Chevron Supreme SL 10W 30 analysis

[OutlawTitan]

This analysis is for my 2000 Accord SE (2.3L 4 cyl) with 35,000 miles on the car and 5,033 miles on the oil for this analysis. This was the 2nd oil change with the Chevron SL 10W 30 oil. Blackstone screwed up and thought it was only 2,033 miles instead of 5,033 so their comments on extended intervals are pretty much irrelevant. Blackstone did indicate that "the wear levels are quite low, easily beating averages. We don't think you will have any problem going 5,000 miles)." I would appreciate comments from all of you:

Aluminum 2
Chromium 1
Iron 7
Copper 6
Lead 7
Tin 0
Moly 14
Nickel 0
Manganese 0
Silver 0
Titanium 0
Potassium 2
Boron 11
Silicon 8
Sodium 3
Calcium 1818
Magnesium 11
Phosphorous 763
Zinc 992
Barium 0

SUS Viscosity @ 210 degrees 59.8
Flashpoint 380
Fuel % Antifreeze % 0
Insolubles % 0.5

TBN of 2.5

 

[Chris]

Never seen a TBN that low. Maybe 5k is too far?

 

[OutlawTitan]

Don't know much about TBN but that sure seemed low to me as well. Does it not depend to some degree on what the original TBN was?

This was the first oil change over 3,800 miles for this car. should I reduce the interval?

 

[Brad]

With a TBN of 2.5 it's time to change that oil.

 

[Bror Jace]

I think this is one of the better brands of mass-market dino oil ... and it doesn't look like going past 4,000 miles is a great idea.

This looks like the limit for a non-moly, dino oil in a car one cares about. Can you imagine if it was 5W30 instead of the more stable 10W30?

Still, results don't look too bad. I'd tighten up the interval but staying with the same brand seems OK.

--- Bror Jace

 

[dragboat]

Titan,

It does look like you need to reduce the interval especially on the next run because of the dead residual left over but winter weather should reduce the stress of the oil if same type driving and no long idle periods

 

[joee12]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bror Jace:
I think this is one of the better brands of mass-market dino oil ... and it doesn't look like going past 4,000 miles is a great idea.

This looks like the limit for a non-moly, dino oil in a car one cares about. Can you imagine if it was 5W30 instead of the more stable 10W30?

Still, results don't look too bad. I'd tighten up the interval but staying with the same brand seems OK.

--- Bror Jace

---

Hence the 3000 mile oil change. Running 5W30 in both cars, I change oil at 3000 miles. With 90% of the miles in both of my cars in the city and with towing a boat weekly in my Explorer, I would say that my engines are hard on oil. Only an upcoming analysis in both vehicles will tell. -Joe

 

[Spector]

I may have to disagree. The wear numbers are excellent at 5000 miles. The TBN, well, we don't know the virgin oil TBN and the rule of thumb on TBN is that when is reaches less then 50% of its original value or lower then 2.0 it should be changed. If this oil started out at 4 or 5 then 5000 miles on this oil is really not bad.

 

[Patman]

Blackstone's TBN numbers usually show lower than other labs too. Sucks, especially since they charge an extra $10 for it too! (something that should be free with every oil analysis, especially with the high price they already charge)

 

[OutlawTitan]

I just called Blackstone to discuss the results and got some additional information that I thought was interesting. They said that the next time I send a sample that if I include a sample of virgin oil that they would also run a report on it for free for comparative purposes (still an additional charge to test the TBN of the virgin oil). I will definitely do that the next time.

I also asked about the insolubles and believe it was high due to my own stupidity. I was not sure if I had enough oil in my sample and put some more in the sample at the end of my drain and probably got more than a representative amount of crud in the sample.

I sure would like to know what the TBN of the virgin oil is before I make a decision on my drain interval length. I will probably go to 4,000 or less just to be safe. Does this make sense to you?

 

[TooSlick]

One of the main reasons for setting a lower limit on TBN is to insure there is enough detergency left to prevent sludge/varnish/carbon deposits. Even though the wear rates are fine, this oil should still be changed. If you were to allow this oil to go a bit longer, it would turn acidic and you would start to see corrosive bearing wear. When the TBN gets this low, it simply takes longer to neutralize any acidic components generated in the oil.

I generally like to use a lower TBN limit of 4.0 on gas engine oils and a TBN of 6.0 on diesel formulations. That is the limit regardless of whether the baseline TBN is 7.0 or 12.0 ....
I understand the comments about the rate of TBN depletion being a factor, but a TBN of 2.5 is VERY low. FWIW, I believe this formulation starts out with a TBN of 6.0-6.5 ....

I would drop back to a 3000-4000 mile change interval, with this engine/oil combo, under these conditions.

 

[Bill Williams]

Bror Jace,

You wondered what the sample analysis would be if this oil were 5/W/30 weight, well so do I. WE will get a clue soon I hope,as I sent a sample of Chevron Supreme 5/W/30 to Dyson Analysis on Oct.28. This sample had 5,655 miles of service.

Terry has told me he will post the results on this board for me when he has them ready.

Bill

 

[Jay]

Good Bill. I look forward to seeing it. I don't think OutlawTitan needs new oil. I think he needs a new lab. I don't believe the TBN and they don't test oxidation and nitration.

 

[TooSlick]

BTW, another reason why this oil should be changed has to do with the insolubles level of 0.5%. That is typically a reflection of the amount of oxidation/nitration, or polymerization of the basestock ....

TS