Mobil 1 0W-40, 8.4k mi OCI, 144k mi, 2013 Cadillac CTS-V

[Emperors6]

I switched away from Blackstone. Previous UOA is here. UOA history for this vehicle is available with this search: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/s...le_only]=1&c[users]=Emperors6&o=relevance&g=1. Going forward going to run an OCI of 6mo/5k miles since I can do oil changes myself and the engine is getting up there in milage and want to keep it for longer.

 

[Emperors6]

Further notes from oil analyst:
"[Oxidation value] is 35 out of the bottle. It will drop slightly with the first 1,000 miles and then start to increase. I’d like to see what the wear rate looks like at an oxidation value around 45."
"VOA viscosity is 12.7 and shears to 11.0 almost instantly."

 

[ceecbtg]

For me lower wear was with RL 5w30. If you repeat 2 RL uao 8k miles with this labo you could confirm it.

 

[Rod Knock]

So we can say that lower wear was with RL 5w30. If you repeat 2 RL uao 8k miles with this labo you could confirm it.

No, not really. You can't infer actual wear from a UOA. Where is @kschachn when you need him?

 

[Emperors6]

For me lower wear was with RL 5w30. If you repeat 2 RL uao 8k miles with this labo you could confirm it.

Perhaps, but I'm not interested in finding the best oil in my application. Just one that works well enough. If it means changing it more often with a cheaper oil I can live with it. I can get the oil and do oil + filter changes twice a year (5k miles/6 months) on this engine for about $30 USD with Mobil 1 0W-40. For my Corvette, I will look at the Red Line 15W-50 at some point this year or next, but that's for track use.

 

[Emperors6]

No, not really. You can't infer actual wear from a UOA. Where is @kschachn when you need him?

The oil analyst is mostly using the oxidation value and viscosity loss/gain to infer when the wear is too high. In this case, the oil was much thicker than the VOA and the the oxidation value was too high based on their knowledge of the oil. I think everyone should be excited about shorter OCIs for this vehicle since it means more UOAs to peruse.

 

[wpod]

I am waiting to see a SP rated uoa of this oil, we pretty much know what results to expect for this [my] favorite Mobl 1 product.

 

[wpod]

Perhaps, but I'm not interested in finding the best oil in my application. Just one that works well enough. If it means changing it more often with a cheaper oil I can live with it. I can get the oil and do oil + filter changes twice a year (5k miles/6 months) on this engine for about $30 USD with Mobil 1 0W-40. For my Corvette, I will look at the Red Line 15W-50 at some point this year or next, but that's for track use.

What about Redline 10W-40 ?

 

[ceecbtg]

Perhaps, but I'm not interested in finding the best oil in my application. Just one that works well enough. If it means changing it more often with a cheaper oil I can live with it. I can get the oil and do oil + filter changes twice a year (5k miles/6 months) on this engine for about $30 USD with Mobil 1 0W-40. For my Corvette, I will look at the Red Line 15W-50 at some point this year or next, but that's for track use.

Oh yes of course, so M1 5w30 and 0w40 performs very good price/quality.
How much does RL 5w30 cost there? Here RL and Amsoil 60-80$ 4L.

 

[Emperors6]

I bought this oil (12 qt of Mobil 1 0W-40 FS from https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mobil-1-...Synthetic-Motor-Oil-0W-40-12-qt-Box/893400295) in June 2022 from walmart.com, so it should be SP rated (according to the product guide at https://www.mobil.com/lubricants/-/...-1/pdf/emsga-mobil1productguide-v2-9-1-22.pdf).

Red Line in general is too expensive for running the same OCI (5k-8k), and I don't want to run the OCI up to 10k-15k to make the return worth it. So, it's not an option for me.

 

[Emperors6]

Oh yes of course, so M1 5w30 and 0w40 performs very good price/quality.
How much does RL 5w30 cost there? Here RL and Amsoil 60-80$ 4L.

The cheapest I've seen it is $10.8 USD/qt.

 

[FZ1]

Perhaps, but I'm not interested in finding the best oil in my application. Just one that works well enough. If it means changing it more often with a cheaper oil I can live with it. I can get the oil and do oil + filter changes twice a year (5k miles/6 months) on this engine for about $30 USD with Mobil 1 0W-40. For my Corvette, I will look at the Red Line 15W-50 at some point this year or next, but that's for track use.

This^^^^^^^^^^ 5K oci looks right. .02

 

[Rod Knock]

I don't want to run the OCI up to 10k-15k to make the return worth it. So, it's not an option for me.

You can't run Red Line up to 10K~15K in that engine. I mean you can, but you won't enjoy it for very long. Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 is a superior oil, in every way, to Red Line.

 

[SaberOne]

Did you find that SPEEDiagnostix provided something different vs. Blackstone? I haven’t sent any oil in for testing yet, so I was just wondering.

 

[Emperors6]

Did you find that SPEEDiagnostix provided something different vs. Blackstone? I haven’t sent any oil in for testing yet, so I was just wondering.

The oil analyst is an experienced engine builder and tribologist that can give me specific advice on my engine and application. Plus, from their marketing material: "SPEEDiagnostix use the RDE method that can see particles up to 10 microns compared to the ICP process used by popular labs that can only see up to 5 microns, [we] also include separate FTIR and GC tests for oil oxidation, fuel, and coolant." Usually, their turnaround is a week from when I mail it, I get my results, versus 2 weeks (minimum) for Blackstone.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

The oil analyst is an experienced engine builder and tribologist that can give me specific advice on my engine and application. Plus, from their marketing material: "SPEEDiagnostix use the RDE method that can see particles up to 10 microns compared to the ICP process used by popular labs that can only see up to 5 microns, [we] also include separate FTIR and GC tests for oil oxidation, fuel, and coolant." Usually, their turnaround is a week from when I mail it, I get my results, versus 2 weeks (minimum) for Blackstone.

But considering that an oil analysis can only tell you how the oil held up during that usage, I only see a benefit to the GC part. What’s the cost for SPEEDiagnostix UOA?

 

[Emperors6]

Oil analysis can tell you if the engine is wearing more on an UOA than another based on a trend analysis but not how it's wearing in an absolute sense. I buy the 6 pack from https://lnengineering.com/products/speediagnostix-used-oil-analysis.html.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Oil analysis can tell you if the engine is wearing more on an UOA than another based on a trend analysis

No, it can’t. Different components in different oils easily “contaminate” the numbers and cloud any analysis between oils and engine types. You can guess on relative wear based on trends, but only on same family engines while using the same oils.

Macro-level (hundreds of samples) can give you a general idea of what is likely to show up in an “acceptable” UOA, but this board has seen and discussed several times how, say Mobil oils end up showing more iron than another oil, and people interpret that to say “Mobil is inferior to xxxx oil” which is hogwash. Chelation can “color” a UOA when changing oil brands.

This is the main reason you’ll see experts say “use oil analysis to see how the OIL is performing; is it in grade, is there active TBN left, is there dirt or coolant present?” You need different types of tests (analytical ferrography, for one) to analyze the wear metals as to their source and how much wear there is, and they are significantly more expensive than a $30 UOA.

 

[Emperors6]

All I care is about the trend-line of my engine not other engines, if I run similar OCI with a similar oil under similar conditions I expect the wear numbers to be comparable. If they increase by let's say they increase by 50%, that will get my attention. I've sent the same oil sample to different labs in the past and saw that they vary 10-20% in their numbers. So, I'm looking for large changes in the wear numbers, and if there is a large jump (an order of magnitude) that will get my attention. As for comparing oils to each other, I don't use my wear numbers, I use the viscosity change mostly as the indication of which oil does better, under similar conditions.

 

[Rod Knock]

Where is @kschachn when you need him?