2014 Lincoln Navigator 5.4 V8 ~150kmi, 5000mi UOA AMSOIL 5w-20, TBN depletion?

[Panda87]

Just curious as to why you didn’t stay with Amsoil and just bump up the grade to a 30 or 40?

Honestly, I like Amsoil and consider their entire product line top notch. It just didn’t hold up well in my application to give me confidence running it again. For some reason, the oxidation level was seemingly very high (though I admittedly don’t know what the VOA ox level is) and the TBN got rapidly depleted over a 5k interval and that was with me throwing 2 more quarts at it during that interval.

If I’m going to spend boutique oil money, I would hope to get boutique oil results. My money in that case would have been better spent buying PP or M1 and running that short OCI. I personally don’t like Castrol for what they did to the landscape of the definition of synthetic in the US, so I don’t use their products. Just my personal opinion.

I will also grant that perhaps the Amsoil was up against the wall in dealing with cleaning out what was very likely cheap bulk dealer/quick lube 5w-20 blend run for the OCI or longer for the 139k the engine had before I got it. That may have contributed to the TBN depletion and oxidation numbers, but it’s speculation off a single analysis and not a statistical trend.

Lastly, I get HPL delivered to my door for $10.99/qt. As an Amsoil preferred member (membership costs money on top of oil purchase), I get Amsoil delivered to my door for $11.29/qt. Sure, it’s only a few bucks difference, but I’ve got experience running HPL in my Road Glide for 10k miles (and it had plenty of life left at that point. Standard OCI is 5k) and I like the results. Also, I’ve done about 500mi of towing the same load with the HPL 5w-20 and it hasn’t consumed a drop of oil (a fly in the ointment here is that the HPL towing event was after the timing job, may or may not be a factor here). I’m not explicitly beholden to a manufacturer, I’m simply beholden to results. Once I get a UOA on this HPL at 5k miles, I’ll post it up for us to compare.

 

[Panda87]

Addendum to my last post. Per this VOA of Amsoil SS 5w-20, the VOA oxidation is 47.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/amsoil-signature-series-0w-20.366584/#post-6424703

 

[buster]

Honestly, I like Amsoil and consider their entire product line top notch. It just didn’t hold up well in my application to give me confidence running it again. For some reason, the oxidation level was seemingly very high (though I admittedly don’t know what the VOA ox level is) and the TBN got rapidly depleted over a 5k interval and that was with me throwing 2 more quarts at it during that interval.

If I’m going to spend boutique oil money, I would hope to get boutique oil results. My money in that case would have been better spent buying PP or M1 and running that short OCI. I personally don’t like Castrol for what they did to the landscape of the definition of synthetic in the US, so I don’t use their products. Just my personal opinion.

I will also grant that perhaps the Amsoil was up against the wall in dealing with cleaning out what was very likely cheap bulk dealer/quick lube 5w-20 blend run for the OCI or longer for the 139k the engine had before I got it. That may have contributed to the TBN depletion and oxidation numbers, but it’s speculation off a single analysis and not a statistical trend.

Lastly, I get HPL delivered to my door for $10.99/qt. As an Amsoil preferred member (membership costs money on top of oil purchase), I get Amsoil delivered to my door for $11.29/qt. Sure, it’s only a few bucks difference, but I’ve got experience running HPL in my Road Glide for 10k miles (and it had plenty of life left at that point. Standard OCI is 5k) and I like the results. Also, I’ve done about 500mi of towing the same load with the HPL 5w-20 and it hasn’t consumed a drop of oil (a fly in the ointment here is that the HPL towing event was after the timing job, may or may not be a factor here). I’m not explicitly beholden to a manufacturer, I’m simply beholden to results. Once I get a UOA on this HPL at 5k miles, I’ll post it up for us to compare.

So the high oxidation value is the presence of an ester. That is completely normal.

The fact that the boron depleted so fast (360 ppm to 38 ppm in 5k miles) tells me something is up. It's possible SS is cleaning up.

HPL is a great choice as well.

Honestly your best bet for this engine "may" simply be Valvoline Restore & Protect. It was designed to clean neglected engines back to factory clean.

It's also possible HPL and maybe SS can do this too.

 

[Panda87]

So the high oxidation value is the presence of an ester. That is completely normal.

The fact that the boron depleted so fast (360 ppm to 38 ppm in 5k miles) tells me something is up. It's possible SS is cleaning up.

HPL is a great choice as well.

Honestly your best bet for this engine "may" simply be Valvoline Restore & Protect. It was designed to clean neglected engines back to factory clean.

It's also possible HPL and maybe SS can do this too.

Mind if I pick your brain a bit? I’m still learning a lot about oils, bases, add packs, etc. What is the purpose of boron in an engine oil and what does its depletion signify? I ask because I had a 2019 Honda Odyssey and it depleted the boron in the Amsoil I used in it as well, and that was the change right after draining the factory engine oil fill.

I tried to find the Valvoline R&P a while back and couldn’t find any, but perhaps it was a “covid” related lack of availability. I will browse around again.