Oil Life Monitor vs Blackstone Recommendations

It will assume you used an OEM approved oil … if you didn’t that’s not the OEM’s problem nor something they should waste resources on …

(you know all this 4wd but other in the thread may not)

This is correct - the OLM is based on the rated oil. If you dont run at least that well, then thats your problem.
A higher spec oil would simply leave more buffer.

As our own Dave Newton and others have expounded a very small % of users actually ever see an ROI using any oil analysis. Other than the entertainment factor its almost always a waste of money on passenger vehicles - just spend the money on an oil change.

My last use was to help determine a condemnation hour point for a diesel generator used every day, and the knowledge gained showed that-

1. the manufacturers recommended interval could comfortably be doubled saving me a ton of time and money here. I could go from 150 -300 with no sweat.

2. "cheap" off the shelf 0w-40 did an excellent job in the little diesel making allowing me to avoid a specific "diesel HDEO" oil and affirming I could use my bulk stash of it for other engines safely at these intervals with confidence.
 
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You realize that onboard counter indicator and many advance cautions for service was derived over the years from owners that just neglect basic servicing of engine like oil and filter changes. 50/50 mix coolant was marketed for the "dumb" end user that could not understand how to use the charts and mix coolant properly. LOL
Going back in history further traditionally coolant was Green and ATF was RED this is a die added so that Gas Station Attendants and owners of vehicle's would know which fluid went where. Hence the Dumb Precibal to market applied over 70 years ago.

I will read my oil analysis but I choose to value my engines and tend to change my oil and filter between 3-5k miles religiously. Blackstone more often suggests I could I could go 5k more miles.
 
So it really isn't a "Monitor", it's just a timer.,,,

A few are simply dumb timers.

The honda and GM-LS OLM's are more than that.

What really happening is that it performs differential calculus based on a number of external inputs.

Heres a Honda white paper from a few years back that shows how they use inputs assigned to a penalty table.

That system has been continually massaged.

I dont recommend anyone blindly follow anything but learn in each case how they operate and then make a determination of what you will and wont trust.
 

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A few are simply dumb timers.

The honda and GM-LS OLM's are more than that.

What really happening is that it performs differential calculus based on a number of external inputs.

Heres a Honda white paper from a few years back that shows how they use inputs assigned to a penalty table.

That system has been continually massaged.

I dont recommend anyone blindly follow anything but learn in each case how they operate and then make a determination of what you will and wont trust.
Yep … have used GM/Ford/Mopar OLM’s for years … and as the owner you always have veto power !
So … my 2020 Pentastar allows 9k OCI and the OLM appears to track fairly well … but with only 5 quarts I just feel better with 5k … would an UOA push me further ? … Not right now … UOA’s have shown me that sometimes wear metals will not go steady state until 20k …
 


This is a 2014 3.0 EcoDiesel teardown showing all main bearings spun. See the damage at time stamp 27:00 ... read comments for lively discussion on the cause of failure. Here's a few samples, "The main bearings were failing due to inadequate oil film thickness during low RPM /high load events. The EGR also contaminates the oil with soot compounding the oil problem.", "I was a heavy line tech for 50 some odd years and I have never seen any thing like that. It takes real engineering talent to build an engine that can destroy every main bearing. Anyone can take out rods but Fiat/Chrysler takes first place." and "The V6 VM Motori is known for spun bearings, the oil gets clogged with crap and the channels around the bearing clog up. Got to keep the oil really clean."



Another video showing carbon and some unknown substance blocking main bearing oil distribution passages. Start viewing at time stamp 2:00 ... he details progress in rebuilding the engine in 3 subsequent videos. It's notable that he is deleting the EGR (lives in Capetown). Viewer comments are also enlightening.

I would not extend the OCI on this engine.
 
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This is a 2014 3.0 EcoDiesel teardown showing all main bearings spun. See the damage at time stamp 27:00 ... read comments for lively discussion on the cause of failure. Here's a few samples, "The main bearings were failing due to inadequate oil film thickness during low RPM /high load events. The EGR also contaminates the oil with soot compounding the oil problem.", "I was a heavy line tech for 50 some odd years and I have never seen any thing like that. It takes real engineering talent to build an engine that can destroy every main bearing. Anyone can take out rods but Fiat/Chrysler takes first place." and "The V6 VM Motori is known for spun bearings, the oil gets clogged with crap and the channels around the bearing clog up. Got to keep the oil really clean."



Another video showing carbon and some unknown substance blocking main bearing oil distribution passages. Start viewing at time stamp 2:00 ... he details progress in rebuilding the engine in 3 subsequent videos. It's notable that he is deleting the EGR (lives in Capetown). Viewer comments are also enlightening.

I would not extend the OCI on this engine.

That’s pretty sad … a diesel option is expensive and it takes a bunch of miles to break even … yet, a diesel should be able to deliver xxx,xxx of miles …
 
Couple of notes ....I was surprised to see how clean the intake ports were in that engine he pulled apart....these use so much EGR, and the soot is very oily and sticky. The intake usually has a HUGE amount of buildup by 60-80k or so. I'm convinced only way to make these live is tune it and turn EGR off. And early oil changes with a good 5 or 15/40 . That buildup in oil passages is probably from when bearings spun, not before
 
That buildup in oil passages is probably from when bearings spun, not before.
The second video shows him probing two main bearings, one that is not spun and one spun. An oil passage to the spun bearing is completely blocked with what appears to be bearing material. The bearing that is not spun has an approximately one-half inch long "sliver" of carbon in the oil groove and nothing readily visible in the drilled passage that feeds oil to the bearing. See time stamp 2:45 to 2.55 ... It appears the root cause of failure is due to the EGR allowing excessive amounts of carbon to become suspended in the oil, which then accumulates in the main bearing oil grooves and internal oil passages of the block and crankshaft.
 
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