2005 Lotus Elise M1 0w-40 ~3k

Joined
Dec 13, 2006
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71
Location
Florida
This is the first oil analysis I've done on my '05 Elise (2ZZ-GE). It's from ALS Tribology. I have been doing yearly oil changes which resulted in around 3000 miles on the oil last year. The previous change was also M1 0w-40. The only concern from ALS was that the viscosity was low.

I've been interested to see how this oil would perform due to the direct follower on the high speed cam lobes. I am 100% street driving and have removed the oil cooler loop which is known to over-cool the oil. Even then, I rarely even see over 95C oil temps in the pan. I wait until the oil is up over 80C before revving over the cam switch over point. That said, the engine sees 8000rpm at least once or twice on most drives so I don't baby it once things are warm.

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Unique car and a great oil choice. Did you have any other additives by chance? That zinc # is awfully high for M1 0w40 uoa

Dave
 
Nice, once again M1 0w40 shows that it's actually unicorn blood not oil.

I want to know if this is the newer 0w40 FS or an older variation. Also, within 3,000 miles, the viscosity is 11.1? Hm, I do not think that is that much to be concerned about, because per the Mobile website, it says that this oil has a a visc of 12.9 at 100, that's a 1.8 point drop and if I recall, this is a port fuel injection car. Hmmm, the oil sits at a heavy 5w30 range now, I don't think that should be of too much concern, but I would like others to chime in on this.

The zinc is heavy, though I'm not complaining and the Boron + Moly count is great. But that calcium amount . . . I know it's said that zinc and magnesium (correct me if I'm wrong) are used to off set the large calcium amounts to avoid LSPI. I also wonder, does a large dose of boron do anything to offset the calcium in regards to LSPI? Thanks for posting this, good stuff.
 
I cannot remember CA being so high in M1, it is around 2,700. Also ZInc level is around 1,100 (tid below that).
Did you add any additives?
 
Seems lots on the numbers re off . Were there any aftermarket additives added?
 
Nice car.

Those numbers are off as compared to Mobil's own information: Zn 1100ppm/Ph 1000. Sure there wasn't any additives or mixing?

I use Redline 5w-40 on my '05 w/ the factory supercharger.
 
My history with the car started in mid 2018. It was a rebuild title from Wirewheel and I was told the oil was changed with Mobil 1. The dipstick was clean and I had no question about whether it was fresh so I ran it until December 2018 when I did my first oil change with the 0w-40. There is some support among the Lotus community that Mobil 1 turbo diesel oil is the best oil for the car so it’s possible that this was what Wirewheel had put in. At that time, the oil cooler loop was still installed so a couple quarts of this old oil stayed in the system. The next change in December 2019 was when I bypassed the cooler loop so there should not have been much additive left from prior to my ownership when I changed and sampled the oil in December 2020. I have not used any additives myself and this is the FS version of the oil. Could ALS have had some contamination?

wings&wheels,
During this latest oil change, I actually switched to Redline 5w-30 to try it out for a few reasons. I have had success with it in the past on another car. The viscosity is nearly identical to the M1 at 100C. I was also concerned (prior to this UOA) that the M1 would not be able to protect the high speed cam lobes from wear. The 2ZZ is not a quiet engine but I was surprised with the hot valve clatter with the M1. It is noticeably quieter with Redline btw. I’ll probably run two oil changes with the Redline and post a UOA again at that point.
 
Thats an awesome car. There is definitely something off with the additive levels on that UOA. Calcium, boron, phosphorus and zinc are all way too high.
 
Thanks. It’s definitely quick but the handling is on another level. I’ve never been in another car that can do the same things and stay on the road. I’ll probably keep it N/A for the time being but there are some good TVS supercharger upgrades available.
 
2 year update. The column on the right is Redline 5w-30 which I've been running for the last two oil changes. It's good to see the engine is staying healthy. There were definitely some questions regarding my initial UOA with Mobil 1 since the additive pack differs fairly significantly from other M1 samples. The hot valve clatter that I had with Mobil 1 is gone with the Redline but the UOA doesn't seem very different in terms of wear metals... less Si, Na, K but more Fe and Pb. I honestly don't see much of a benefit to continue using Redline in this engine based on the UOA's and the significant price difference. The low TBN of the Redline confirms that this oil is not meant for extended drain intervals.
 

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2 year update. The column on the right is Redline 5w-30 which I've been running for the last two oil changes. It's good to see the engine is staying healthy. There were definitely some questions regarding my initial UOA with Mobil 1 since the additive pack differs fairly significantly from other M1 samples. The hot valve clatter that I had with Mobil 1 is gone with the Redline but the UOA doesn't seem very different in terms of wear metals... less Si, Na, K but more Fe and Pb. I honestly don't see much of a benefit to continue using Redline in this engine based on the UOA's and the significant price difference. The low TBN of the Redline confirms that this oil is not meant for extended drain intervals.
Lead is not good. I think this engine has a bearing issue.
 
My history with the car started in mid 2018. It was a rebuild title from Wirewheel and I was told the oil was changed with Mobil 1. The dipstick was clean and I had no question about whether it was fresh so I ran it until December 2018 when I did my first oil change with the 0w-40. There is some support among the Lotus community that Mobil 1 turbo diesel oil is the best oil for the car so it’s possible that this was what Wirewheel had put in. At that time, the oil cooler loop was still installed so a couple quarts of this old oil stayed in the system. The next change in December 2019 was when I bypassed the cooler loop so there should not have been much additive left from prior to my ownership when I changed and sampled the oil in December 2020. I have not used any additives myself and this is the FS version of the oil. Could ALS have had some contamination?

wings&wheels,
During this latest oil change, I actually switched to Redline 5w-30 to try it out for a few reasons. I have had success with it in the past on another car. The viscosity is nearly identical to the M1 at 100C. I was also concerned (prior to this UOA) that the M1 would not be able to protect the high speed cam lobes from wear. The 2ZZ is not a quiet engine but I was surprised with the hot valve clatter with the M1. It is noticeably quieter with Redline btw. I’ll probably run two oil changes with the Redline and post a UOA again at that point.
Looks good. More quieter is more better.
 
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