Used Mixed Oil Analysis - 1.4k mi on oil; Grand Marqui Ford 4.6L 85k mi on engine

[Quickshot]

This is oil from my bucket. The car has 191k miles on it, the engine has maybe 85k ish. It's a used engine the previous owner installed after overheating the original.

I just posed a, "virgin," sample of this oil as well. Granted the oil properties of the bucket (I have two now) is ever changing.

I've been trying to follow the severe service maintenance schedule of 3 months/3k miles as I barely put 10 miles a day on the car. I'm a short tripper. I just changed out the K&N cold air intake back to the stock intake and air box setup with a WIX filter. I'm using the Wix Pro Tec filters which are sold in boxes of 12 at work, it's the cheapest filter I can buy.

I might stretch this next oil change out to 1 year/5k miles just to see how it holds up. I've spent way more on oil analysis than I have on actually changing the oil.

 

[Lubener]

Nice report but the oil only had 1426 miles on it. You can easily go the one year/ 5k plan on your 4.6L. That's what I follow on my 2003 G.M. The 4.6 is very easy on oil.

 

[Quickshot]

Nice report but the oil only had 1426 miles on it. You can easily go the one year/ 5k plan on your 4.6L. That's what I follow on my 2003 G.M. The 4.6 is very easy on oil.

When I first got the car in October it was going through oil like crazy. Like a quart every 2 weeks with less than 200 miles. It was the pcv valve, a new Motorcraft pcv valve completely stopped all the oil consumption. The cheap house brand pcv valve was worse than the old Motorcraft one. Now I have all this oil so I might as well continue to follow the severe service schedule as long as I have it. I have years worth of oil and filters at one year/5k oil changes.

 

[bullwinkle]

Guessing 5W30? Viscosity would be high for 5W20.

 

[kschachn]

I might stretch this next oil change out to 1 year/5k miles just to see how it holds up. I've spent way more on oil analysis than I have on actually changing the oil.

And as far as the UOA telling you anything about the oil, that's a pretty high price to pay just to find out the TBN.

 

[Donald]

Even olive oil would do pretty well on a OCI of 1426 miles.

 

[dnewton3]

The oil mix is, presumably, all API licensed lubes of moderate variation in vis?

Since you're paying for the UOAs, extend your OCIs. Start with 5k miles/year. Then continue to monitor and extend. I understand that you're concerned about "severe" service factors with very short trip cycles, but let the data be your guide.

 

[Quickshot]

The oil mix is, presumably, all API licensed lubes of moderate variation in vis?

Since you're paying for the UOAs, extend your OCIs. Start with 5k miles/year. Then continue to monitor and extend. I understand that you're concerned about "severe" service factors with very short trip cycles, but let the data be your guide.

Yes, all of the oil is API licensed. I view it as recycling, it's for sure much more environmentally friendly than pouring brand new perfectly good oil that can't be sold in a used oil container.

The used oil test was just to be sure the engine isn't having a problem. I switched from a K&N Cold Air Intake to the Stock setup during this oil change. There doesn't seem to be any indication in the oil that the K&N or my new setup isn't filtering properly. I'm also using the cheapest oil filter I could possibly get (12 for $15.99 before tax on my employee account), which also seems to be filtering perfectly fine. I probably won't be sampling again with this vehicle as even with frequent short trips, there doesn't seem to be any indication that I need to change the oil that frequently. I might do a Wix oil analysis since I can get those much cheaper, but I didn't know about the Wix kit when I sent in my original oil sample in March that is still lost in USPS land.