Castrol SLX 0W-30, 6,400 miles, 2001 Toyota Corolla

[es]

Hi Everyone,
This is my first UOA so any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm from Singapore where the weather is warm and wet. 80% of distance covered is on freeway. This isn't the German Castrol SLX everyone is talking about. It's beer colored and the label says ACEA A1/B1.

Silicon seems a bit high so I'm wondering if its my K&N drop-in air filter letting in too much dirt. Interpretation says it's most likely due to seal and gasket reaction.

I've just changed to Royal Purple 10W-30. RP costs about half the price of the SLX over here. Wonder how that will compare.

Car : 2001 1.6l Toyota Corolla (3ZZ-FE engine)
Oil : Castrol Formula SLX A1 0W-30

Miles on Oil : 6,400
Miles on Engine : 37,623

Metals (ppm)
------------
Aluminium (Al) 11
Copper (Cu) 1
Chromium (Cr) &lt 1
Iron (Fe) 8
Lead (Pb) &lt 1
Tin (Sn) 1
Nickel (Ni) &lt 1

Contaminants / Additives (ppm)
------------------------------
Silicon (Si) 56
Boron (B) 15
Sodium (Na) 7
Potassium (K) 7
Phosphorus (P) 924
Molybdenum (Mo) 334
Magnesium (Mg) 13
Calcium (Ca) 2514
Zinc (Zn) 1134

Physical Tests
--------------
Total Base Number 3.7
Water (% by FTIR) 0.1
Nitration (Abs) 16.6
Viscosity (cSt,40°C) 57.2
Glycol (Abs) &lt 0.1
Petrol (% by Distillation) 0.8

[ October 23, 2003, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: es ]

 

[buster]

these numbers are phenomenal and are better then mine with M1 and Amsoil. Castrol has Moly in it? Castrol is so huge I imagine there are many different versions of the same viscosity around the world being they buy from multiple sources as well.

 

[Schmoe]

Si at 56, but hardly any Cu, Pb or Fe? Something don't seem right. Can you say Moly??? Wow. That is a butt-load.

 

[Spector]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Schmoe:
Si at 56, but hardly any Cu, Pb or Fe? Something don't seem right. Can you say Moly??? Wow. That is a butt-load.

---

Yes, but look at the AL

 

[Schmoe]

granted, but I assume this is a aluminum block and that reading was "natural."

 

[Schmoe]

How? Aluminum silicate??? Lab only analyzes elements in compound form? There have been some UOA's with Si and very little Al.

 

[es]

Thanks for all the nice comments and info

quote:

---

Originally posted by buster:
Castrol has Moly in it?

Originally posted by Schmoe:
Can you say Moly??? Wow. That is a butt-load.

---

Moly is supposed to be an anti-wear additive, right? Is it a case of higher is better?


As for the Silicon, what I've read so far is :

• Silicon is used as an anti-foam additive.
• Silicon is used in gaskets and seals.
• Higher levels Si and Al in a ratio of between 2:1 and 10:1 might indicate dirt ingestion.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Schmoe:
granted, but I assume this is a aluminum block and that reading was "natural."

---

Yes, this is an Aluminium engine. Does anyone have Al norms for Al engines?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Al:
I doubt that it's natural.. Aluminum occurrs in the presence of Si. Did you just do something to the air intake. Check it out-you may just have developed a path for dirt and it might hurt in the next analysis. But as of now for the wear metals - wow!!!

---

I do suspect dirt, which is why I just swapped out my K&N drop in air filter for a new OEM paper one. I guess the next UOA will show if this is the cause.

[ October 23, 2003, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: es ]

 

[Al]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Schmoe:
granted, but I assume this is a aluminum block and that reading was "natural."

---

I doubt that it's natural.. Aluminum occurrs in the presence of Si. Did you just do something to the air intake. Check it out-you may just have developed a path for dirt and it might hurt in the next analysis. But as of now for the wear metals - wow!!!

Welcome-and thanks for posting.

 

[es]

Forgot to add viscosity at 100°C.

Viscosity (cSt,100°C) 10.4

Are engine oil viscosities normally checked at 100°C?

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by es:
Forgot to add viscosity at 100°C.

Viscosity (cSt,100°C) 10.4

Are engine oil viscosities normally checked at 100°C?

---

Yes, most labs report it in cst at 100c, or in SUS at 212F.

I tried editing your original post but it's giving me errors (not allowing me to edit it because it's got parenthesis in HTML tag?)

[ October 24, 2003, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: Patman ]

 

[es]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Patman:
Yes, most labs report it in cst at 100c, or in SUS at 212F.

I tried editing your original post but it's giving me errors (not allowing me to edit it because it's got parenthesis in HTML tag?)

---

Thanks for trying. It doesn't like the "less than" symbol. I'll try to avoid that in the future.

 

[Bror Jace]

es, it never hurts to take a second look at your air filtration but every value is single digits except Al (at a mere 11) despite 6,400 miles (not kilometers, correct?) on the oil. That's really good! Lead of "1" with a 30 weight oil after all that time?

You might want to find out if your motor has iron/steel cylinder liners. I assume it has.

Other than the rest of the internally exposed block, crankcase and possible dirt contamination (different types of dirt around the world should show different ratios of Al, Si and other elements), I can't think of another source except silicone engine gaskets.

I think it was Spector who pointed out that some Toyota engines show elevated Si levels from their gaskets for quite a long time ... even 2+ years and some tens of thousands of miles.

The high moly is a plus ... but more is not necessarily better. Red Line is very high at ~600PPM ... and some think that's excessive. Odd in a Castrol oil ... definitely different from the Castrol oils we've seen here in North America.

--- Bror Jace

 

[Pablo]

Gotta chase me down some Singapore Castrol 0W30!
SC?

 

[Patman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pablo:
Gotta chase me down some Singapore Castrol 0W30!
SC?

---

Wait until Pscholte hears about this oil!

Where has he been by the way?

 

[jsharp]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bror Jace:
es, it never hurts to take a second look at your air filtration but every value is single digits except Al (at a mere 11) despite 6,400 miles (not kilometers, correct?) on the oil. That's really good! Lead of "1" with a 30 weight oil after all that time?

You might want to find out if your motor has iron/steel cylinder liners. I assume it has.

Other than the rest of the internally exposed block, crankcase and possible dirt contamination (different types of dirt around the world should show different ratios of Al, Si and other elements), I can't think of another source except silicone engine gaskets.

I think it was Spector who pointed out that some Toyota engines show elevated Si levels from their gaskets for quite a long time ... even 2+ years and some tens of thousands of miles.

The high moly is a plus ... but more is not necessarily better. Red Line is very high at ~600PPM ... and some think that's excessive. Odd in a Castrol oil ... definitely different from the Castrol oils we've seen here in North America.

--- Bror Jace

---

I'm sure it's iron sleeved and I bet the twin cams run directly in the aluminum head with no bearing inserts. Pretty conventional construction these days. I think they did go back to a cam chain instead of a belt though. A good thing IMO...

[ October 24, 2003, 02:27 PM: Message edited by: jsharp ]

 

[Last_Z]

quote:

---

You might want to find out if your motor has iron/steel cylinder liners. I assume it has.

---

Bror,
Those are the only materials that are used in the cylinders or a variation of them. An Aluminum cylinder couldn't take the abuse from a piston....even though they are both made of AL.

Good report....but I thought G-man and others swore that the GC and the SLX was the same oil....obviously not.....and I know that moly is NOT from the previous oil unless it was composed of 1,000,000 PPM of moly.

This is from YZF's virgin analisys and the values couldn't be more different....except for the phosphorus.

CALCIUM 3649
MAGNESIUM 127
PHOSPHORUS 901
ZINC 1033


I wonder what the "experts" are going to say?

Rick

 

[Patman]

Castrol makes a few different versions of SLX over there though. This is obviously one of the different versions, since it's not green like the other version, and it has moly in it, which the other version does not.

 

[Bror Jace]

Guys, I would be very surprised to find out that the Asia/Pacific Rim version of SLX exactly matched the European version. What I am suprised about is the disparity in the moly additives. The stuff is almost Red Line-like.

Last_Z: "(iron & steel) are the only materials that are used in the cylinders or a variation of them. An Aluminum cylinder couldn't take the abuse from a piston."

I figured this was the case ... but wasn't sure. I know of some older designs of engines (early B&S motors? some automotive engines?) which supposedly had a 100% aluminum short block (no liners).

jsharp: " ... I bet the twin cams run directly in the aluminum head with no bearing inserts."

That type of design seems ridiculous to me) ... but might explain the Al. Still, 2PPM per 1,000 miles is hardly an amount to be terribly worried about.

--- Bror Jace

 

[G-MAN]

quote:

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Originally posted by Last_Z:
I wonder what the "experts" are going to say?

---

Answer:

At one time, there were three or four different versions of 0w30 SLX on the Castrol.de web page. If what this person used is not green, has moly in it, and is a different vis, it's obviously not the A3 SLX.

 

[dickwells]

Gentlemen, I must point out the famous (infamous) Vega 4cyl engine with the high silicate block which was specially treated to have the rings run on its surface. It sure was a big success!

but was morphed into the pontiac Iron Duke which did pretty well (it was the front 4 cylinders of a chevy 6) I worked in a plant that made millions of phenolic timing gears for these until the roller cam/high spring tension made them obsolete.