Redline 20W-50+GM EOS 1,000 miles 1987 Porsche 911

[rickdm]

This is a car with 70,000 miles, but the engine was rebuilt 4,000 miles ago. Old cylinders, but new rings and bearings. Most of the miles are track miles at Drivers Education events. I am an instructor so they tend to be pretty hard miles.

The car has high performance valve springs. About 800 miles into this oil change I got nervous about the ZDDP in the oil and added a bottle of GM EOS which probably accounts for the high numbers in this sample. I have switched this oil out for Brad Penn 20W-50.

Sample Date
ALUMINUM 3
CHROMIUM 2
IRON 20
COPPER 8
LEAD 216
TIN 0
MOLYBDENUM 398
NICKEL 3
SILVER 0
TITANIUM 0
POTASSIUM 1
BORON 65
SILICON 13
SODIUM 53
CALCIUM 2656
MAGNESIUM 67
PHOSPHORUS 1329
ZINC 1510
BARIUM 1

cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 95.8
SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 19.3
Flashpoint in °F 410
Fuel % Antifreeze % ?
Water % 0
Insolubles % 0.2
TBN
TAN
ISO Code

These are the comments from Blackstone;

The track events are one reason for the high iron, from steel parts. It's due to the stress the engine endures. That's why it was good that you changed this oil to get rid of those excess metals. The high lead is from leaded (racing) gasoline - not from bearings. Redline 20W/50 starts out with ~25 ppm of sodium
and ~12 ppm of silicon as additive plus a lot of moly. They may be using more sodium now given the amount we found in your oil. That additive will mask sodium from coolant if your engine isn't air-cooled. Suggest 500-mile oil changes to keep iron down

Thanks,
rickdm

 

[Johnny]

Not sure the EOS was necessary as Red Line has pretty high zinc and phos levels. I thought the moly count might be higher than the 398 reported. Will be interesting to see how the Brad-Pen does in this application.

What part of Dallas do you do your instructing? Are you familiar with Nine-Eleven Enterprises in Dallas?

 

[rickdm]

I do my instructing at either Motorsports Ranch in Cresson, or Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur. I have gone to 911 Enterprises quite a bit. I use them for routine maintenace, and Jim Buckley in Ft. Worth for racing prep and the engine rebuild. Both have done a great job.


Perhaps RL has enough ZDDP, but I have become a little paranoid with the heavier valve springs.

rickdm

 

[glennc]

Interesting that they are calling out 20ppm as a high number for iron. I would not raise an eyebrow at that level, personally. How many days of track use does 1000 miles work out to in this case?

 

[Johnny]

One of the owners of Nine Eleven Enterprises is my wife's cousin (Steve). Believe he also runs the parts department there.

 

[rickdm]

Glen, I was also wondering about how bad the iron numbers were. I have seen others on this forum with worse numbers and no comment. I assume the iron must be coming off of the rings and cams. 1,000 miles is seven track days at 2 hours per day, so 14 total hours. I thought that would be conservative with RL.

Johnny, I know Steve well, I have bought lots of stuff from him over the years, the last being my Recaro seats. Good guy.

At one event I put 110 octane in the tank without realizing that it was leaded, and it obviously had a big impact on the oil. Good thing I don't have either a catalytic converter or an O2 sensor.

rickdm

 

[Johnny]

Next time you see Steve, tell him cousin Donna and Johnny say hello from Wisconsin.