FastAl

Just got my oil report from Blackstone Laboratories today. This is the Royal Purple 5W30, I ran it too long at 5,600 miles. Overall I'm not happy with it. After my heads/cam get installed I will run some other oil and get another report and make sure cooper and iron are down!

Aluminum: 6
Chromium: 3
Iron: 33
Copper: 80
Lead: 7
Tin: 3
Molybdenum: 108
Nickel:1
Manganese: 4
Silver: 0
Titanium: 0
Potassium: 0
Boron: 13
Silicon: 15
Sodium: 661
Calcium: 1415
Magnesium: 814
Phosphorus: 773
Zinc: 998
Barium: 0
SUS Viscosity @ 210F: 57.7
Flashpoint: 400F
Fuel %: <0.05
Antifreeze: 0
Water: 0
Insolubles: < 0.5

We are not sure what additives Royal Purple 5W/30, uses but we strongly suspect the copper and sodium are from the oil. Certainly molybdenum and the elements from calcium on down the list are additives. Sodium is an element common to ethylene glycol. Since we see no other signs of contamination problem, we will go with sodium being an oil additive for now. All metals other than copper read at normal levels. Iron was a little higher than expected but was not up in the problem range after 5,600 miles oil use. Air and oil firtration are okay.

Corrrected phosphorus number!

<small>[ July 31, 2002, 08:43 AM: Message edited by: FastAl ]</small>

Richard@WCCH

iTrader: (3)

Where do you suppose the copper and iron come from? Do they exist in the oil before installation? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="gr_eek2.gif" /> I'd sure like to see how Kendall oil matches up with this test. <img border="0" alt="[judgement]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_judge.gif" />

Thanks much,
Richard

Patman

One thing I hate about Blackstone is that they charge extra for TBN. I'd really like to see how this oil's acid neutralizing abilities are at this mileage. Also, why don't they include oxidation and nitration? Those two values along with TBN are the best way to determine the condition of the oil! It seems Blackstone is more concerned with the condition of the engine only. Not a very complete oil analysis.

I'm surprised that this 5w30 held it's viscosity a bit better than Trevor's 10w30, although RP 5w30 might start out at a higher viscosity at 100c (some oil makers do that since they know the 5w30 will thin out quicker) It is still almost a 20 weight oil though.

I'm surprised the lead isn't higher with the iron and copper being so high.

Also of note, the 400F flash point. Pretty low IMO. Havoline synthetic 10w30 has a flash point of 496!! Even Havoline dino is at 453F.

I will make a point here. Those that think they can't go more than 3k on an oil because of the contaminents, just look at his numbers. Almost no fuel or insolubles, and no antifreeze or water at all. So not as much stuff gets in there as you think.

I'm curious about the silicon level. Are you using a K&N filter? An OEM air filter will show lower silicon levels, as it lets in less dirt than a K&N. If you are running an OEM, perhaps you live in a dusty area? It's not that bad of a number, just a bit higher than I usually see on a 5k run.

Thanks for posting this by the way! I hope that more and more people here get into oil analysis. It really does help others decide what oil to use and what interval to run too.

<small>[ July 31, 2002, 05:04 AM: Message edited by: Patman ]</small>

Patman

One more thing. Are you sure on that phosphorus level? It should be a three digit number at least, not 73 but 730 or so. If it's that low, that means RP is leaving out a very important amount of this antiwear additive.

<small>[ July 31, 2002, 05:09 AM: Message edited by: Patman ]</small>

StevieZ

iTrader: (3)

high copper could mean main bearing wear. Scarey.

cantdrv65

iTrader: (3)

Interesting... I've ran Mobil 1 from day one in my '99 Z28. I go approx 8000 miles between oil and filter changes and I spray the car often with a TNT 150 shot...I wouldn't worry too much. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

Patman

By the way Al, could you give us more info on the car. What year, how many miles, what type of driving did you do on this oil, how much oil did you add during this interval, and what oil filter did you run?

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

FastAl,
Those Cu numbers look right in line with all of the oil analyses I've seen on low mileage LS1's. It should come down in time. How many miles are on your car?

FastAl

Yep this was with a K&N oil fiter. I did type the phosphrus number last night and have corrected it in the original post.

2000 Z28 with about 30,600 miles when this sample was taken. Most of my driving is a 40 mile round trip on rural type highways. I have around a dozen 1/4 passes. At least once or twice a week I do a short WOT blast if traffic allows <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

I'm a bit worried about the high copper myself, but since iron was good not too worried.

Patman, who would you recommend for oil reports and do they have a website?

Normally I only go about 3-4k per oil change, but this one I kept putting off because a local shop was telling me my heads and cam would be in soon.

StevieZ

iTrader: (3)

I just had a very interesting conversation with someone at RP (I won't say who). It turns out as far as street oils go, between Royal Purple Redline and AMSOIL, RP is the only one of the 3 that is API certified! The others say they meet or exceed API specs but you won't find an API donut anywhere on the quart. I went into my garage and checked and sure enough they are not! This means that they can go outside the parameters of API specs in regards to formulating the additive package. What Red line will do is add higher amounts of zinc and phosphorous which can after time, become corrosive and that is not something I would want in my aluminum block! As far as the low moly count is concerned, RP uses a patented SYNERLEC technology as the main antiwear agent which allows for much less moly content and being that this is not a standard additive, it will NOT show up in regular oil analysis since they won't be looking for it. ALSO the flashpoint of the street oils is NOT 400* but 455* and even says so on their website! As far as the racing oils having less detergents to make room for other additives, this again is a falsehood. Since they are using the Synerlec technology, less standard antiwear agents can be used leaving more room for detergents. You can run the race oils for 8K to 10K with no problem what so ever. The ONLY race oil they make that has less detergents and more anti-wear is the 0W4 weight and by the labeled viscosity, you can see why!!

<small>[ July 31, 2002, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: StevieZ ]</small>

Patman

Al, this is who I use for oil analysis:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/terry.html

As far as RP's flashpoint, their website used to list it as 400F, and this oil analysis report backs that up. Perhaps the 455 is for the new SL formulation. It'll be interesting to see oil analysis results on the newer stuff, to see if it's any better or not. Hopefully it is.

Pats WS6

Hey FastAl, I got almost the same results as you with Royal Purple 10W30. Here are my results from three tests, all from Blackstone.

http://www.boomspeed.com/pats_ws6/

Car is a 2000 Trans Am WS6 and I've always used Mobil 1 206 filters. I also have a K & N air filter as well. All driving at time of these tests were mixed highway and city miles, about 35 miles a day, with 25 or so runs down the quarter mile.

Blue Fire

what that boy say E=mcsquare hehe <img border="0" alt="[jester]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_jest.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[chug]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_chug.gif" />

cantdrv65

iTrader: (3)

The bottom line is that oil analysis is a waste of time and money. You'll never here that from the labs though.... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

Patman

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by cantdrv65:
<strong>The bottom line is that oil analysis is a waste of time and money. You'll never here that from the labs though.... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Explain why you think it's a waste? It is very helpful in determining what is going on inside your engine, plus it can help you determine whether or not your choice in oils is good, and whether or not you've gone too far on your intervals (or could go further) Oil analysis is not for everyone, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful.

Blue Fire

has any of you gye's every heard of shafer Oil i heard some gye's was raveing over it?????????? some race gye's sed it's by far the best thay have every usded??????? any heard of it??? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/confused.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Firebird]" title="" src="graemlins/formula.gif" />

QUASAR

iTrader: (6)

hey

has anyone blown their motor because they werent running the best synthetic?

(not that i would do it) but i be that if i used store brand 79 cent a quart oil every 3k miles and went to the track every weekend for 100k miles the motor would be fine.

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> hey

has anyone blown their motor because they werent running the best synthetic?

(not that i would do it) but i be that if i used store brand 79 cent a quart oil every 3k miles and went to the track every weekend for 100k miles the motor would be fine. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Don't know, but after spending $25k on the car and who knows how much on mods I don't see saving a few bucks on oil as very smart. Of course, to each their own <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Patman

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Blue Fire:
<strong>has any of you gye's every heard of shafer Oil i heard some gye's was raveing over it?????????? </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Schaeffers is an excellent oil! As a matter of fact, I have a case of their 10w30 blend in my basement, ready to go in my car on the next oil change! I have heard great things about this oil, and have seen oil analysis results where this blend has gone beyond 10k and still is in great shape. Yet when you buy it in bulk it's less than $3 a quart! It's a very good blend, using 25% PAO base oil along with a nice dose of moly. Their additive package is very well balanced, and this oil won't oxidize quickly and it's TBN stays strong for a while. It is better than any of the store bought synthetics, by a longshot. Schaeffers has been in business for 162 years, so they know their stuff. Most people haven't heard of them since they don't mass market their stuff, they sell mostly to industrial places, and farmers.

Patman

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by RED QUASAR:
<strong>hey

has anyone blown their motor because they werent running the best synthetic?

(not that i would do it) but i be that if i used store brand 79 cent a quart oil every 3k miles and went to the track every weekend for 100k miles the motor would be fine.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is true, any oil changed at 3k intervals will easily get you to the 100k mark without an oil related engine failure. However those that would like to go beyond 100k probably want to choose an oil with a better additive package than those cheap oils. You will see more engine wear with a cheap oil changed at 3k intervals than you would with a very high quality oil changed at 10k intervals.