M1 EP 0W20 SP VOA
- Thread starter himemsys
- Start date
Thanks for doing the VOA. I got two 5 quart drugs of this oil for free this year and plan to use them over the course of the next few months. It doesn't look that great on paper but who knows what it has in it that the VOA didn't pick up 
"...the additives are pretty typical of gasoline engine oil."
The phosphorus is 151 ppm below the API minimum. That's well outside any margin of error.
The phosphorus is 151 ppm below the API minimum. That's well outside any margin of error.
Blackstoned?
Was the jug shaken before pouring? Looks like additives may have fallen out of suspension. This is abnormally low for a typical SP oil in many elements. Pennzoil Platinum looks stouter than this sample
Here's a link to PQIA's Data on M1EPHM 5w-30 SP Rated
Here's a link to PQIA's Data on M1EPHM 5w-30 SP Rated
Something is out of calibration at Blackstone.
Yeah, I shook the 5 qt jug, opened it, and poured into a freshly opened sample container.
I think before we start blaming Blackstone for poor testing, there are other more likely explanations. Someone else here sent the same oil sample to several oil analysis companies and they all came back fairly consistent, so I'm hesitant to think that Blackstone's testing is out of whack.
First of all, what does Mobil 1 mean when they call out "nominal" values? Is there room in that word to account for values significantly lower than?
wemay
Site Donor 2023
With everything looking so similar after the API SP role-out, it's really difficult to distinguish any significant differences in API/ILSAC motor oils. The one exception i can think of is Valvoline synthetics that now use very high Moly content.
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"Nominal" is what Mobil expects their amounts to be, like how a Nutrition Facts label lists calories or vitamins. There may be some batch deviation and sample error, but the amounts we're seeing on this VOA is insane. I'd expect +/- 5%, 10% max
As drtyler stated, Mobil lists nominal of P & Zn at 650 & 750 but we're seeing 450 & 520. Both are 30.5%+ off expectation.
Is it possible to send off a second sample from the same bottle to another lab so we can see whether to point a finger at XOM or Blackstone?
If we’re basing part of an oils performance on additives, this looks extremely weak, beaten by Supertech, Valvoline, other Mobil 1’s and pretty much every 20 grade sp oil tested and posted here on bitog. How much weight does one put in these additive tests, 50% of an oils performance based on additives, 25%?
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I agree. And there's no real way to measure the quality of the base oil. Except maybe wear metals per 1000 miles. Even that has a ton of variables in it. But in 9-12 months when I dump and sample this oil, we can at least look at and compare the wear metals to my vehicle's previous sample and universal averages.
Search for UOAs with M1 EP 0W20. Every one I came across had Zinc < 750 and Ph < 650.
blackstone is inaccurate right now
the add pack we can see is nothing special. you pay for better base stock with ep and nothing compares to spectrasyn max pao. valvoline, edge, supertech (now 0 GTL content) are all inferior oils with double digit noack
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I believe this is actually mid SAPS oil (0.8% ash) so there may be some ashless additives that don't really show up on the VOA also the SDS says it's 60-70% PAO so that won't show up on the VOA but should give this oil some edge.Thanks for doing the VOA. I got two 5 quart drugs of this oil for free this year and plan to use them over the course of the next few months. It doesn't look that great on paper but who knows what it has in it that the VOA didn't pick up
What do you mean by “blackstone is inaccurate right now?
How do you know Mobil 1 isn't to blame? We've seen reports here of someone sending same oil to multiple labs (including Blackstone) and them all coming back pretty consistent between each other. Blackstone just gets more attention because they are the lab most used, so it makes sense people will blame Blackstone when it could very well be the oil manufacturers.
Blackstone got back to me this afternoon and said they retested the sample and results came back similar - 465/530 for the Ph and Zn respectively. They also said these results look similar to other virgin samples of this oil that have been sent in recently.
