RLI 5W-30, 15,484 miles, 2001 Saturn SL2

[lewdwig]

Renewable Lubricants 5W-30
Mobil 1 209 filter
Blackstone Labs report

MI/HR on oil – 15,484 mi
MI/HR on car – 124,884 mi
Sample date – 16 April 2010
Oil added – ~5 quarts (it's a Saturn - you lose count)

aluminum - 5
chromium - 1
iron - 40
copper - 4
lead - 0
tin - 0
moly - 6
nickel - 1
manganese - 1
silver - 0
titanium - 0
potassium - 6
boron - 11
silicon - 8
sodium - 8
calcium - 3100
magnesium - 14
phosphorus - 1084
zinc - 1337
barium - 0

SUS Viscosity @ 210'F – 59.9
cSt Viscosity @ 100'C – 10.18
Flashpoint in 'F - 370
Fuel % - Antifreeze % - 0.0
Water % - 0.0
Insolubles % - 0.3
TBN – 2.3

Nice improvement in iron. You ran this oil longer than the previous fill, yet iron actually read a little
lower and that's nice to see. A lot of that could be due to the extra make-up oil that was added, though
even within that, you are still doing a lot better than what we saw back in April of 2008. Anti-freeze remained
non-existent and no fuel dilution or water was present. The TBN was strong at 2.3, so the oil has some
active additive left. Due to this and the lower iron, we think a longer oil run would be fine next time. Try
~17,000 miles and check back then.

 

[saaber1]

Hard to tell too much due to 5 qts of makeup oil (As I recall the sump is about 5 qts total?). Have you thought about using a thicker oil to reduce oil consumption?

 

[lewdwig]

I've switched this car over to Valvoline conventional 5W-30, with an Auto-Rx treatment. With two kids in college in the fall and the car drinking oil like this, I need cheaper lubrication.

Now running the RLI (I had 6-7 quarts left) in my wife's Mitsu, which is easy on oil.

 

[zddp77]

No offense but why would you put such an expensive oil in such a cheap oil burner. I would use the cheapest 10w40 I could buy.

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: zddp77
No offense but why would you put such an expensive oil in such a cheap oil burner. I would use the cheapest 10w40 I could buy.


+1. Glad to see you've changed to a 'saner' oil choice!

The oil held up well, but with this much top-off, what oil wouldn't?

 

[lewdwig]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
The oil held up well, but with this much top-off, what oil wouldn't?


Do you think I can do annual changes (~15,000 miles) with conventional?

 

[21Rouge]

Originally Posted By: lewdwig
Originally Posted By: addyguy
The oil held up well, but with this much top-off, what oil wouldn't?


Do you think I can do annual changes (~15,000 miles) with conventional?


I wouldn't use conventional in your situation i.e. 15k miles over a one year OCI). One can find on sale synthetics that wouldn't bankrupt you given your top-off

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: 21Rouge
Originally Posted By: lewdwig
Originally Posted By: addyguy
The oil held up well, but with this much top-off, what oil wouldn't?


Do you think I can do annual changes (~15,000 miles) with conventional?


I wouldn't use conventional in your situation i.e. 15k miles over a one year OCI). One can find on sale synthetics that wouldn't bankrupt you given your top-off


+1 They run oil change specials all the time. You can grab PP, or M1 with a good filter like a Pure One or Mobil 1 all for about $30, save a ton of cash and probably have a UOA report just as good or better. JMO

 

[zddp77]

Originally Posted By: lewdwig
Originally Posted By: addyguy
The oil held up well, but with this much top-off, what oil wouldn't?


Do you think I can do annual changes (~15,000 miles) with conventional?
Yes with that much consumption no problem going 15,000 miles . With 5 quarts make-up oil the engine is changing the oil itself. Again use the cheapest 10w40 you can buy.

 

[addyguy]

With that much top-off, the oil will last indefinetly w/o changing......IMO.