M1 mix 0W-40/15W-50, 12 mo/20k mi, 1990 Saab 900

[Eiron]

Code:
Vehicle 1990 Saab 900, 2.0L 16v I4 (N/A)

Miles on engine 240,087

Oil type Mobil 1, 0W-40 & 15W-50

Miles on oil 20,013

Time on oil 12 months (03.Nov.07 – 01.Nov.08)

Oil capacity 4 qts

Oil added 4.2 qts

Oil filter Purolator PureOne, PL10017, not changed during OCI

Air filter K&N drop-in, last cleaned at 150,000 miles

Driving Use 40% city, 60% hwy (by distance); 60% city, 40% hwy (by time)

Sampling method Vacuum pump via dipstick fill tube

-

Copper 8

Iron 14

Chromium 1

Aluminum 4

Lead 5

Tin 0

Molybdenum 80

Silicon 27

Sodium 8

Potassium 3

Calcium 2555

Magnesium 17

Zinc 1180

Boron 113

Phosphorus 1001

Water Neg

Glycol Neg

Viscosity 18.3

-

Soot 0

Sulfur 34

Oxidation 36

-

Lab S.O.S. Fluid Analysis, H.O. Penn Machinery

My previous 20,000 mile UOA using M1 0W-40/15W-50 & ACDelco PF13 filter

A repeat run of combined M1 oils, with the only difference being the choice of oil filter. Like last time, I started out with a 50/50 mix (2 qts ea) of M1 0W-40 & M1 15W-50 EP. At first I alternated, adding a bit of 0W-40, then a bit of 15W-50, then going back to 0W-40, etc. I did that for the first two additional qts. After that, the weather was again warm enough to top up just with 15W-50. The oil loss/consumption on this OCI averaged about the same 1 qt every 5k miles as the previous one. Also like last time, I knew this run was going to complete in about a year, so I didn’t bother changing the oil filter.

I installed new NGK copper plugs at the same time that I changed the oil, regapped them after 10k mi & replaced them at the end of the OCI. At 228k I replaced the O2 sensor. At 237k I replaced the water pump & refilled the coolant lost during the change. All other repairs were unrelated to any engine oil abuse.

At the end of this OCI, I finally cleaned & re-oiled my K&N air filter. It had 90k mi since the last cleaning & looked every bit as nasty as you might expect. I'll try to get the pics uploaded (as soon as I can find my new storage location!) & linked over to here.

Since the only difference between this OCI & the last was the different oil filter, I'm going to stop using PureOne & switch over to standard Purolator filters to see how they compare. They look as close to the old UK-made PF13 as I can find, including the location of the pressure relief valve at the far/closed end. The newest US-made PF13 is shorter & now uses a minimal plastic internal frame instead of a perforated metal tube. (This might improve the flow, but I'm going to see what I get with the Purolator first.)

The car is now in the middle of a 10k mi A-Rx clean, after which it'll go thru a 10k mi A-Rx rinse. After that, I'll probably use a combination of M1 15W-50 EP & QS 5W-20 full syn.

 

[wannafbody]

Another low iron Mobil 1 UOA-especially for the miles

 

[tig1]

Low iron + M1? Can't be.

 

[OMCWankel]

A very good report, Eiron!

Both M1 15W50 and 0W40 are robust oils with a good add pack.

If I may ask, what is your reasoning on mixing the M1 with the QS?

 

[JoeFromPA]

I mentally doubled the wear metals (to account for consumption) and you've still got just incredible wear for the engine age and all other factors. I don't like the idea of a plain purolator filter for 20k mile run (due to it's flimsier construction)....but hey, at this point, there's nothing to lose except an incredible running engine

Joe

 

[buster]

It's a good report, but the makeup oil really helped here.

 

[Eiron]

Originally Posted By: OMCWankel
... If I may ask, what is your reasoning on mixing the M1 with the QS?
The only reason is because I still have some 15W-50 EP (from Target's mis-pricing ($1.05 ea) about 3 yrs ago) & then found the QS Q-Power 5W-20 full syn at the local Habitat For Humanity store ($1.65 ea). If Target hadn't goofed, my last two OCIs would've been all M1 0W-40. This engine really likes the 15W-50, but for a full year's run here I prefer something with a touch lower xW weight for the 0°F winter start-ups. Mixing the two should be good in this engine for all four seasons here.

 

[Eiron]

Originally Posted By: JoeFromPA
... I don't like the idea of a plain purolator filter for 20k mile run (due to it's flimsier construction)...
Really? Flimsier than the PureOne? The only differences I could see were the sealing gasket material & the flow-thru hole size in the inner sleeve (the PureOne's inner sleeve holes were quite a bit smaller).

 

[Eiron]

Originally Posted By: buster
It's a good report, but the makeup oil really helped here.
Hey! C'mon now! Don't forget we're talking about 20,000 miles.

At 1 qt/5k mi, I'm only adding a single qt when most people are changing their entire engine's-worth of oil.

Are you still driving the Saturn? Help me out with some comparative info from your own car:
1) How many qts does it hold?
2) How long do you run an OCI?
3) How much oil do you add during each OCI, or
4) How much oil is it down by the end of your OCI?
Then we can figger out how many qts/k each car takes & back-calculate the UOA rates from there.

 

[JoeFromPA]

Eiron,

My far newer Civic SI consumed 1 quart every 2000 miles for the first 26,000 miles of it's life. For whatever reason, as my driving habits nor environment have changed much, this has slowed down dramatically since 26,000 till now (61,000). It does correspond with the use of AMSOIL starting at 26,000. (I now estimate my consumption at about 1 quart every 6-7k miles)

Regardless, my point is: I wouldn't worry about it at your stage. Low level consumption helps prolong oil and, IMO, engine life when kept topped off.

I've examined Purolator and PureOne oil filters closely, externally only. I use PureOne and think they are fantastic filters (current run is going for 16,000-17,000 miles). From what I've seen of Purolator filters, they are good solid oil filters with a less rigorous construction and quality control as their doubly-expensive cousin PureOne. My hesistancy would be in the filter material and housing holding up for 20,000 miles; would it degrade? Maybe it's fine.

One thing I re-assure myself with is that many modern engines are programmed to run 15,000+ miles on synthetic oil....and they need to be able to handle almost any decent oil filter.

Joe

 

[chevrofreak]

Originally Posted By: wannafbody
Another low iron Mobil 1 UOA-especially for the miles
Originally Posted By: tig1
Low iron + M1? Can't be.


If you guys are going to keep harping on this you might want to go through old posts so you can see that the high iron is mostly limited to the 5W-30.

 

[JoeFromPA]

Yeah, I didn't understand that either. To my knowledge, M1 TDT (5w40), M1 0w40, and M1 15w50 (among a few others) have been considered to be some of the finer oils commercially available. It's M1 5w30 that people harp on.

 

[OMCWankel]

Thank You for sharing your reasoning, Eiron.

It will be interesting seeing how the Mobil and Shell products play together!

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Originally Posted By: wannafbody
Another low iron Mobil 1 UOA-especially for the miles
Originally Posted By: tig1
Low iron + M1? Can't be.


If you guys are going to keep harping on this you might want to go through old posts so you can see that the high iron is mostly limited to the 5W-30.



My UOAs on two Ford engines did not show High iron on M1 5-30. Have you ever heard of an engine wearing out pre maturely because of M1 5-30? Thought so.

 

[FZ1]

Think how good the UOA would have looked,if you had been running an M1 oil filter and an oem air filter.

 

[JoeFromPA]

Have you ever heard of an engine wearing out prematurely without some sort of other failure that results in a chicken-egg situation?

UOAs showing 1 PPM Iron or 5 PPM Iron are pretty academic and won't really predict any sort of life-shortening wear. At least, not until you get into major wear which is typically from an external problem.

 

[FZ1]

No,but I guess it happens at some point. Really,these 20k runs are quite remarkable.

 

[Eiron]

Hey Joe, no, I'm not worried at all about the consumption. The car has always consumed about this much ever since I bought it 10 yrs ago with 113k mi on it. I agree, keeping it topped off is key, & I've thought about just changing oil filters every 1yr/20k mi & never changing the oil again. I'm curious to see if the standard Purolator will improve the UOA numbers back to where the ACD PF13 was. I've always been in the "better filtering" camp, so I'm wondering if this filter will show an improvement from "better flow."

Hi FZ1, from the research I've done, I feel the PureOne oil filter is at least equal to (if not better than) the Mobil 1 filter. Go back to my previous UOAs on this car & you'll see better results using both the ACD PF13 & PureOne oil filters, & the same uncleaned K&N.

 

[FZ1]

Hard to argue with your success. I was just,in jest,referring to the testing btanchors did,which indicated the M1 filter,indeed, filters extremely well.

 

[Eiron]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
... I was just,in jest,referring to the testing btanchors did,which indicated the M1 filter,indeed, filters extremely well.
Oops, sorry!

I'm not familiar with that testing. I know they're great filters, but I'm always trying to find more cost-effective options. So far, the UK-made ACDelco PF13 filters have shown the best results for me, but their construction has changed significantly since switching to the US-made versions.