Mobil 1 0W-40 UOA detectable additives

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It seems to me by looking at many recent UOAs of Mobil 1 0W-40 that the ash forming additives tested don't seem high enough to support the 1.2% Sulfated Ash level that Mobil says this oil has. In most UOAs, ash forming additives in element form are zinc, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, moly, sodium, etc. These aren't very high in recent (API SM) Mobil 1 0W-40 UOAs. What are the mystery additives in this oil that raise the ash level so high yet UOAs don't support that? Antimony or extra high levels of sulfur compounds or some other ash forming compounds not tested in most UOAs? Does anyone know how to make sense of this?

BTW, Delvac 1 Sulfated Ash level is 1.35%, not much higher than M1 0W-40.
 
Good question. I often wonder if B/S Labs isn't as accurate. RL will tell you their oils have 900ppm of Moly, yet B/S Labs shows only 500-600ppm. Analysts Inc. on the other hand, shows almost 900ppm. I don't really know if this is the case with 0w-40, or if they are using some additives that don't show up. ?? bruce might know.

BTW, my two UOA's of the same oil showed different results. The Analysts Inc. UOA was a bit more realistic IMO.
 
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To meet the demanding requirements of today's specifications (and our customers' expectations) Mobil 1 uses high-performance synthetic fluids, including polyalphaolefins (PAO), along with a proprietary system of additives. In fact, each Mobil 1 viscosity grade uses a specific combination of synthetic fluids and selected additives in order to tailor the viscosity grade to its unique requirement.


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buster, thanks. I will pay attention to what lab is doing the UOAs and see if there's a trend. I did see at least one UOA of M1 0W-40 that had HDEO levels of ash forming additives but I wrote it off as a fluke. I've got to find it and see what lab it was. I hope an expert can provide an answer to this because it's not an easy question.
 
There's was a discussion between Mannix and bruce about new "low-ash" additives awhile back. I'm thinking that many of the SM/GF-4 formulations may have moved to these new additives. The European low SAPs requirements along with CJ-4 are probably an additional major impetus here.

But I think the real point of your question is how do they measure ash levels in UOAs.
 
ALL metals (CA,NA,B,Mo etc) will form ash some like MG form a harder ash CA is softer there is no "ashless" metal additives BUT the newer formulas use LESS CA and ZN than old style and more non ash organics thus are "called lower ash". The sulfated as quoted above for one of the mobil products was 1.3% or which I think is kinda high so I do not put a lot of value into "data" sheets I think they are the last thing chnaged and are usually out of date or at least mine are LOL.
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It seems to me by looking at many recent UOAs of Mobil 1 0W-40 that the ash forming additives tested don't seem high enough to support the 1.2% Sulfated Ash level that Mobil says this oil has. In most UOAs, ash forming additives in element form are zinc, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, moly, sodium, etc. These aren't very high in recent (API SM) Mobil 1 0W-40 UOAs. What are the mystery additives in this oil that raise the ash level so high yet UOAs don't support that? Antimony or extra high levels of sulfur compounds or some other ash forming compounds not tested in most UOAs? Does anyone know how to make sense of this?

BTW, Delvac 1 Sulfated Ash level is 1.35%, not much higher than M1 0W-40.

Click to expand...


I have a VOA I received just yesterday on the new SM with the new label and "European" tag on it that they switched back to, am posting it now.
 
Iain, that's a case of a missing decimal point which easily happens when typing. Though it should have been caught just as easily too. The 0W-40 published ash level of 1.2% is harder to explain. Being either true or simply outdated seems more likely than accidentally typing a 2 instead of a 0.

Thanks John. I'll check it out.
 
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