Assuming you did enough changes to flush the residuals at what point would you start seeing a normalizing of metals within the oil? 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 mi?
Break-In Wear.
- Thread starter Gene K
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Once it hits the junk yard, the metals will be normalized 
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I guess it depends on the engine.
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I guess it depends on the engine.
How do you identify residual vs wear metals in a <10,000 mile new engine sample?
I think the important thing is if it's important to you (several members have done it), start the trend since new and observe the lower wear metals over time. I don't think you can assign a mileage number as there are many factors that can affect the outcome.
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Looks to reach a level plane around 10K according to the used oil analysis I've see.
Here are some used oil analysis that BTanchors did on his new Toyota a few years ago,,, while all engines are different these used oil analysis give great insight. link to used oil analysis
It could take 10,000-20,000 miles or even a bit more depending on the engine and how the vehicle is driven. Then was the FF drained early, was there an early OC after an early drain of the FF? That factors in as well. Metals like CU, can be high for a long time in vehicles equipped with a copper oil cooler for example. Even after dumping the FF early. Bottom line, it depends.
On a modern new engine, how much break in wear is being expected? (Rebuild is a different animal)
I was sloppy with language. I meant until the number stopped trended downward at a significant rate.
Let's say 5,000 mi OCI. Would the metals be normalized by the 15,000 - 20,000 mi run?
Some obviously because you can see the silver glitter in the oil when the sun is at the right angle.
Although I have seen a 500 mi initial oil change that showed single digits in iron this seems to be an exception on a new vehicle today.
Ah, OK. Makes sense.
Some members here have started sampling with the initial change and for the life of the vehicle. That's dedication and I enjoy reading the results. It would be interesting to review those cases and get an idea of when a modern mass produced engine trends normally. Maybe 10 or 15K as you suggest? I think it would depend on the interval and design. ARI has me changing my Escape every 7500 miles from the get go, so if I wanted to trend, I'm not sure how skewed the results would be compared to universal averages, from changing the initial fill at 7500.
Well it's not like I couldn't exclude the initial samples. I just was curious at what point the results might start being more representative. Unless someone suggest otherwise I will do the first UOA for 15,000 mi to 20,000 mi and try to start formulating a long term plan from there. This is the first everyday passenger vehicle I've had in a long time I liked well enough to keep.
didn't do oil analysis but the mpg didn't really drop until i hit 50k miles and then they kept dropping until 80k. On 90k now, I think I finally have a run-in engine.
Switched to the Total oil at 30k miles and have been on that since.
Switched to the Total oil at 30k miles and have been on that since.
Your MPG went down (or up) at 50K? I track every tank fill-up and MPG on my Tacoma, and saw the fuel mileage go up at around 10K miles, which I'd think is where the engine was finally broken-in. The spike at 8,500 miles was on a long trip, whereas most of the other data points were basically the same driving cycle - ie, to/from work commute (50 miles round trip).
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I've been doing used oil analysis since day 1 on my Golf - I'd say 20K miles is about when my primary metals leveled out. I missed the factory fill on my new Atlas but same, used oil analysis since then and it's at 25K now and appears to show metals have leveled.
MPG went up, sorry. consumption went down. I think it's a diesel thing, I see similar things with customers hyundai diesels. The 2.0 and 2.2 crdi engines consume a fair bit of oil until about 50k aswell then it usually stops. Tracking fuel consumption is tougher on customers cars, of course...
An excellent visual reminder of why small fuel economy changes are irrelevant and cannot be correlated to a single variable such as an oil additive. We often see people claiming "I added X-additive to my oil and the fuel economy increased by 1 MPG" or something similar. Totally lost in this noise.
Thank you for the post. I think from now on I will link that chart every time I see one of those threads.
I just looked at my maintenance records, so some info on oil changes.
1st oil change at 1,000 miles. Used Mobil Clean 5000 5w30 non-synthetic.
2nd oil change at 5,000 miles. Used Mobil 5w30 full synthetic.
3rd oil change at 10,000 miles. Used Mobil 5w30 full synthetic.
4th oil change at 15,000 miles. Used Mobil 5w30 full synthetic.
Graph shows the avg fuel mileage stayed about the same (except for the long road trip spike) from 5K to 10K with same oil, then at 10K the avg fuel mileage really made a noticeable slope change, again with the same oil.
100% Here you go - 35K of Fuelly data with all my mods/maintenance that could impact mpgs.
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