Amsoil XL 5W-30, 10.4k mi; Ford Edge Sport 73.9k mi

[SevenBizzos]

This is my sixth UOA on this and probably the last for awhile. I think these have served their purpose. The sodium is annoying, but there's nothing else going on. Moly popped up this time and the only thing I've done is swapped out the old orange coolant for compatible new. It's been a great car and I even picked up a Fusion with the similar build. 10k OCI to infinity....

 

[buster]

The Amsoil XL add packs looks almost identical to SS but the oxidation value is low so it's likely using little ester (hence lower cost and performance). More similar to most off-shelf oils. Fuel dilution is likely why viscosity dipped into 20 grade territory. Not sure what the deal is with the Na.

 

[Jetronic]

were the other runs also on Amsoil XL?

 

[fantastic]

Sodium seems consistent. When I see that I think sodium in engine production parts. Not sure though. For a high output turbo engine it looks good. Thanks

 

[SevenBizzos]

were the other runs also on Amsoil XL?

Yes. It's been running XL, or now Extended Life, and Amsoil filters since I took it home.

 

[Impatient]

I’m sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but really tired of 5w30 oils (including Amsoil) dipping from grade, not just to the boundary between it and xw20, but well past (this XL dipping to 8.7ish, well below the true boundary between the grades). I’m not concerned about 0.1 difference, but 8.7 is well below xw30 grade.

Is it a Blackstone, or inadequate oils, or is 8.7 just as good as 9.5?

I’ve been stressing keeping my visc above 10.0, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. Amsoil SS didn’t exceed expectations, though wear and TBN, and other detergent & wear components were way better than any OTS Walmart oils. Time to go to a thicker oil (xw40) upfront??? Maybe it’s time for a API xw35 grade, to possibly separate oils that will keep a decent ending visc vs the ones that start low, and go lower, or even start decently, but still dip below to xw20 boundary. I don’t see any OTS 5w30 oil (not even Amsoil) that stayed in grade in challenging DI engines, let alone TDI. Maybe high mileage oils??? Or Euro???

I may be mixing causation with correlation, but I had much better results with Valvoline PB Restore (in the Ecoboost) and Castrol’s Euro 0w30 SL (Belgium…the true German version predated my usage) in a Subaru turbo EJ25. Both stayed above 10.x. Both now hard to get. I’m looking toward trying testing of HPL, but seeing the shearing or diluting issue not totally eliminated with their “low-end” PCMO. But assuming “dilution,” as in the Ecoboost, hard to rationalize an even more expensive HPL as supposedly dilution does not discriminate between high-end oil and mid-tier…though the “resilience” to the dilution might favor the hi quality oils.

 

[buster]

I’m sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but really tired of 5w30 oils (including Amsoil) dipping from grade, not just to the boundary between it and xw20, but well past (this XL dipping to 8.7ish, well below the true boundary between the grades). I’m not concerned about 0.1 difference, but 8.7 is well below xw30 grade.

Is it a Blackstone, or inadequate oils, or is 8.7 just as good as 9.5?

I’ve been stressing keeping my visc above 10.0, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. Amsoil SS didn’t exceed expectations, though wear and TBN, and other detergent & wear components were way better than any OTS Walmart oils. Time to go to a thicker oil (xw40) upfront??? Maybe it’s time for a API xw35 grade, to possibly separate oils that will keep a decent ending visc vs the ones that start low, and go lower, or even start decently, but still dip below to xw20 boundary. I don’t see any OTS 5w30 oil (not even Amsoil) that stayed in grade in challenging DI engines, let alone TDI. Maybe high mileage oils??? Or Euro???

I may be mixing causation with correlation, but I had much better results with Valvoline PB Restore (in the Ecoboost) and Castrol’s Euro 0w30 SL (Belgium…the true German version predated my usage) in a Subaru turbo EJ25. Both stayed above 10.x. Both now hard to get. I’m looking toward trying testing of HPL, but seeing the shearing or diluting issue not totally eliminated with their “low-end” PCMO. But assuming “dilution,” as in the Ecoboost, hard to rationalize an even more expensive HPL as supposedly dilution does not discriminate between high-end oil and mid-tier…though the “resilience” to the dilution might favor the hi quality oils.

It's both BS/Labs and Amsoil XL as well as fuel dilution which will lower viscosity of any oil. Amsoil XL is likely not using a top tier VM. Probably something similar to M1. Amsoil SS uses top tier, but is formulated on lower end of grade. Amsoil 0w20 did very well in the Kurt Orbahn shear stability test.

HPL, Mobil 1 ESP 5w30 and RL hold their grade extremely well. I believe RL uses little to no VII.

It's important to separate mechanical shear from fuel dilution losses.

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

I’m sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but really tired of 5w30 oils (including Amsoil) dipping from grade, not just to the boundary between it and xw20, but well past (this XL dipping to 8.7ish, well below the true boundary between the grades). I’m not concerned about 0.1 difference, but 8.7 is well below xw30 grade.

Is it a Blackstone, or inadequate oils, or is 8.7 just as good as 9.5?

The Ford 2.7L ecoboost engine pretty reliably dilutes the oil with fuel at 2%-5% on Polaris Labs UOA but Blackstone doesn’t use an accurate test for this. For the oil viscosity to drop as it did in the OP’s UOAs (Amsoil says it starts at 11.3) it’s probably about half from fuel dilution and half from the Oil’s viscosity modifiers breaking down, which could be exacerbated to some extent by the presence of fuel in the oil over time.

I’ve been using oils with virgin ~10.7 cSt viscosities in my 2.7’s. I get about 3% fuel dilution right away which drops the viscosity to ~10.0 within 500 miles of an oil change. After 5000, M1 AFE 0W-30 goes into the low 9’s and if run for 6-7k miles into the high 8’s. So even though there is an immediate viscosity loss that is explained with a mixture calculation from fuel dilution, there is time/mileage variable which definitely leads to further viscosity loss even though the fuel dilution remains fairly constant throughout the oil change interval.

 

[Impatient]

Amsoil XL is likely not using a top tier VM…….

I would have thought Amsoil XL had high-end additives / modifiers, but used Grp III vs more Grp IV / V as in the SS. I mean, what would be left to scrimp on in their OE line vs XL?