2010 Subaru Forester Mobil1 5w-30 odd analysis

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I have a friend that just received an odd analysis of the Mobil1 5w-30 oil from his last change. He is meticulous about maintaining his vehicles, uses the same oil each time, and has sampled the oil at each change. This time the elemental analysis cam back totally different than in the past. He had Blackstone re-run the sample, and it came back the same. Is anyone aware of any changes to Mobil1's formulation? It is the standard 5w-30 that he runs.

Blackstone's response to his inquiry is as follows:

"Jeff,
Thanks for the note. You're sure you haven't switched to something like...
say, Royal Purple, for example? It's not just sodium that has changed, but
look also at molybdenum, which is lower now than it was. And calcium is
higher... magnesium is lower... those are all additives in the oil, and we
wouldn't expect those changes from coolant. We might expect sodium from
coolant, but we'd also expect high potassium from coolant and that element
stayed nice and low.

If you're absolutely certain you've used Mobil 1, then the sodium could very
well be coolant, but if so, it's not hurting anything yet, since wear metals
are nice and steady. Make sure your coolant level stays full and use
8,000-mile oil change intervals, at the most, to monitor the situation.

If there's any possibility that you've used another oil, like Royal Purple
or some Valvoline oils, then the sodium is probably harmless".


 
As you know, UOAs are not very consistent. Notice the M1 5-30 UOAs that have been posted this last week. They all show Moly in the 70-80PPM range. Moly, Mag, and sodium way off from M1 . My guess is this is not M1 5-30. Do you change your oil, or have someone else do it?
 
Last edited:
No, it's that the oil is actually cursed. Look at the number for Phosphorus . . .
eek.gif
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
Well your friend used a different oil this change and forgot what he used.


If somebody meticulously maintains their vehicle and gets UOAs every time, you think he accidentally put VWB and forgot?

I think that is way less likely than Blackstone [censored] up.
 
Originally Posted By: jayg
Originally Posted By: tig1
Well your friend used a different oil this change and forgot what he used.


If somebody meticulously maintains their vehicle and gets UOAs every time, you think he accidentally put VWB and forgot?

I think that is way less likely than Blackstone [censored] up.


I would agree to that, but stranger things than that has happened.
 
Could be some funny business going on. Where someone buys the M1 and puts some other cheaper oil in the container and returns it. Which is why you want to check all the security seals. I recently saw a used air filter that someone put in a Fram box at WM. Granted is was lightly used but still.
 
The weirdest thing to me is that UOA doesn't look like ANY oil that I am familiar with.
The sodium level looks to be just over half of what is typical in a sodium formulation, the PQIA showed 460 and 480 ppm for all such oils in their 2013 5W30 survey.
The magnesium level is way above that found in any of the oils that used sodium, but way lower than what Mobil used in their 5W30.
The calcium level would be just about right for Lucas and a little low for the other sodium oils, although it is generally at a fairly normal level for an oil that doesn't use any magnesium detergents.
The moly level is also odd...this looks like some kind of Frankenbrew oil to me, but I can't guess what kind of mix it could have been.
If this is really what M1 5W30 looks like now, I'm going to be really bummed...but, I would suspect, like others here, that the sample probably got messed up somehow at the lab. Unless the owner is caring for dozens of vehicles and using a variety of oils, I'd think he would remember what he put in his car.
 
Does your friend still have a left over quart from this change? See if BlackStone will test it for free
 
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