Maxlife 10w30, 2400 miles, 95 Firebird Formula

[Patman]

Here are the results of my oil analysis from Terry Dyson, with 2394 miles on 10w30 Maxlife.

My car had 68,318 miles on it at the time of the sample, and I was running an AC Delco PF25
oil filter. This oil was in there from May 10-June 23rd, and most of the driving was my daily
commute to work (48mi round trip) It's mostly highway driving, however in rush hour, so one
minute I'm doing 85mph, the next I'm stopped. There were also 14 quarter mile runs on this
interval, plus a lot of full throttle blasts too. The previous oil before this was Mobil 1
Tri-Synthetic 10w30 (so a tiny bit of this oil would be mixed in with this bunch)

This is also the older SJ formula of Maxlife, and I added 1/3rd of a quart of oil during this interval.

Copper-4
Iron-15
Chrome-1
Lead-19
Aluminum-6
Silicon-7
Tin-3
Moly-1

Sodium-8
Magnesium-328
Zinc-1220
Potassium-0
Phosphorus-981
Calcium-2660
Water,fuel, glycol-all negative (the scale =neg, trace,positive)
Soot-0
Oxidation-80 on a scale of 199 (40%)
Nitration-57 on a scale of 199 (29%)
Sulfur-54
TBN-8

Vis at 100c-11.4

So the thing that disturbs me is that low moly number? Could it all have plated up? Or does
Maxlife not have as much moly as they claim? Or perhaps they only have moly on the new SL
formula? Or only in the 10w40? My next analysis will show for sure, and if I don't see higher
moly numbers I'm gonna be

I'm currently finishing up my Auto-rx treatment, and will put in the SL Maxlife 10w30 on Friday.
I will probably run that out to about 5k and analyze it again. That should probably be
sometime around October. (I hope someone else has analysis done on SL Maxlife 10w30
before then so I know if it has enough moly in it!)

The TBN number is encouraging, especially since the SL rated Maxlife supposedly has triple
the detergency, so I should see if that's true or not on the next analysis.

Comments?

[ November 02, 2003, 02:31 PM: Message edited by: Patman ]

 

[Patman]

I just thought of something. It's possible the guy at the GM dealer that did my oil change pocketed the Maxlife for
himself and put in something else.

I know it's a slim chance, but it might explain the lack of
moly.

That low moly number has been bugging me all night.

I sent an email to Valvoline to find out if they do indeed use moly in the 10w30 Maxlife. I don't
see that info on their website, I only heard it from here that Maxlife had moly. Who was it that
posted that, and are they 100% sure their source was correct? Could it be that all this time
we thought it had moly when it really did not?

 

[Kevin in Texas]

Patman, I posted that Valvoline claims to out about 400 ppm of Moly in MaxLife. Call and talk to Scott Wieland with Valvoline. He is the only one to talk to and he has all of the formulations at his access. You can also e-mail him at [email protected].

If you get Eddie, ask for Scott or his voice maila and he will call you back.

 

[Patman]

Thanks Kevin, I will email Scott personally!

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

Patman,

I had a copy of an oil analysis of maxlifes virgin oil and it showed 290ppms of moly. This was a copy from another individual and I have no reason to disbeleive this report but it was also the one that showed lower levels of detergents which everyone stated it was fine. I don't know if you remember of not but anyway that was the skinny of it. Now onto my opinion on this report.

It's interesting that all that moly failed to show up in this analysis. To show a 1 in a oil that started with 290~+_ ppms makes me think they(the oil analyisis company) missed this, which I seriously doubt. With a 1 in mo, that could possibly be moly from the rings since there is no real evidence that moly hasn't been in there.

I question are you positive that you used the maxlife in this analysis? If so, then they either have a problem staying consistant with maintaining proper blending therefore didn't put it in that batch of oil you have, or the type of moly they supposedly use is like some additives that disapate with no actual benifets(never heard of that but again I'm not a chemist)

.

Another thing I don't like, oxidation levels. If I recall prior from terry's post, that maybe the scale used is 200% which 40% would be like 20% on a 100% scale. Either way, The level on only 2400 miles on this oil is higher than I personally would like. I'd expect that from at least 5k or higher.

Sulphur?? in a gas engine? I have diesels with less than that. Where's it coming from? I assume you are running gas right? I wonder what the quality of gas is like up there? Are they using a higher level of sulphur in the fuel? Not sure what other source that would be coming from.

Lead... That also could be from the fuel, or wear.. either way, it's not bad or really anything of real concern at this time.

Iron, within limits and not really a concern.

They sure use a heavy dose of Calcium but the other detergents seem to not be very strong considering only having less than 2400 miles on this oil. The calcium could make the oil show a higher level of tbn from what I know and be somewhat mis leading IMO.

Vicosity, I'd expect no less than that considering the limited miles on the oil.

My overall thoughts on this is, not bad, but not impressive IMO. Like I stated before, I'd be cautious of extended drains and so far, I think I'm not too far off base with this. Of course I'm not a real analysist and could be over looking some aspects but judging from what I do know, I'm not sure, especially given the Mo is what it is.

I forgot to mention, If adding 1/3qt on top of this oil, Then you actually have done a freashen up on the additives, Which in this case makes me wonder just how low it really was prior to doing that.

[ July 04, 2002, 10:59 AM: Message edited by: BOBISTHEOILGUY ]

 

[Patman]

Even though the wear numbers are good, I am a bit disappointed with the lack of moly. Perhaps the GM mechanic didn't put in Maxlife after all? But if he didn't, I would've gotten some crappy bulk oil which probably wouldn't show such good numbers. And why would a mechanic want to steal my low cost Maxlife oil anyways? I could see him doing that with a higher priced synthetic. I've always watched this dealer pour in the oil I have given them, I just missed it this time out (I got distracted by something on the TV in the waiting room, probably some hot looking women or something)

That oxidation level is an actual percentage, it was 80 on the 199 scale.

Interesting you should mention sulphur, because I use Esso gas up here, and they are known for having the highest sulphur levels of all the stations here. They have to lower those levels by 2003 I believe.

My next analysis will be very telling, that's for sure. I am also anxiously awaiting an email from Valvoline to tell me if only the 10w40 Maxlife has the moly, perhaps after all this hype I am not even getting any moly whatsoever in the 10w30! I can't even recall seeing the 10w40 up here anyways, not that I would use that viscosity in my car.

I'll know for sure next time that I've got Maxlife in there, as from now on I'm doing all my own changes. I don't care about the aftermarket warranty anymore. (it sucks anyways)

 

[Patman]

About the 1/3rd of a quart of oil Bob. I added that slowly over the course of the interval, and did not add anything new at all during the last 600 miles or so. The interesting thing though, was that the 1/3rd quart that I added, was the new SL Maxlife.

 

[VaderSS]

WIth that 1/3 quart of Maxlife added, even if there had been no moly in the original batch, that would have brought the level up to 18 PPM using Bob's figures, or 26 PPM using Valvoline's figures. I suppose that could have plated though.

 

[Don Stevens]

Patman,

I think I was the guy that gave Bob the MaxLife base level results (I could not find my original Bob, did I leave that there?).

Anyway, the MaxLife I had tested was 10w40 and had a starting TBN of 5.9 and starting Moly of 290ppm.

Maybe your 10W30 had different starting numbers?

Don

 

[MolaKule]

Golly Patman, I hope it does have Moly, or my little red Farmall may not come home.

I have been running a cost/benefit experiment with that little guy and he's going to
be disappointed if HE didn't get moly, too!?!?!

 

[Patman]

I guess we'll have to wait until October before we find out of the 10w30 Maxlife shows any moly on my next oil analysis. Unless there is someone else on here that's getting an analysis done on it? Is there?

 

[Dom]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Patman:
I guess we'll have to wait until October before we find out of the 10w30 Maxlife shows any moly on my next oil analysis. Unless there is someone else on here that's getting an analysis done on it? Is there?

---

I am waiting on my AutoRx first. 500 miles later I'm putting in Maxlife 10W30. How long should I run the first batch? I'll then change it again and have that tested. Just to make sure I get good results. How long should I run the second batch before testing it? I'm thinking 3000 miles.

 

[Nailz]

I will be sending in a sample of Maxlife 10w30 SL here in about 2 weeks. I currently have about 1600 miles on my first run with maxlife, and I plan on sending in the sample at about 2200 miles or so. We will see then if the SL has any moly in it.

 

[Patman]

Be sure to post the numbers as soon as you guys get your analysis back!

 

[Patman]

I'm still waiting for Scott at Valvoline to email me back, but now I highly suspect that 10w30 Maxlife has no moly. I just can't fathom that every last drop of moly bonded to my metal.

Now I really hope I can find a Toronto source for Schaeffers (not mail order though)

I want my moly!

 

[Spector]

Well, from what Bob has said etc. about the sulphur and nitration and that the moly number is low the fact ramains the wear numbers are pretty good. So, we don't know what they would be at 5000 miles or 7500 miles but for the period tested the fact reamins, the numbers are good. I think that sometimes we overkill in what we are trying to accomplish

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

spector, I guess it's relative to what you may consider low.

to me with the limited amount of miles on that oil, the iron and lead is not low in this case. granted not high either, but is higher than I like. I also beleive that since that they were that high with that low of miles on the oil, that they would have steadyly increased as he started to extend his drain levels.

 

[Patman]

Also keep in mind, those two numbers are higher because of all the full throttle driving that I do. If I drove the car gentle, I bet I would probably see those numbers cut in half.

 

[dragboat]

I don't know about if you had not driven so hard. 2394 miles is not very many,,not knocking the oil but I think from my limited knowledge and based on some others to compare with it should have looked a bit better than that.How many different brands and additives have you put in the motor in the last year out of curiousity?

Know telling though as you bought the car used,, the motor could have been hurt early on?
I don't envy a guy who has to pull one of those engines to overhaul

 

[Patman]

yes, these motors are definitely hard to work on! (took my friend 8 hours to do my plugs and wires, no way I was going to do that job myself!)

As far as different oils and additives, I have only owned the car since Oct 01, and as soon as I got it home I put in Mobil 1, and only ran that until the Maxlife. The only additives added to the oil have been the GM lubricity additive, and most recently Auto-rx (but that was after this oil analysis)