OK, before everyone piles on because I used EP for only 3500 miles -- hold on -- this was essentially a test run. I bought the car with only 15k miles about 1.5 months ago, and promptly replaced the clean looking mystery oil (presumably dealer bulk natural HC 5w-30) with this fill of M1EP, dosed heavily (roughly 2x normal) with LC20. The car came with a new-looking OEM filter, which I left in place for about 1/3 of this run, and then swapped it for a new K&N. This engine is spec for 3.9 qts for a full (with filter) change, so undoubtedly, there is some of the old natural HC oil left in this fill.
The engine certainly wasn’t dirty looking (or I’d never have accepted it in the first place), but it did have what appeared to be the very beginnings of varnish forming in the oil filler.
I decided to give the engine what I believed to be the most robust, OTC available, rinse out and purge that I could, short of an ARX cleaning (which is now underway, started before I saw these results). I chose EP for two reasons (the validity of which are certainly open to question…). First, I presume it has a good TBN reserve just in case the engine actually had some really stale stuff in it (who knows how long that fill really was in there). Second, it is one of the lowest vis 5w-30s in the M1 line (though they’ve seemingly all migrated to around 11 cSt from around 10 where they were a year ago and earlier).
I also run FP60 in the gas, at the standard dosage. On the last fill of gas before I drew this sample, I added a full bottle of Redline SI-1 fuel injector/system cleaner.
Despite all my “clean up the new used car” compulsive stuff, I hasten to add that the engine runs well with no symptoms of difficulty at all. One could certainly legitimately question why I’ve bothered with the cleaning efforts, including the now-underway experimental ARX treatment.
In summary, I'm pretty pleased with the resulst overall, but I am wondering about: 1) the Sodium, 2) the insolubles (which seem high for such a short run), and 3) the marginal flashpoint. All thoughts and comments welcome.
OK, here’s the data:
Code:
Element This Last 2nd to Last Universal
Sample Sample Sample Averages
Aluminum 2 - - 3
Chromium 0 - - 0
Iron 3 - - 9
Copper 0 - - 1
Lead 0 - - 0
Tin 0 - - 0
Moly 66 - - 57
Nickel 0 - - 0
Manganese 0 - - 1
Silver 0 - - 0
Titanium 0 - - 0
Potassium 1 - - 1
Boron 51 - - 63
Silicon 5 - - 12
Sodium 49* - - 10
Calcium 1752 - - 2391
Magnesium 12 - - 11
Phosphorus 545 - - 636
Zinc 639 - - 728
Barium 0 - - 0
- - -
TBN 5.7
==========================
Test : Vis Flash Fuel AFZ H2O INSOL
@210F Deg F % % % %
.
Shd Be: 56-63 >365
.
This: 58.4 365 -TR- -?- 0 0.3 (!?)
Sampl
.
PARTICLE COUNT DATA
2 microns or less = 959
5 microns or less = 355
10 microns or less = 98
15 microns or less = 38
25 microns or less = 9
50 microns or less = 0
100 microns or less = 0
ISO Code = 16/12, “clean”
* = Flagged by Blackstone as Elevated
The engine certainly wasn’t dirty looking (or I’d never have accepted it in the first place), but it did have what appeared to be the very beginnings of varnish forming in the oil filler.
I decided to give the engine what I believed to be the most robust, OTC available, rinse out and purge that I could, short of an ARX cleaning (which is now underway, started before I saw these results). I chose EP for two reasons (the validity of which are certainly open to question…). First, I presume it has a good TBN reserve just in case the engine actually had some really stale stuff in it (who knows how long that fill really was in there). Second, it is one of the lowest vis 5w-30s in the M1 line (though they’ve seemingly all migrated to around 11 cSt from around 10 where they were a year ago and earlier).
I also run FP60 in the gas, at the standard dosage. On the last fill of gas before I drew this sample, I added a full bottle of Redline SI-1 fuel injector/system cleaner.
Despite all my “clean up the new used car” compulsive stuff, I hasten to add that the engine runs well with no symptoms of difficulty at all. One could certainly legitimately question why I’ve bothered with the cleaning efforts, including the now-underway experimental ARX treatment.
In summary, I'm pretty pleased with the resulst overall, but I am wondering about: 1) the Sodium, 2) the insolubles (which seem high for such a short run), and 3) the marginal flashpoint. All thoughts and comments welcome.
OK, here’s the data:
Code:
Element This Last 2nd to Last Universal
Sample Sample Sample Averages
Aluminum 2 - - 3
Chromium 0 - - 0
Iron 3 - - 9
Copper 0 - - 1
Lead 0 - - 0
Tin 0 - - 0
Moly 66 - - 57
Nickel 0 - - 0
Manganese 0 - - 1
Silver 0 - - 0
Titanium 0 - - 0
Potassium 1 - - 1
Boron 51 - - 63
Silicon 5 - - 12
Sodium 49* - - 10
Calcium 1752 - - 2391
Magnesium 12 - - 11
Phosphorus 545 - - 636
Zinc 639 - - 728
Barium 0 - - 0
- - -
TBN 5.7
==========================
Test : Vis Flash Fuel AFZ H2O INSOL
@210F Deg F % % % %
.
Shd Be: 56-63 >365
.
This: 58.4 365 -TR- -?- 0 0.3 (!?)
Sampl
.
PARTICLE COUNT DATA
2 microns or less = 959
5 microns or less = 355
10 microns or less = 98
15 microns or less = 38
25 microns or less = 9
50 microns or less = 0
100 microns or less = 0
ISO Code = 16/12, “clean”
* = Flagged by Blackstone as Elevated