Oil Analysis

[Ars Gladius]

So, I took samples of my last two oil changes and sent them in to be analyzed at Blackstone Labs (www.blackstone-labs.com).

The first sample was the first run through after switching over from dead dino to a full synthetic (Mobil 1) and was about 8,500 km on the oil. The second sample was from the second run of Mobil 1, and had 10,000 km on the oil.

First sample was a little rough in some areas, second sample was much better presumably now that most of the icky stuff has been cleaned out.

They did mention that I was running a little high on trace iron, which can suggest wear in the engine. It did improve a bit on the second sample, so we will see what it is at on the third sample in another 10k km.

Has anyone else had engine oil analysis done? How did your iron look.

[sjonnie]

Yeah that's a pretty high value for iron. M1 5W30 often shows higher iron levels than similar oils, check my M1 10W30 report for example. Do you have a magnetic drain plug? Personally, I would switch to something else, but it's probably harmless.

[Ars Gladius]

No, no magnetic drain plug. The samples were taken mid stream, so there shouldn't be an issue with settling contaminants.

I also should have added the car consumes between 500-800 ml of oil over the 10,000 km. (No idea if that is high/average/low for the XCs.) Emissions test was clean (Hydrocarbons 5 ppm, CO 0%). Engine runs smooth.

By "switch to something else" do you mean a different weight of oil or a different brand or both?

[Astro14]

Ars - regular M1 tends to have high Fe...don't know why, but in your case, the Al, Cu, and Pb are low, so piston and bearing wear are low...I wouldn't worry to much about the high Fe.

Further, your consumption is very good, I tend to add 1 QT (call it 1,000 ml...) at about the 5,000 mile mark (8,000 KM) just to keep it up to the full line.

If you're worried about the Fe, then M1 0W40 is a very different formulation than regular M1...maybe too thick for your climate, though it's cold start is excellent. Another option is the Pennzoil Ultra or Platinum. Here are the UOAs on my cars, the M1 0W40 had virtually zero Fe...Ultra was a bit higher over an 8,000 mile run, but still well below the regular M1...

The 5W30 Ultra would be a great choice...it's going in my XC at the next change (for our Virginia "winter"...)

Cheers,
Astro

[sjonnie]

With the oil consumption I wouldn't worry about the iron content, nothing else is high so it could just be from the oil burning off. You could try going to a slightly higher weight oil and seeing if that reduces your oil consumption. Given that you're in Ottowa I'd recommend you switch to Castrol 0W30 (yes, it's a higher weight oil and won't break down like the M1 5W30). Oh, just as a point of reference, my '02 with 175K mi doesn't use any oil over 8K miles so I don't think it's 'normal' for these engines to consume oil. Maybe start with a check of your PCV system?

[Astro14]

With the oil consumption I wouldn't worry about the iron content, nothing else is high so it could just be from the oil burning off. You could try going to a slightly higher weight oil and seeing if that reduces your oil consumption. Given that you're in Ottowa I'd recommend you switch to Castrol 0W30 (yes, it's a higher weight oil and won't break down like the M1 5W30).

You mean the German Castrol? (made in Germany, hard to find...easier to find in Canada) - that's one of the best oils out there...made for long drain intervals, so strong additive package and great shear stability, high HTHS as well...The M1 0W40 is very similar to GC (the GC is a heavy 30...the M1 is a light 40...).

I have no experience with the new Castrol Edge 0W30...at least, not in a Volvo...would love to see a UOA on the new Edge...

[Ars Gladius]

Thanks for the replies guys.

PCV was inspected 10k km ago when the 168k km service was done and given a clean bill of health.

Interesting all round. As you mentioned, I also noticed that the Al, Cu, and Pb are low so there isn't significant wear happening.

I had both analysis done at the same time (I procrastinated on sending the first one in sooner), also these are the only ones done on the car (bought used) so I had nothing to compare it with.

I've been poking around on Bob is the Oil Guy tonight and noticed that a lot of people are mentioning the high Fe in the Mobil 1 5W30. It was even mentioned in several questions that were posed to Exxon Mobil, who of course deftly redirected away from addressing that head on.

What I think I'll do is let the current fill run out and near the end I'll draw a sample and send it in, then based on that (eg. if the Fe is continuing to trend down) decide whether to switch oils or weights or both.