Valvoline R&P 5w-30 1.4k mi; 2001 Mustang Bullitt 276k mi

[GriffinB]

Here's a report from my 2001 Bullitt which currently has 276k miles on it. Only 1,377 miles on the oil change using an FL-820S filter and it was in use for 2 months. I pretty much always wait until the engine is warmed up, but it's a mustang, it gets driven hard.

Air filter is a K&N filter, I plan on changing it to a dry flow filter as I don't like the oiled filters that much. I live in south Georgia but this OCI was done from 11/3/24-2/12/25 so temperatures were cold, at least to me. No recent mechanical work has been done to the engine besides spark plugs.

The silicon is high, I'm thinking it was because my air filter which is placed in the passenger fender, was getting a high amount of dirt into it because of my inner fender splash shield was missing a chunk right where the filter is. I just replaced the liner the other day and will have to see if the silicon levels go back down on the next report. The sodium level is what I was more worried about, most likely sources were coolant. I am hoping it was from my oil filter adapter gasket as it was leaking oil and I just replaced it yesterday and the gasket was pretty blown out on the coolant ports. Once again I will have to see on the next report.

 

[fantastic]

Get some 5w-40 in this beast or even 5w-50 or 15w-50 since you're down south. It does look like a coolant leak of sorts. Keep testing & see what happens like you mentioned. Definitely see some elevated wear but the miles & hard use are mentioned. Thanks for posting your Mustang. Had a 1996 Convertible GT 4.6L once upon a time.

 

[Glenda W.]

This formula is off compared to your other R&P uoa and others seen here. I would ask for a retest.

 

[dnewton3]

The Si certainly is something to look into. Could be the finder liner as you stated, but also could be something in the oil itself (some anti-foam agent, for example). And so without a VOA on this load, you really don't know what the basis is. The Fe certainly is elevated for such a short run. The K is also something to track.

Get a VOA and another UOA and report back.
Not a bad idea to ask the lab to double check, as GW indicates.

 

[Patman]

Why such a short interval with VRP? It didn’t really have much time to do its cleanup. What oil is in there now?

 

[GriffinB]

Get some 5w-40 in this beast or even 5w-50 or 15w-50 since you're down south. It does look like a coolant leak of sorts. Keep testing & see what happens like you mentioned. Definitely see some elevated wear but the miles & hard use are mentioned. Thanks for posting your Mustang. Had a 1996 Convertible GT 4.6L once upon a time.

What are the benefits of using a higher viscosity oil, better wear protection under harsh and stressful conditions? Goals for the car is autocross and maybe a road course 1-2 times a year.

This formula is off compared to your other R&P uoa and others seen here. I would ask for a retest.

Are you able to tell this based off the additive and multi-sourced metals? I had not compared them before but they are quite different. Could residue from a different oil cause a skewed result or would the residue not be this much of a difference. I also did not do the test properly, I took the sample as soon as I started draining the oil. After I took both samples I found the instructions on how to properly take a sample from a drain plug on eoilreports site.

The Si certainly is something to look into. Could be the finder liner as you stated, but also could be something in the oil itself (some anti-foam agent, for example). And so without a VOA on this load, you really don't know what the basis is. The Fe certainly is elevated for such a short run. The K is also something to track.

Get a VOA and another UOA and report back.
Not a bad idea to ask the lab to double check, as GW indicates.

I didn't want to get a VOA but I may as well, something to consider is my Crown Vic used the same oil and has half the amount of silicon. I never noticed the Potassium being out of ordinary, my vic is at 0, wow.

Man you guys are going to make me buy too many UOA kits, sounds like I should get at least three, a VOA of VR&P, and then a UOA of my Bullitt and Vic, and may as well order 1-2 more so I don't have to pay shipping again, sounds pricey.

If I were to have the lab double check how do I go about that? They would not be able to retest as they have no more oil to sample correct?

Why such a short interval with VRP? It didn’t really have much time to do its cleanup. What oil is in there now?

I didn't leave anything in my notes about why I changed it so early. My best guess is I just wanted to send the oil out for analysis to see how it looked. I think it was a good decision, you can see the C&P here and there is a decent bit of sludge in the pleats of the filter.

I don't drive the car longer distances right now because I need to fix the AC and it's too hot to do long drives without it. So this causes me to not rack up enough miles for my OCI but I want to get a UOA done. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Gasbuggy]

Could be the lovely plastic 4.6 intake manifold failing.

 

[GriffinB]

Could be the lovely plastic 4.6 intake manifold failing.

Not the case here, Bullitt’s have a special intake manifold. My Vic has plastic but no issues yet.

 

[fantastic]

What are the benefits of using a higher viscosity oil, better wear protection under harsh and stressful conditions? Goals for the car is autocross and maybe a road course 1-2 times a year.

Yes, You've mentioned a few reasons. If you are not concerned about fuel economy but it should reduce it by much.

 

[twX]

I didn't want to get a VOA but I may as well, something to consider is my Crown Vic used the same oil and has half the amount of silicon.

I wouldn't bother with a VOA. There is a VOA of R&P oil posted on this site. It had 5 ppm silicon.

If the wear metals were low, I'd consider a different source for the silicon, but it's pretty safe to say that you have an air filtration issue.

 

[Gasbuggy]

Not the case here, Bullitt’s have a special intake manifold. My Vic has plastic but no issues yet.

View attachment 279697

Original manifold gaskets?

 

[KnappAttak]

K&N filers suck! They allow a huge amount of dirt thru into the intake until they "dirty up". You don't want to use them on a street driven vehicle. I know what they do thru experience. We ran them on grass drag sleds and racing motorcycles just to keep the chunks out the engines. The DO NOT filter dirt or dust well at all until they start to "plug up" enough. You can see right thru the pores of the filter fabric when not dirty! The dust and dirt goes right thru them, you know it when the intake tract has dirt in it! Its no wonder the silicon is high along with the wear metals.

 

[Plawan]

Here's a report from my 2001 Bullitt which currently has 276k miles on it. Only 1,377 miles on the oil change using an FL-820S filter and it was in use for 2 months. I pretty much always wait until the engine is warmed up, but it's a mustang, it gets driven hard.

Air filter is a K&N filter, I plan on changing it to a dry flow filter as I don't like the oiled filters that much. I live in south Georgia but this OCI was done from 11/3/24-2/12/25 so temperatures were cold, at least to me. No recent mechanical work has been done to the engine besides spark plugs.

The silicon is high, I'm thinking it was because my air filter which is placed in the passenger fender, was getting a high amount of dirt into it because of my inner fender splash shield was missing a chunk right where the filter is. I just replaced the liner the other day and will have to see if the silicon levels go back down on the next report. The sodium level is what I was more worried about, most likely sources were coolant. I am hoping it was from my oil filter adapter gasket as it was leaking oil and I just replaced it yesterday and the gasket was pretty blown out on the coolant ports. Once again I will have to see on the next report.

View attachment 279502

Manganese is an indication that the RP was mayt cleaning deposits from rings.

 

[buster]

Good catch @Plawan on the manganese. Likely due to cleaning deposits.

 

[GriffinB]

Original manifold gaskets?

Maybe, haven't torn it apart but I can look for non-OEM RTV and aftermarket gaskets that are blue. Got practically zero maintenance history when I bought the car and nothing is on the Carfax.

 

[GriffinB]

K&N filers suck! They allow a huge amount of dirt thru into the intake until they "dirty up". You don't want to use them on a street driven vehicle. I know what they do thru experience. We ran them on grass drag sleds and racing motorcycles just to keep the chunks out the engines. The DO NOT filter dirt or dust well at all until they start to "plug up" enough. You can see right thru the pores of the filter fabric when not dirty! The dust and dirt goes right thru them, you know it when the intake tract has dirt in it! Its no wonder the silicon is high along with the wear metals.

Yep my exact thoughts as well and why I would like to get rid of it, I'd prefer a stock air intake tube so I can use a stock paper filter but the tubes for Bullitt's seem to be unobtanium.

I was considering this AEM Dry Flow filter as I hope it will filter better than a K&N and I won't have issues with overoiling. Or do you have any other suggestions for a better filter?

 

[GriffinB]

Manganese is an indication that the RP was mayt cleaning deposits from rings.

Thanks for this info. I assume the higher the manganese count the more deposits are being cleaned. If so does that mean my crown vic report has a higher amount of deposits that were cleaned from the rings? What would this indicate? I assume my vic engine is much cleaner then my Bullitt and would think the manganese count would be lower.

 

[Plawan]

Thanks for this info. I assume the higher the manganese count the more deposits are being cleaned. If so does that mean my crown vic report has a higher amount of deposits that were cleaned from the rings? What would this indicate? I assume my vic engine is much cleaner then my Bullitt and would think the manganese count would be lower.

It could be a sign that the piston rings are getting cleaned because combustion byproduct mixed in ring deposits can have manganese. They also include it in the coating of rings to help protect them during break in and early use. Some of that will wear off and get trapped. It could also just be an indication of excessive wear but I’d expect other wear metals to be higher in that case.

 

[siriusc1024]

Yep my exact thoughts as well and why I would like to get rid of it, I'd prefer a stock air intake tube so I can use a stock paper filter but the tubes for Bullitt's seem to be unobtanium.

I was considering this AEM Dry Flow filter as I hope it will filter better than a K&N and I won't have issues with overoiling. Or do you have any other suggestions for a better filter?

Ah the ol' hot air intake setup. Yes getting a factory air box is the best move.

Another problem with the K&N besides horrible filtration is oil contamination on the MAF sensor.

 

[cammyfive79]

Ah the ol' hot air intake setup. Yes getting a factory air box is the best move.

Another problem with the K&N besides horrible filtration is oil contamination on the MAF sensor.

The only time I had a car I owned break down on me was a new 2002 Maxima 6MT that I had an aftermarket cone type filter on; car misfired and engine turned off while driving on the highway. Had it towed to the nearest Nissan dealer and they showed me the MAF sensor was covered in oil from the filter. I was lucky enough that they replaced it under warranty for me. I drove straight home and put the stock airbox/filter back on and never used anything like that again.