GC 0W30, 7,946 mi, Subaru Forester turbo

[bluesubie]

UOA by Blackstone and oil was in use March to December ‘07.

My usual slightly elevated fe and si, presumably due to my five mile daily trips.

Late July summer vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC and the Outer Banks, NC saw a few days at 100F. 2,000 miles on that trip. Also did about 20 miles of beach driving in the Outer Banks and a few miles of off-roading in NJ (both slow driving in hot temps). Engine is stock, no racing; Only spirited driving.

Anything else to watch out for (lead?) or any advice? Had 60k service done at dealer after the sample. Currently running dealer conventional with Auto-RX.

-Dennis

Equipment make: Subaru
Equipment model: 2.5L Turbo
Oil use interval: 7,946
Oil type & Grade: Castrol Syntec 0W30
Make-up oil added: 1 qt (1/2 qt @ 6,500; 1/2 qt @ 7,000)
Miles on unit: 59,890
Air filter: OEM (very dirty and changed!)
Oil filter: OEM

Dennis: This oil was run over 2,000 miles longer than the last and wear was virtually unchanged. The longer oil run didn’t bother your 2.5L at all and you could probably push up to the 8,500-9,000 mile mark if you wanted. We see no signs of mechanical problems developing at 59,890 in this data. No fuel dilution, anti-freeze or moisture was found.
Both silicon and insolubles (oil oxidation due to heat use and blow-by) read normally, which shows good air and oil filtration.
It looks like you’ve got a nicely wearing engine in your Subaru.
Code:


Current; Motul 5W30 @ 5900; GC @ 7,000; GC @ 7,478;

GC @ 6,144; green GC @ 5,930; M1 5W30 @ 5,774.



Aluminum 4 4 5 4 4 4 6

Chromium 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Iron 12 11 12 16 11 10 15

Copper 7 6 8 7 10 6 20

Lead 5 2 3 3 3 2 2

Tin 0 0 1 0 1 0 0

Molybdenum 2 3 2 9 4 12 63

Nickel 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

Maganese 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Silver 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Titanium 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Potassium 2 0 2 0 0 0 3

Boron 2 1 0 0 1 14 115

Silicon 14 14 13 15 15 18

Sodium 10 11 19 18 6 2 6

Calcium 1812 1252 1783 2165 1689 2582 3394

Magnesium 587 953 530 436 398 106 10

Phosphorous 873 932 796 816 754 680 764

Zinc 1106 1025 974 1011 909 818 904

Barium 0 0 0 0 0 0 1



Properties

SUS Viscosity @ 210F: 11.62 9.64 11.93 11.98 11.44 11.55

Flashpoint: 390 370 380 380 385 365 395

Fuel %: .5 .5 TR .2.3 .5 1.0 .5

Antifreeze: 0 0 0 ? 0 0 0

Water: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Insolubules: .3 .3 .4 .2 .5 .4 .5

 

[Titan]

Go, you boring Subaru, GO!
(I have two of them myself...nice engines!)

 

[drewjp]

Yes! I'm running GC right now for the first time and I'm confident pushing it to at least 7,500...

Nice report!

 

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: Titan
Go, you boring Subaru, GO!
(I have two of them myself...nice engines!)

I'll probably be pushing my OCI's a little longer now that my powertrain warranty is up (although this one did go past the 7,500 max anyway).

-Dennis

 

[Titan]

I agree. As long as your operating conditions aren't severe, you could go 10K on any good "synthetic". Since you have a turbo, I'd keep a close eye on fuel efficiency...the Subaru Turbos often seem to run pretty rich, which can be tough on oil. But, if your mpg's don't change during an OCI, it's a good indication that your fuel dilution tendencies aren't any different than in the past, and your UOA's show the oil is fine.

I'm getting close to being out of warranty on one, normally aspirated, it's a no-brainer to take that one out to 10K OCI's based on my 7500 mile UOA's.

 

[FD777]

I'll be taking my Suby to a 5K OCI.
I gotta get over this short OCI phobia. Baby steps, 1K at a time...

 

[Jaymus]

Welcome to Frequent OCI Anonymous (FOCIA).

I haven't even taken the first step. I do 3000 miles OCI's with Castrol GTX 10w-30. And I do 5k OCI's in the LS1 with Mobil1. Although, I'm wanting to switch it to German Castrol.

 

[JAG]

Was the lab Blackstone each time? If so, I really doubt they measured 2.3% fuel in one of your previous UOAs. That would be highly unusual using their method (calculating from the flashpoint) and the flashpoint would be lower than 380F that they measured, IMO. Also, two of your other UOAs have lower flashpoints and lower calculate fuel percentages which reinforces my opinion that the 2.3% fuel in the one UOA isn't correct.

 

[Gary Allan]

Yes, that 2.3 should be a typo if it's a B-S test. If it was a Dyson, the flashpoint would already be very low due to the different test. ...but I haven't seen a .2 or .3 B-S fuel number.

 

[bluesubie]

@ Gary.

Yes, it was Blackstone each time. I meant that my .2.3 was a typo but the uoa did show 2.3%. FWIW, the higher fuel uoa's were all winter uoa's.

Anyone know if OAI tests for fuel the same way as Dyson?

-Dennis

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: bluesubie

@ Gary.

Yes, it was Blackstone each time. I meant that my .2.3 was a typo but the uoa did show 2.3%. FWIW, the higher fuel uoa's were all winter uoa's.

Anyone know if OAI tests for fuel the same way as Dyson?

-Dennis


I'm with Jag.

Then it has to be a typo on their end. They factor fuel % by flashpoint. If you have more fuel ..you've got to have a lower flash point. They use tables to generate the fuel number. So your FP should be way in the tank for that OCI. It's not.

380 vs. 380 should be the same fuel number

 

[bluesubie]

I thought that the viscosity and FP stayed high because GC is magic.

I went back to look at their comments on the high fuel uoa.

Quote:
Your fuel dilution had been improving, though it jumped back up to a problem level in this oil. The viscosity increased and this is backwards of what we normally see with high fuel, so we aren’t sure if the fuel is a major concern or not. The viscosity was still in the 30W range, so we can’t complain about it too much. Iron wear increased with the longer oil run which is normal, and all other wear still looks good. Sodium could show some antifreeze, though no potassium was found, so we don’t think that’s the case. We’ll keep an eye on these findings next sample.

 

[Gary Allan]

Email Ryan at Blackstone. Ask him what a 2.3% of fuel back tracks in terms of flashpoint. The FP may be the typo

[email protected]

 

[bluesubie]

All of my samples are from a warm engine, although I do have five mile daily trips. I'll look for the original pdf as well to make sure I copied it correctly.

Email:
Hi,

I was just looking over some old uoa's and was wondering what 2.3% of fuel would backtrack to in terms of flashpoint. I'm wondering if there was a typo.

Thanks.

Dennis: Thanks for the e-mail. We measure fuel dilution with the
flashpoint test. In your case, the flashpoint was low enough back in May of 2006 to show 2.3% fuel, and we don't really have a reason to suspect it was a typo. Fuel can show up for a lot of things that doesn't necessarily point to a problem. Something simple let taking the sample right after starting a cold engine (for example: to move the car into the garage), or doing more city driving can case a lot of fuel to show up, but this is often just a temporary finding.

-Dennis

 

[bluesubie]

Turns out the FP that I typed in was incorrect.

FP is supposed to be 340 instead of 380.

-Dennis

 

[FZ1]

"Gimee a light".

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: bluesubie
Turns out the FP that I typed in was incorrect.

FP is supposed to be 340 instead of 380.

-Dennis

You're not the first poster to hit the wrong keys

..but it does give you insight into the, somewhat immutable, inter-relationship between FP and fuel % ..at least in a B-S report. It's harder to see in something like a Dyson report ..although the relationship is still there.