Mobil 1 5w20/10w40,5100 miles, 93 Mazda B6T engine

[MGG1]

Here is some more data on thin oil in an older engine .


Oil Type: Mobil 1 3/4 mix of SM 5W20 and 1/4 mix M1 SH 10W40 MX4T motorcycle oil on 06/05/06 oil sample.

Oil Type: Mobil 1 2/3 mix of SM 5W20 and 1/3 mix M1 SM 0W40 on 01/10/06 oil sample.

Oil Type: Mobil 1 50/50 mix SL 0W20 and M1 SM 0W40 on 10/01/05 oil sample.


Mileage on latest oil sample :5100 miles.

Time on latest oil sample :Nearly 5 months.

Ford: Manufactured by Kia.


Model: Aspire.
Year of car: 1997
Year of engine: 1993
Engine: 1.6 dohc turbocharged B6T Mazda design from a 1993 XR2 Mercury Capri.
Mileage on engine: 152,100, no rebuild.
Oil filter: Larger Purolator Pure One PL14610 from a Mazda V6 engine.
Air filter: K&N cone filter with a K&N oiled foam pre filter installed over the cone filter.
Make up oil 1 qt 5W20 M1.
Cam seals,front and rear main seals,silicone oil pan gasket,head gasket,valve cover gasket replaced 20,200 miles prior to the latest analysis.
Fuel: Premium Unleaded.
Transmission: 5 speed manual.


Miles on oil 5100 / 5100 / 5300

Miles on unit 152,200 / 147,100 / 142,000

Sample date 06/05/06 / 01/10/06 / 10/01/05

Unit averages/Unit averages/Unit averages/ Universal averages


Aluminum: 2 / 2 / 2 / 3
Chromium: 0 / 0 / 1/ 1
Iron: 5 / 8 / 8 /9
Copper: 1 / 1 / 1/ 3
Lead: 1 / 1 / 1/ 1
Tin: 0 / 0/ 0 / 0
Molybdenum: 79 / 73 / 71 / 50
Nickel: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Manganese:0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Silver: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Titanium: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Potassium: 0 / 3 / 0/ 1
Boron: 77 / 95 / 86 / 43
Silicon: 8 / 15 / 24 / 7
Sodium: 5 / 5 / 5/ 3
Calcium: 2275 / 3084 / 2483 / 2373
Magnesium: 12 / 13 / 13 / 48
Phosphorous: 770 / 777 / 698 / 789
Zinc: 943 / 966 /846 / 948
Barium: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
SUS Visc. at 210F: 57.8 / 58.8 / 58.9
Flashpoint: 385 / 370 / 375
Fuel: < 0.5
Antifreeze: 0 / 0 / 0
Water: 0 / 0 / 0
Insolubles: 0.3 / 0.4 / 0.4


Blackstone comments.


TBN reads 4.6. That shows active additive still remaining. Silicon dropped nicely in this sample, and it's now reading at a normal 8 ppm. This oil was in use about 5100 miles, and wear is holding at steady low levels. Lower end wear bearings,looks very good see copper, lead, and tin. At this rate your Mazda might just last forever! We didn't find any coolant, moisture, or excessive fuel in the oil. Insolubles read at 0.3% an average reading that shows good oil filtration. Nice engine! you could run more miles on the oil, if you wanted.


I am pleased that the silicon and iron levels dropped with the addition of the oiled foam K&N installed over the K&N cone filter. The air must be getting filtered a little better and the oil pan silicon gasket material is working it's way out.


This car is driven in a spirited manner on a 70 mile a day commute with a mix of interstate and town driving delivering 30 to 34 mpg.

The thin oil blend is protecting the engine well according to the UOAs and the throttle response and turbo spool is very crisp. Based on these results I am feeling more comfortable running a thinner oil in an older engine.


This latest UOA had a blend of 3 qts 5W20 SM M1 and 1 qt 10W40 MX4T SH M1 motorcycle oil. The zinc and phosphorus is higher in the motorcycle oil so I used it to raise those properties in my blend.


M1 0W20 is back and I am currently running a blend of 3/4 M1 SM 0W20 and 1/4 M1 SH 10W40 MX4T motorcycle oil. The engine is smooth running and quiet on this oil. Will get a UOA on that and see how it looks.

 

[surfstar]

Awesome motor swap in a Asspire!

Quick and good mileage.

K&Ns doing fine for you too. Your mix seems to be working.

 

[gtx510]

WOW!!! That's thin oil for a B-series. You're a brave man.
for those who don't know, B-series (dohc) = Miata engine

How do the lifters like the oil in warmer weather?
Do you get ticking noises at idle?
After long high rpm runs and quickly stopping?

I was getting ticking like that running M1 15W50 (old redcap).
But I suspect oil pressure and clogged lifters to have been the problem.

Isn't the stock 14459 filter bigger than the 14610?
The 14619 is HUGE.
I miss the old 24458 filter. Brought the fill amount right to 4qts. Handy.

PS. I'm not so concerned about mpg's so I'm thinking of running 3qts GC 0W30 and 1qt Nitro 70.
Maybe Amsoil SAE 60 if I want a pure synthetic.

 

[gtx510]

Just noticed this.

Do the increasing levels of iron mean anything?
I realize the numbers are all very low...

And what kind of OCI could you run with this oil?

 

[MGG1]

gtx510 just saw your reply, I eased into thinner blends and got UOAs to be sure that wear levels were acceptable. That is not being brave but using the science of elemental spectroscopy as a tool. I started out running 10W30 Car Quest mineral oil in this engine and the HLAs did their job just fine, nice and quiet all the time at any rpm or temperature.
I changed to M1 10W30 and within 30 seconds at idle there was all sorts of HLA noise. The engine could be revved up and the HLAs would take up the lash and things would be quiet for a little bit and then noisy again at idle. This was unacceptable.
I drained the M1 and put 10W30 Car Quest oil back in and things were quiet again at all rpm and temperature.
I wanted the supposedly superior protection against coking the turbo bearings of a synthetic oil. I then tried M1 0W40 and things were quiet but turbo spool and engine response was slower. Also I noticed a slight loss in gas mileage. That is when I tried going with thinner blends but not so thin that I would get HLA noise.
There may have been deposits breaking loose and obstructing the passages in the HLAs causing the noise with the 10W30 M1 the first time.

PL14612 was the stock filter size for the XR2 Capri engine. This tiny filter also fits my 97 CBR 1100 XX Honda motorcycle,10W40 MX4T in it.
The PL14610 is the largest filter that I can fit between the firewall and the stock oil cooler plate on the Aspire.

Remember that most engine wear is on cold start up. A thin oil will flow more quickly to moving parts than a thicker one. You will also make more power and get better mileage. Don't you have the factory oil cooler in your car that uses coolant to warm up the oil when cold and cool it down when hot? The operating oil temperature should not vary to much between hot and cold ambient temperatures as long as your cooling system is working properly. If you were to run your engine very hard for a long period of time you would see an increase in oil temperature and the oil would thin out. Stepping up the viscosity could be a band-aid in borderline situations.
Why not get a larger oil cooler and a more efficient cooling system and run thin oil? You will make more power and not have to spend as much in gasoline. As long as wear levels come back low on the UOAs using thin oil why not?

0W30 GC has great UOA results posted. It is a difficult oil to find in my area. If you can find it run it straight and get some UOAs. from your engine and post them.

Look at my column dates.

Left is most current and the thinnest blend with the MX4T motorcycle oil and the iron came down.

The TBN is 4.6 on my latest oil sample means there is a lot of additive left and I could go much longer on the oil change. The sulfuric acid from the sulfur in the fuel will get neutralized and the anti wear additives are still working. The insolubles are .03 which means the level of crud is low in the oil. As I have a full flow oil filter the small stuff will not get filtered out, carbon from blow by and silicone /dirt/ that gets past the pre filter air filter. The oil in the sump collects all of the crud that gets past the rings and oil,air filters. I like to see clean oil on the dipstick and at 5000 miles it starts looking dark brown. My owners manual suggests 5000 mile oil changes under normal use even if using synthetic.

This rare small 1.6 dohc turbocharged engine is a high specific output engine at full boost and I am running a bit more than stock. It is a test bed for me using thin oil in an older high mileage engine. If thin oil will work in it I figure it will work fine in any of the vehicles that we own. I have gone with the same thin M1 blend in our other vehicles and they are running great on it with out noise or oil consumption problems.