

Glycol NR NR

ISO Code NR NR

Additives LC NR

Notes NR NR

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[Al]

Hate to keep railing on Schaeffer's UOA's But there is simply not enough information on them to warrant a long of a run like this.

 

[TomJones76]

Al,

I certainly wish I knew whether or not you are right. It would be nice to have a TBN, certainly, although I wonder whether or not the low oxidization is an indication that the TBN is doing its job.

I pulled out my Duratec UOA library and ran some statistics on my various runs.

The most interesting thing on here for me is viscosity.
I checked my last four CST @ 100 against the library.
My most recent UOA with 7.02 has a 0 percentile result. That means it is the single lowest used oil viscosity reported in a Duratec. Virgin was 8.3 FAIK, meaning I had a 1.28 CST or 15% decrease.
That doesn't make me too happy, although the wear metals haven't exactly grenaded on me.
2nd to last: 7.55 CST, 10th percentile. 90% of UOA are more viscous. Virgin was 8.3 FAIK, indicating a .75 CST drop, or a 9% decrease.
3rd to last: 7.25 CST, 3rd percentile. 97% of UOA are more viscous. 11% decrease. Pennzoil didn't hold up as well as Superflo did in the 2nd to last, and its viscosity loss slope was more severe than either of the last two Superflo samples. Not sure the difference is significant, though.
4th to last: 9.35 CST, 89th percentile. 11% of UOA are more viscous. Of course, I ran a 5W30 that time, which makes a difference, and I'm only comparing to other Duratecs. I haven't been able to find a virgin UOA on "winter 2004 bulk Kendall conventional 5W30", but as 9.35 is right at the bottom of 5W30, I suspect it thinned some.

The viscosity on here is the most worrying thing.
The Iron at 23 looks high, but my back of the envelope calculations make me think that the Duratec kicks out 2 PPM of iron per 1000 miles after the 1st 1000 (at which point I believe it kicks out 5 PPM), which would put a projected average for 10K at 23.
I'll explain my stats methodology later.

I am tempted to run my current crankcase of Exxon Superflo SM 5W20 out to 3K and then change over to a 30 weight of some kind, or perhaps try seeing if a good synthetic 5W20 could hold down the sheering.
If I go 30 weight and want to be conservative, I'll need something that is still above 8.0 after shearing down by 1.3 CST.
I do have that GC I'd bought for my old Caprice gathering dust in the garage.... just need to find 1 more quart.
Pennzoil Platinum has also crossed my mind...

 

[TomJones76]

Well, guys, just for kicks, here is a blotter test:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/83373045@N00/172811551/

Note that the drop landed a LITTLE sideways, didn't start as a perfect circle. Still neat though.

 

[1977c10phxdriver]

What does a blotter test do? show?

 

[TomJones76]

Well, basically, you can use it to detect certain lubricant problems without need of a lab.

These guys sell a kit, but have demo pictures::
http://www.gwrauto.com/One Drop.htm

Meanwhile, some discussions are here:
http://www.practicingoilanalysis.com/results.asp?search=blotter123

 

[TR3-2001SE]

I think you have pushed the oil very close to its max. The blotter test shows it is really past its prime. I have done lots of blotter test on Mobil 1 and never seen one this bad. You are right to worry about the viscosity. I think 6000-7000 miles would have been reasonable for this oil and LC but 10,000 is too much. I would never have figured it would look this bad at 10,000 miles. Still your wear metals are reasonable.

 

[TomJones76]

Yeah, TR3-2001SE, I pretty much agree about this oil. The irregularity of its second ring (almost looks like a chainsaw blade) really makes me think that at least some of the oil's additive package is shot.
Actually, when this blotter finished settling the looks of it made me sick to my stomach.
Compare to its next run of oil at around 2300 miles:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83373045@N00/162619229/

I suspect you're right about the miles it failed at. I'd be willing to bet this oil's additives failed between 6000 and 8000 miles, although I believe it probably didn't go far enough to genuinely hurt the car.

I will not run this car out to 10K again without making some changes in the oil, the car, or both.

Incidentally, I ran these results past Terry Dyson, and if it wasn't the BEST $20 I've ever spent, it was close.
I respect his requests to keep his comments private and I'm uncertain what I could share without violating his trust, so that's all I can share on that matter.

Going forward I'll be running this car on twice my previous dosage of LC and sampling and changing at 5K. I'll also be doing some items from the 60K service and inspecting a few itmes not on the 60K service. (Speaking of which, that'll put me under her sometime this week. Look forward to our next installment before too long...)
Gas is just too expensive and times too hard for me to not keep this car well-tuned.