M1 0W40 - 06 Infiniti M45 - 4700 mi

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Second UOA for this car. The first one was ST FS 5W30 according to Carfax, but had some unknowns, such as how much oil was used to top off and what oil was used to top off. There were 2850 mi on that oil when I bought the car. It says 0 qts make up oil on the UOA but that's actually unknown. I'm guessing at least 1 qt because I had to use 1 qt of M1 0W40 on the current UOA.

Castrol 0W40 went back into this car. Next UOA will be telling. ;)

Lead is down a lot on the 2nd UOA. It went from much higher than universal averages to lower than. Aluminum and copper are still higher than average, though technically both are down slightly in PPM/1000 miles. Neither are crazy high but both are a little more than double universal averages.

Metal / 1st UOA / 2nd UOA / Universal Average
Al / 2.02 / 1.90 / 0.71
Ch / 0.25 / 0.21 / 0.24
Fe / 3.79 / 3.59 / 2.86
Cu / 2.02 / 1.48 / 0.71
Pb / 3.53 / 0.85 / 1.19

all values above in PPM/1000 miles.

Despite the great M1 TBN, Blackstone recommended not extending the OCI until we get a better handle on what's going on with aluminum and copper.

06m45112621.jpg
 
I stopped using FS oil in the VQs because of cat concerns over high SAPS.
Yeah, that is a concern of mine too. I already have Castrol 0W40 in there, which is also high SAPS, but next oil change I may switch back to a 5W30, do another UOA and compare it to the M1 and Castrol to see if benefits outweigh the risks. I'm reasonably sure that prior owners of this car never used a high SAPS oil, so it's not like this car has a long life of high SAPS.
 
+1 on trying a 5w-30. The vis was fine and no fuel in the previous 30w run.
 
M1 ESP 5W30 is pretty expensive and I can't find it in 5qt jugs (though they come in 6 qt cases). I may just go M1 EP HM 5W30. Thoughts?
 
That’s quite an assortment of metals you got there. If it was me, I’d do a few quick flushes with something cheap back to back to flush that junk out and then start fresh with a clean block and your choice of oil and driving conditions.

Right now it looks like a mess that’s going to mess up several next UOA before things finally stabilize and settle down. 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
That’s quite an assortment of metals you got there. If it was me, I’d do a few quick flushes with something cheap back to back to flush that junk out and then start fresh with a clean block and your choice of oil and driving conditions.

Right now it looks like a mess that’s going to mess up several next UOA before things finally stabilize and settle down. 🤦🏻‍♂️
I wouldn't call it messing up several UOAs. I'd call it watching them trend down. That is also useful information. As you can see from the first post, I have the beginnings of a trend starting with only 2 samples:

Metal / 1st UOA / 2nd UOA / Universal Average
Al / 2.02 / 1.90 / 0.71
Ch / 0.25 / 0.21 / 0.24
Fe / 3.79 / 3.59 / 2.86
Cu / 2.02 / 1.48 / 0.71
Pb / 3.53 / 0.85 / 1.19

I expect the next one to show a continued reduction of wear metals in PPM/1000 miles.
 
I realize that it’s trending down. You can run this contaminated oil for the next 5,000 miles to observe even further drop in the numbers or you can quickly flush the block out via 1-2 drain n fills with an oil of your choosing and then start a typical oil run with a clean engine that will only show your actual CURRENT wear numbers without any leftover particles from the previous oil.
 
Yeah, that is a concern of mine too. I already have Castrol 0W40 in there, which is also high SAPS, but next oil change I may switch back to a 5W30, do another UOA and compare it to the M1 and Castrol to see if benefits outweigh the risks. I'm reasonably sure that prior owners of this car never used a high SAPS oil, so it's not like this car has a long life of high SAPS.
This is no concern whatsoever, 1100 ppm zinc never damaged a cat, if it did the road would be littered with Euro cars with bad cats.
Even way back when oils had more than 1300 ppm the cats outlived most cars.

Edit: BTW I ran Mobil 1 0w40 in my 06 M35X for 13 years when I sold it the cats were in good shape. Many UOA's on these engines show it to be an outstanding oil for them, good UOA and reduced oil consumption (many of them suffered from higher oil consumption)
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This is no concern whatsoever, 1100 ppm zinc never damaged a cat, if it did the road would be littered with Euro cars with bad cats.
Even way back when oils had more than 1300 ppm the cats outlived most cars.

Edit: BTW I ran Mobil 1 0w40 in my 06 M35X for 13 years when I sold it the cats were in good shape. Many UOA's on these engines show it to be an outstanding oil for them, good UOA and reduced oil consumption (many of them suffered from higher oil consumption)
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Thanks, man. I recently bought a 12 qt bag of M1 HM 5W30 for this car, so that will be what we use for the next couple of oil changes and it will provide a good comparison to the 0W40s we've used for two oil changes in a row. I'll be doing UOAs of every oil change, so it will be interesting to see.
 
I realize that it’s trending down. You can run this contaminated oil for the next 5,000 miles to observe even further drop in the numbers or you can quickly flush the block out via 1-2 drain n fills with an oil of your choosing and then start a typical oil run with a clean engine that will only show your actual CURRENT wear numbers without any leftover particles from the previous oil.
We're putting about 1200 miles a month on it and changing at 4000-4500 miles, so it won't take long. ;)
 
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