Woohoo Red Line oil! I was NOT expecting particularly good numbers on my first Red Line run, but it looks like the stuff did good! With one exception (more on that later) the oil has given me wear numbers, over a decent number of miles, that look like they came out of a barely-broken-in Toyota. Look at aluminum: results of 5,5 and now zero. Iron, down from a prior low of 14 to 7. Chrome down to undetectable, copper down, and the oil, no surprise, in fine shape.
The one exception requires some explanation and a bit of concern. The lead is up, to 10, a number Blackstone flagged as excessive. While a concern, what I didn't tell Blackstone was that between the last tested run and this run I ended my experimental chemical flogging of the engine (see these threads for more of my chemical flogging details:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1151365#Post1151365
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...142#Post1112142
with a solvent flush. I put in fresh oil with some CRC Fast Engine Flush and extended the directions on the flush by idling for many periods of time, with cool-downs between. The results were pretty much nothing. The oil didn't really get all that dirty (a bit), and the engine didn't get any cleaner as far as I could tell.
I then removed the oil pan (to replace gasket and visually inspect pan and bottom end of engine), filled with Red Line and put on a new filter.
I think it is most likely that the lead is from the flush. Either it was present in trace amounts in the flush itself (company says no, though) or it actually caused some wear to the bearings during the flush process. I think the latter is more likely. Although I got as much of the flush oil out as possible, the car does have an oil cooler, so there was some significant amount remaining. The only concern I have with this theory, other than the fact that some unnecessary bearing wear occurred, is that there would have had to be something like 100ppm lead in the flush oil to contaminate the new oil to a 10ppm degree (estimating 0.5qt remaining, 5qt added).
It could also be, as Blackstone mentioned, a "particle streak," especially if something got into the pan while I was doing the gasket job, most likely when maneuvering the pan into position, which requires some wrangling in close proximity to (and contact with) unclean engine and other surfaces.
Finally, when I did get the pan back on the pump failed to prime, and I ended up taking it back off, priming it with a drill, and re-attaching to get it to work. The engine probably ran for 20 seconds or so with no oil pressure.
With all this going on I am not overly concerned with the lead numbers, yet, although I think I will re-sample after 5-6k to keep a close eye on it.
Mainly, though, I'm highly impressed with the overall dramatic decrease in apparent engine wear using the Red Line. I don't believe I have seen ANY M20-engine oil analyses on BITOG with non-lead wear numbers this low. It looks like this is the exact oil this engine needs.
Okay, other issues. I think there's probably a bit of fuel in the oil given the flashpoint, which should be higher for Red Line. Not a big problem, apparently. Si is hard to judge, it is most likely related to the oil pan gasket change, with possible ingress of contaminants and the use of silicone sealant on the gasket. The Na/K numbers are still there... another thing to continue to keep an eye on. There's no evidence of a coolant leak.
I DID change the oil, after getting the results, though not really because of the results. I was planning on continuing to 10k or so, but I decided to change the oil pan gasket (again!) after discovering I hadn't gotten it quite right on the first try. It went easier and I think there's less chance of having gotten any dirt in the pan this time. I filled with a fresh batch of Red Line and put on a new Mahle filter. I'm curious to see how the Mahle compares to the Purolators I've been using for these past few OCIs. Note again that with this new filter, insolubles went back up compared to the previous 0.2 on an old filter that was on its second full run with a total of over 12k miles of use.
That's it. Blackstone's comments are below the results. Your comments are encouraged and appreciated.
Sample Date..............2/9/08....3/19/08....5/12/08
Miles on oil:..............6,166.......5,781.......6,268
Oil.........................Delo LE.....Rotella T...Red Line
Grade.....................15W40.....15W-40.....10W-40
Miles on Car:.............288,907...294,688....300,956
Make up oil:..............0 qt........1.5qt........0 qt
Aluminum:................5...........5.............0
Chromium:...............1............1.............0
Iron:......................14...........28...........7
Copper:...................7...........12............5
Lead:......................4...........6............10
Tin:........................0...........0............1
Molybdenum:.............76..........20...........584
Nickel:.....................0...........1............0
Manganese:...............0...........1............0
Silver:.....................0...........0............0
Titanium:.................0...........0............0
Potassium:................2...........2............3
Boron:.....................305........77...........29
Silicon:....................7...........12...........16
Sodium:...................6...........25...........17
Calcium:..................1,589......2167........2476
Magnesium:..............365.........106.........19
Phosphorus:..............1013.......1019........1010
Zinc:......................1269........1234........1121
Barium:...................1............0............0
Sus Viscosity at 210F:...72.7........69.9........68.8
cSt Viscosity at 100C:...13.65.......12.94......12.64
Fashpoint in F:...........395.........370.........395
Fuel Percentage:......... Antifreeze:................0.0.........?............0.0
Water:.....................0.0.........0.0.........0.0
Insolubles:.................0.5.........0.2.........0.4
TBN:........................2.6.........NA.........3.0
Blackstone's comments: We don't think it would be a good idea to keep this oil in place much longer. The reason why is
that lead, from bearings, increased, and this points to excess wear. It could be a particle streak, which is
temporary, but given the high metals in the past, we think it's more likely bearing wear. We'll know more as
we see trends develop in your next sample. The TBN was 3.0 meaning there was still some active additive
left. We suggest trying a 6,000 miles oil run on the fresh fill and check back to monitor bearing wear.
The one exception requires some explanation and a bit of concern. The lead is up, to 10, a number Blackstone flagged as excessive. While a concern, what I didn't tell Blackstone was that between the last tested run and this run I ended my experimental chemical flogging of the engine (see these threads for more of my chemical flogging details:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1151365#Post1151365
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...142#Post1112142
with a solvent flush. I put in fresh oil with some CRC Fast Engine Flush and extended the directions on the flush by idling for many periods of time, with cool-downs between. The results were pretty much nothing. The oil didn't really get all that dirty (a bit), and the engine didn't get any cleaner as far as I could tell.
I then removed the oil pan (to replace gasket and visually inspect pan and bottom end of engine), filled with Red Line and put on a new filter.
I think it is most likely that the lead is from the flush. Either it was present in trace amounts in the flush itself (company says no, though) or it actually caused some wear to the bearings during the flush process. I think the latter is more likely. Although I got as much of the flush oil out as possible, the car does have an oil cooler, so there was some significant amount remaining. The only concern I have with this theory, other than the fact that some unnecessary bearing wear occurred, is that there would have had to be something like 100ppm lead in the flush oil to contaminate the new oil to a 10ppm degree (estimating 0.5qt remaining, 5qt added).
It could also be, as Blackstone mentioned, a "particle streak," especially if something got into the pan while I was doing the gasket job, most likely when maneuvering the pan into position, which requires some wrangling in close proximity to (and contact with) unclean engine and other surfaces.
Finally, when I did get the pan back on the pump failed to prime, and I ended up taking it back off, priming it with a drill, and re-attaching to get it to work. The engine probably ran for 20 seconds or so with no oil pressure.
With all this going on I am not overly concerned with the lead numbers, yet, although I think I will re-sample after 5-6k to keep a close eye on it.
Mainly, though, I'm highly impressed with the overall dramatic decrease in apparent engine wear using the Red Line. I don't believe I have seen ANY M20-engine oil analyses on BITOG with non-lead wear numbers this low. It looks like this is the exact oil this engine needs.
Okay, other issues. I think there's probably a bit of fuel in the oil given the flashpoint, which should be higher for Red Line. Not a big problem, apparently. Si is hard to judge, it is most likely related to the oil pan gasket change, with possible ingress of contaminants and the use of silicone sealant on the gasket. The Na/K numbers are still there... another thing to continue to keep an eye on. There's no evidence of a coolant leak.
I DID change the oil, after getting the results, though not really because of the results. I was planning on continuing to 10k or so, but I decided to change the oil pan gasket (again!) after discovering I hadn't gotten it quite right on the first try. It went easier and I think there's less chance of having gotten any dirt in the pan this time. I filled with a fresh batch of Red Line and put on a new Mahle filter. I'm curious to see how the Mahle compares to the Purolators I've been using for these past few OCIs. Note again that with this new filter, insolubles went back up compared to the previous 0.2 on an old filter that was on its second full run with a total of over 12k miles of use.
That's it. Blackstone's comments are below the results. Your comments are encouraged and appreciated.
Sample Date..............2/9/08....3/19/08....5/12/08
Miles on oil:..............6,166.......5,781.......6,268
Oil.........................Delo LE.....Rotella T...Red Line
Grade.....................15W40.....15W-40.....10W-40
Miles on Car:.............288,907...294,688....300,956
Make up oil:..............0 qt........1.5qt........0 qt
Aluminum:................5...........5.............0
Chromium:...............1............1.............0
Iron:......................14...........28...........7
Copper:...................7...........12............5
Lead:......................4...........6............10
Tin:........................0...........0............1
Molybdenum:.............76..........20...........584
Nickel:.....................0...........1............0
Manganese:...............0...........1............0
Silver:.....................0...........0............0
Titanium:.................0...........0............0
Potassium:................2...........2............3
Boron:.....................305........77...........29
Silicon:....................7...........12...........16
Sodium:...................6...........25...........17
Calcium:..................1,589......2167........2476
Magnesium:..............365.........106.........19
Phosphorus:..............1013.......1019........1010
Zinc:......................1269........1234........1121
Barium:...................1............0............0
Sus Viscosity at 210F:...72.7........69.9........68.8
cSt Viscosity at 100C:...13.65.......12.94......12.64
Fashpoint in F:...........395.........370.........395
Fuel Percentage:......... Antifreeze:................0.0.........?............0.0
Water:.....................0.0.........0.0.........0.0
Insolubles:.................0.5.........0.2.........0.4
TBN:........................2.6.........NA.........3.0
Blackstone's comments: We don't think it would be a good idea to keep this oil in place much longer. The reason why is
that lead, from bearings, increased, and this points to excess wear. It could be a particle streak, which is
temporary, but given the high metals in the past, we think it's more likely bearing wear. We'll know more as
we see trends develop in your next sample. The TBN was 3.0 meaning there was still some active additive
left. We suggest trying a 6,000 miles oil run on the fresh fill and check back to monitor bearing wear.
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