UOA results for Volvo V40 1.9D on Liqui Moly.

[skyship]

Hi All,
This is a summary of the Blackstones report on my last oil change after 10,000 km on Liqui Moly 5/40 Synthoil High Tech. The V40 1.9 turbo diesel is the same basic block as the Renault Laguna 1.9D, so they gave me those averages to compare with and the engine has 180,000 km total.
Oil added: Nil (Used about 0.3 ltr)
Aluminium 5 (Average from Renault diesel 8)
Iron 24 (46)
Copper 5 (5)
Lead 2 (5)
Tin 2 (5)
Viscosity 210F 67.9 (Should be 66 to 78)
Viscosity 100C 12.4 (SB 11.9 to 15.3)
Fuel less than 0.5% (SB less than 2)
Antifreeze and water nil
Insolubles 0.4% (SB less than 0.8)
TBN 4.7

In general the wear metals were half of the Renault figures and the TBN plus insolubles indicate the oil would be good for a longer service interval, which surprised me because we have had a very cold winter and my car does a horrific amount of stop go driving.
I am sticking to doing the oil and filter changes every 10,000km but will try the slightly cheaper LM diesel synthoil 5/40 next to see how it compares.
I only use Liqui Moly oils at present although that is partly because they are good value for money in Germany.

 

[Falcon_LS]

The starting TBN for Synthoil High Tech 5W-40 is 9.6. Instead of Diesel Synthoil, I suggest Leichtlauf High Tech 5W-40 which has a fantastic additive package if you're looking to switch. Otherwise, it looks like SHT is doing you well.

Funny enough, because of our high sulfur fuel, my TBN drops to 0.8-1.1 in 10,000 km with SHT 5W-40.

 

[skyship]

I would prefer to stick to a fully synthetic oil and one that is designed just for diesels, the only problem is that the diesel synthoil is a special order oil in Germany, so I am not sure if it will turn out to be cheaper at present because the price seems to fluctuate for some odd reason.
I am very surprised that your TBN figure dropped so much faster than mine just because of the fuel and I would start to get concerned if I saw a TBN figure less than three rather than the one Blackstones quote. High suplhur fuel is bad for the additives but I would have thought it more likely that such a drop was caused by fuel contamination or a hot running engine.

 

[m6pwr]

Skyship, your uoa looks very good to me. I see no need to change to any oil than what you're using. Looks to me like you could run the SHT a lot longer - - try 10k miles? What's the mfr recommended oci? You have plenty of reserve alkalinity - - I don't think that would be a problem at all. I think your limit of 3 is too strict, but you probably wouldn't reach that anyway at 10k miles.

I don't see why more diesel owners don't get uoa's done that measure % soot. According to what I've read it's one of the most important indicators of diesel oil condition - - every bit as important as the elemental analysis - - and an important predictor of abrasive wear if it gets too high. Check out this thread on TBN, and particularly the comments of Doug Hillary who is a very experienced lubrication engineer with decades of experience with Castrol and Mobil -
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1675009

 

[skyship]

I think soot particles are included in the % insolubles. The Volvo recommended oil change interval is 20,000 km and I might extend my oil change interval to 15,000 km once I have figured out which oil is best.