25k UOA Report

The data is from my '99 SOHC using Amsoil Bypass filtration ( Dead Link Removed ) and Amsoil Series 2000 0W30 ( Dead Link Removed ). The mileage on this oil sample is 24,682 miles.

No oil filters were changed and no make up oil added at this sampling.

The UOA on all the samples was performed by Blackstone Labs ( Dead Link Removed ).

The first ( of 6 ) column represents the virgin oil ( VOA ), the second is a previous sample of this oil at 5120 miles, the third is another previous sample at 7679 miles, the fourth is a sample at 19,848 miles, the fifth is the current sample and the last represents Blackstone’s average of data collected for this type motor.

Aluminum 0 2 5 6 8 5
Chromium 0 1 1 1 2 1
Iron 2 8 14 23 31 16
Copper 0 5 9 8 10 6
Lead 0 2 5 4 5 4
Tin 0 0 1 1 1 1
Molybdenum 0 4 7 10 10 43
Nickel 0 0 0 1 1 0
Manganese 0 0 0 0 0 1
Silver 0 0 0 0 0 0
Titanium 0 0 0 0 0 0
Potassium 0 0 0 0 0 2
Boron 64 31 28 15 14 47
Silicon 4 5 7 13 13 9
Sodium 0 1 2 3 5 18
Calcium 1722 2054 2176 1907 1949 2039
Magnesium 598 751 831 525 567 202
Phosphorus 822 935 879 736 753 748
Zinc 958 1081 1021 875 1003 893
Barium 0 0 0 0 0 1
---------------------------

TBN 12.0, 4.9, 3.3, 2.3, 2.0

---------------------------
This sample Typical Amsoil 0W-30
Viscosity @ 210degF: 71.3 56-64
Flashpoint in deg F 410 385 >395
Fuel% < 0.5 <2.0
Antifreeze% 0 0.0
Water% 0 0.0
Insolubles % 0.4 < 0.6


Blackstone's comments:
AL: We are impressed. You ran this oil 25,000 miles and while wear read high, it's not excessive. Note the viscosity, reading in the 15W40 range. The TBN was 2.0, some active additive left but not much. 1.0 is considered too low. Wear metals increased, as expected with the longer oil use but none are in the caution range. Silicon has increased over previous levels and could show it's time for a new air filter. Oil filtration was okay. But overall, things look good. If the higher (and somewhat abrasive) wear metals don't bother you, try adding a few thousand miles & check back.

My conclusions:
This UOA validates extended OCI using bypass filtration. Even though this oil is still “good” and I could get more miles out of it, but based on this 25k UOA, especially the thickening of the oil to 15w40 and my quest for mileage, I shall change the oil and filters soon and go for another 25k miles ( with UOAs ). I will continue to use Amsoil Series 2000 0w30 oil and Amsoil EAO filters ( both full flow and bypass ).

This motor, with 119k miles, has never used any oil whatsoever.

Good data Al, just the type of results we would expect. I will also get my vehicles on the bypass system, maybe this Summer. Thanks for your work,

This is pretty interesting. I wonder how many other people have their engine oil analyzed. Al, do you also test your other fluids, like the transmission, P/S, brakes, differential, and transfer case? What does a lab charge for a service like this? How much fluid do they need to make an analysis?

BrooklynBay said:

This is pretty interesting. I wonder how many other people have their engine oil analyzed. Al, do you also test your other fluids, like the transmission, P/S, brakes, differential, and transfer case? What does a lab charge for a service like this? How much fluid do they need to make an analysis?

Click to expand...

I only test engine oil.

What is a transfer case

Blackstone ( http://blackstone-labs.com/index.html ) charges $20.oo for a UOA with an additional $10 for the TBN.

I send about 6 fl oz for testing.

Great Results, Keep up the good work

aldive said:

I only test engine oil.

What is a transfer case

Click to expand...

This is the thing that lets you go into 4H, and 4L. It is between the transmission, and the driveshaft.

BrooklynBay said:

This is the thing that lets you go into 4H, and 4L. It is between the transmission, and the driveshaft.

Click to expand...

Don't got one of them ....

So you only have two wheel drive. Maybe this is one reason that you get such good gas mileage. You aren't turning all of those extra parts, and lugging around the extra weight.

Your reports seem to be missing something... What is the alkalinity of the oil? When mentioning the idea of changing the oil less to my father (who will probably never do this due to being very old school) he absolutely demanded the oil wasn't suited for use after a certain amount of time due to its increasing level of alkalinity. Here's a clip taken from wikipedia about the testing of oil's acidic properties.

Another test done on oil is to determine the Total Base Number (TBN), which is a measurement of the reserve alkalinity of an oil to neutralize acids. The resulting quantity is determined as mg KOH/ (gram of lubricant). Analogously, Total Acid Number (TAN) is the measure of a lubricant's acidity. Other tests include zinc, phosphorus, or sulfur content, and testing for excessive foaming.

Click to expand...

Did you include this data I'm just overlooking it, or perhaps have it and forgot to include it? If you could provide it I would be most grateful .

Kamel said:

Your reports seem to be missing something... What is the alkalinity of the oil? When mentioning the idea of changing the oil less to my father (who will probably never do this due to being very old school) he absolutely demanded the oil wasn't suited for use after a certain amount of time due to its increasing level of alkalinity. Here's a clip taken from wikipedia about the testing of oil's acidic properties.



Did you include this data I'm just overlooking it, or perhaps have it and forgot to include it? If you could provide it I would be most grateful .

Click to expand...

aldive said:

...snip...

Barium 0 0 0 0 0 1
---------------------------

TBN 12.0, 4.9, 3.3, 2.3, 2.0

---------------------------
This sample Typical Amsoil 0W-30

...snip...

AL: We are impressed. You ran this oil 25,000 miles and while wear read high, it's not excessive. Note the viscosity, reading in the 15W40 range. The TBN was 2.0, some active additive left but not much. 1.0 is considered too low. Wear metals increased, ....blah, blah, blah, .....snip...

Click to expand...

Yes, it's in there. Read the whole post....

Thanks for pointing that out. I am not used to looking for it as 'TBN', but feel dumb as I quoted an article using that lol.

aldive said:

The TBN was 2.0, some active additive left but not much. 1.0 is considered too low. Wear metals increased, as expected with the longer oil use but none are in the caution range.

Click to expand...

Al just out of curiosity why would you run the oil for 25k when they say that there is in increase in wear metals? I know that it says its still not in the caution range, but its going to reduce the life of the engine, compared to if you run the oil for only 10k to 15k miles. Yes at 25k miles the oil is still doing its job, but it isn't doing it as well as it did at at 10k miles.

MustangP51 said:

Al just out of curiosity why would you run the oil for 25k when they say that there is in increase in wear metals? I know that it says its still not in the caution range, but its going to reduce the life of the engine, compared to if you run the oil for only 10k to 15k miles. Yes at 25k miles the oil is still doing its job, but it isn't doing it as well as it did at at 10k miles.

Click to expand...

I suspect that the caution levels probably reflect the typical test range of 3000-5000 mile normal old oil. I'd bet that the Amsoil is better at 25k than regular $2 oil at 5000 miles.

FYI, change your air filter, you have no idea how much dirt gets into the oil through the air filter. Try running an engine for 500 miles with no air filter(new oil), and testing the oil then. It will be filthy due to the dirty air, not the 500 miles. Regards,