Viscosity is on the really low end which makes me wonder if there is sone fuel in there or something else going on. We will never know because BS has E36 M3 test packages. As I've said before, on an engine vis, base and ox/nitration are key indicators for oil condition. Wear and contamination from the elementals are usually in the range unless something catastrophic is happening. While your wear is a little elevated it's not enough to explain your condition you were having.
In reply to bobzilla :
Can you expand on that more? If BS isn't worth using I would like to know why and where to go. Appreciated!
Edited: I went back to page 1 and read about why BS wasn't the best. Alternatives?
In reply to bobzilla :
I was pretty sure that I wouldn't get any clues about why I was losing oil pressure from the oil. My assumption - and maybe it's a faulty one - is that if I had spun a bearing to the point of oil pressure loss I'd either hear something knocking around or I'd see stuff in the oil. What I was hoping to get a clue towards was if the loss of oil pressure was likely to have caused any additional problems.
On the viscosity side, if that oil was 5W20 and not the 5W30 I thought I had when I sent in the sample, would that alter your opinion?
Maybe? Most 5/20's end up in the high 7 low 8cst range. 9 would be a bit high. Without having the key oil condition results to glean its hard to make assumptions. I'd toss a guess that it was 5/30 and there's just some fuel in it pulling it down.
So I got a concerning one about my Boxster...
This combined with smoke and loss of power above 6,500 RPM's at the Time Trial means... Bad PCV right?
Do I need to be tearing into this motor further or is it already done for?
I'm not sure how you jumped to pcv off that sample, but sure? That's quite a bit of wear for 2000 miles IMO but without history or knowledge of this particular platform I can't say much more than that. Have you done anything recently to it?
In reply to bobzilla :
Sorry, lack of context. I jumped on PCV/AOS because at the TT I drive the car in it let out a giant puff of smoke at 7K RPM during the first lapping session. After that it would smoke on startup and idling around and I had to short shift at 6500 RPM or it would belch smoke and lose power. Paddock diagnosis was the AOS was broken.
That 2000 miles included at least 5 autocross events. No recent work to the engine besides a MAF.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
For reference, the one I posted up before was the wifes car with 9k miles and 2 auto-x events with 2 drivers at both events.
In reply to bobzilla :
Okay, mine doesn't look so bad compared to that except for the aluminum and silicon. All the other numbers were pretty comparable.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
Except mine had 4 times the miles, so that can be an issue. But again, I don't know what type of wear those typically make so YMMV on that.
In reply to bobzilla :
My mileage was a wild ass guess.
Figured I'd revive this old thread. I've got some confusing things going on w/ my Acrua MDX and internet searches are mostly useless these days, so I was hoping to find some good info/analysis here on GRM.
Bob, I see you've got your own analysis business going. That's awesome and I'll be ordering some kits as I'm happy to support a fellow GRM'r. But, for now, all i've got is a BS report and some concerns for my engine's health.
The 3.7L v6 in my Acura MDX started making a little noise that sounds "bottom-endy", but that could be many things (pulleys, tensioners, etc). I decided to send out an oil sample to Blackstone to see if my bearings are disintigrating. At the same time I took the sample i cut open the oil filter and found this mess:
None of that stuff is ferrous. I expected the BS report to basically be this emoji 
. But what I got was this emoji 
I have no idea where the lead may be coming from. I don't use octane boost or race gas. I also find it funny that my Zinc is lower than average as the "High Mileage" oils, as I understand it, have elevated zinc levels. My pet theory based on absolutely nothing is that they ran out of zinc at the factory and added lead as a filler ;) I'm sure the EPA would be thrilled!
Anyway, any insight from anyone would be appreciated. My main question is why is there so much crap in my filter, but "normal" levels of metal in my oil report...
THANKS!!!
What jumps out at me first is the 2:1 ratio of Silicon and Aluminum. Aluminum silica is more often referred to as dirt. Dirt would also increase wear incrementally from there, which could lead to the higher lead, but ppm, while something to watch, isn't a critical level. You have to keep in mind these are in ppm, parts per million. So 6, while not wanted, is still low. The other thing is lab cleanliness. A high lead sample from a racefuel car or something with excessive wear a few samples before this can and does "bleed over" for many samples.
So my initial recommendation without having any oil condition information (which the do not do) is to first check for dirt ingression. loose intake pipe, air filter box, pcv, breather etc. If all that checks, it could be from how you obtained the sample as well.
As for the lower zinc, that's not uncommon. There's expected to be a 5-10% variance in the additives and they will never get you the exact same results even on the same machine, same day. Most of the "high mileage" fluids are add more calcium, magnesium, boron and moly to supplement the typicall zddp. To be honest, most OHC engines don't need the high levels of zddp the older OHV engines do.
Hope this helps.
Did my first this year to confirm that the FA20 wasn't secretly lunching itself in 2022. Still cost close to 100 loonies total to do from Canada. All good news at least. The 0.75qt was only added because the oil cooler was installed while this oil was in:
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Good god man.... they can't make the correlation between fuel (that the are guessing on) and low viscosity. Ugh.... There is silicon, not typically part of the adpack on these oils. I'll have ot see what it costs for me to ship to Canada.... give me your postal code and I'll see if I can help here.
In reply to bobzilla :
The unexpectedly expensive part was shipping the sample out of Canada, it didn't cost me anything to receive the sample containers. Blackstone strongly recommends shipping with tracking but I might forgo that next time...
High silicon suggests dirt getting in:
https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/89/silicon-engine-oil
I'm about to switch my air filter from an oiled filter to a dryflow-type filter with prefilter bag, not sure if that will make it better or worse...
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Yes and no. silicone can be as simple as gasket sealer/rtv on a recent repair seeping in. If there is a presence of aluminum that can be more indicitive of dirt, typically in a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio. Its not increasing wear and there will always be some intrusion.
A new pan did get installed with fresh gasket sealer just before that oil was put in.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
There it is. Those are questions I like to ask because there are so many explanations for a lot of these things. So not dirt, just the silicone leeching into the oil.
In reply to bobzilla :
Thank you Bob. I'll definitely check for sources of dirt ingress.
I'm still curious, if I did have a rod bearing going south, enough to make rod knock noises, would these metal numbers be off the charts?
Also, in looking into replacement bearings, Clevite and others list their bi-metal bearings as "Aluminum-silicone" and I'm guessing the second metal would be a steel backing. Could that not be the source of the elevated aluminum and silicone?
Thanks, I really appreciate it!
In reply to problemaddict :
It's possible. I haven't looked past the report yet, still working the day job that pays the bills. If a bearing was making noise, yes the wear levels should be very high as well as seeing visible debris in the oil itself. It wouldn't just be the bearing material itself either, you'd see elevated iron from the crank and rods as well which we aren't seeing. Wasn't there a bulletin for the knock sensors on these going causing knock? It's been 8 years since I was in the dealer so my memory may be off.
In reply to bobzilla :
Thanks again. I haven't seen much about knock sensors, but timing tensioners, accessory pulleys, and even heat shield are all known to cause rod-knock-mimicing sounds. So I'm relieved to hear that it's likely one of those problems and not my engine eating itself.
In reply to problemaddict :
No guarantees... but what I see there I would say not as likely.
how did I miss this thread?!
Thoughts on the below (super old) analysis on my truck? i've been running 5-7k OCI since then and am currently at 276k miles; tempted to re-check as I now live somewhere that's colder during the winter and don't drive as much so the truck ends up with oil changes every 1.5ish years with more towing and less commuting miles in there.
I've thought about it. But I drive the BRZ so little, it's never really going to be a concern. 1st oil change was around 1100 miles, 2nd next month will likely be around 2500.
Why the short mileage intervals? Doing it every 6 months per the free 6 changes I get from Subaru for buying the car new.
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