I looked over your analysis. I thought it was an Amsoil product since it was posted in this section, but thats okay too. The report says you have 3300 miles on the Castrol GTX 5W30, I take it you didnt opt for the TBN test?
While your report is good and shows all normal, I would like to point out a couple of things. First let me say, in reading an analysis, Im pretty conservative. By that I mean that while it may not get flagged as an issue by the oil analysis lab, I tend to take stock it things a bit more. Also keep in mind that my experience with oil analysis reports has been limited to pretty much Amsoil products, so I will compare to that. Not to sell you on it, but just to give you a baseline to work from and I'll be glad to answer any questions as well.
Let me first say there is nothing wrong with your report, all looks really good, so Im going to approach it from the standpoint things could be a little better. Dont shoot me down please .
So with that said, here we go.
1. Iron levels. While not out of the ordinary, and not abnormal or dont show any signs of a problem, I personally feel they could be a little lower. I'll relate to a customer that I have that uses Amsoil XL-7500 5W30 oil. He drove 7150 miles on the XL7500 oil and had me pull a sample for analysis. He ran this over the winter months where he did a lot of idling. So the report came back with some fuel dilution, and was just barely under the level of being flagged as abnormal. Even with that, his Iron levels were only 12ppm. With 3300 miles on your Castrol you have 11ppm. The best way to read the contaminants is to figure out what the contaminants are in ppm/per mile. Your motor with Castrol 5W30 produced 0.003 ppm/per mile. My customer had 0.0016 ppm/ per mile. Keep in mind, he had some pretty high fuel dilution too which thins the oil a great deal and undermines the ability of the oil to protect. Even so, with twice the mileage he had a third of the iron in his oil. Just something to consider. Did the Castrol GTX 5W30 do its job? Yeah or the levels would be higher. Can it be better? I believe so, how much better only use and analysis will tell.
Overall though, your wear number is still low.
2. Silicon Levels. While your silicon levels are again low and not enough to flag as abnormal, I think they may be a little high if you are running a paper air filter. At 10 ppm in the oil for 3300 miles that comes out to 0.003 ppm/per mile. I run an aftermarket intake with an Amsoil TS191 2-stage foam air filter. After 8200 miles and a leak in the intake system due to the intake coming loose from the throttle body I had a silicon level of 11 ppm. That comes out to 0.001 ppm/per mile. My normal silicon level is around 4 ppm over 8000 miles which comes out to 0.0005 ppm/per mile. I have a diesel customer with a 2003 Dode Cummins 5.9L diesel running an Amsoil air filter that had 3 ppm after 20,000 miles! That comes out to 0.00015 ppm/per mile. So while your silicon levels may under normal circumstances no warrant much attention, given the mileage you have on the oil I think it may be worth a look at the intake system to make sure all is well there. Again, Im conservative in these things. Others may blow it off, me, I think it would at least be worth a few minutes just to make sure. Two identical motors with identical mileage under identical driving conditions will never test the same. So it may just be your set up, but if it were me Id feel better checking it out.
3. Zinc Levels. This is purely oil formulation, but its worth mentioning in my opinion. Your zinc levels show 830 ppm. This is an anti-wear additive in the oil, its supposed to be there. However, after 3300 miles your down to 830 ppm. While I have no virgin oil analysis of this oil to see where its at out of the bottle, it seems that it could be better and that generally requires trying a different oil. My customer using the XL7500 oil after 7100 miles had zinc levels at 1015 ppm. Is it a big deal? Not really unless you want to stretch out the drain intervals to more than you are now. Without knowing the TBN levels I wouldnt push the Castrol more that 5000 miles or so. Again, Im being on the conservative side because I dont have a complete picture without the TBN information.
4. Insolubles. Again, your report shows low levels, but it comes as a surprise to me that you have even 0.4%. Even with the customer that is using the XL7500 with the fuel dilution issue his insolubles weren't more that 0.1%. So the oil filter you are using may be letting some stuff through. Enough to be harmful? Not really. Can it be better? I believe so. Again though you have to kinda play around with what oil and filter your using.
So anyway, those were the things that caught my attention. The fuel dilution of 0.5% I'll attribute to idle time or short trip driving. If that is the case, you can help that out some by taking longer trips occasionaly or less idle time. With the oil reading closer to the 5W20 spectrum I believe may just be due to the normal process of a petroleum oil shearing back due to use. Since it has sheared back that much in the time it has, it may be worth keeping an eye on if you didnt already change the oil it could get too thin.
Overall, its a good report. For a vehicle with 63,000 miles on it, it seems to be holding up well. I think you could help it last even longer (if that is your plan) by trying one or two other oils and see what the oil analysis says. If you stick with the Castrol, I personally wouldnt push it past 5000 mile oil changes. Just my opinion though.
Well I hope all that stuff helps out in some way. I'll be more than glad to answer any questions you have. I'll do my best to answer them.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
I use a Geniune FL-2005 Motorcraft filter for my Zetec, as I have since the cars been new. So 'm not sure why the filter wouldn't be doingi ts job. From what I have reviewed onlin,e it should be a pretty descent filter.
I did beat the hell out of this batch of oil, with a lot of short trips, high revs, and it being winter, I let it idle a little longer than normal at startup (around 3-4 minutes, instead of my usual 1)...I was "very spirited" on this fill too Maybe these had some effect on the oil?
mhadden wrote: I use a Geniune FL-2005 Motorcraft filter for my Zetec, as I have since the cars been new. So 'm not sure why the filter wouldn't be doingi ts job. From what I have reviewed onlin,e it should be a pretty descent filter.
I did beat the hell out of this batch of oil, with a lot of short trips, high revs, and it being winter, I let it idle a little longer than normal at startup (around 3-4 minutes, instead of my usual 1)...I was "very spirited" on this fill too Maybe these had some effect on the oil?
Oh most definately. The short trips more than anything probably just because the oil has less of a chance to get up to temp. And its not that the filter isnt doing its job so much, as much as it is Ive seen better, I should have clarified that. The Motorcraft filters are pretty good filters, there are just better out there. But as you stated, the driving habbits probably accounted for most of the results of the analysis.
Even so, if you wanted to save some money, I dont see 5000 mile change intervals out of the question on that particular oil. You might, MIGHT even be able to get 7500 miles, but I would definately get an analysis done when you changed it to see what if any differences there are, that long my push that oil to the limit if you are normally a spirited driver.
I tend to be a really spirited driver so I run the Amsoil Series 2000 0W30 and have had it in there now for about 16,000 miles with no problems, but I also run a dual remote bypass unit which kicks up the filtration ability quite a bit, so my wear numbers stay pretty low and my oil additive package stays pretty healthy.
It really comes down to finding what works best with your motor and oil analysis is the only real way to determine that. But it runs into problems trying to keep the driving habbits the same as you test out different products. I'd say you are okay on the Castrol, but if you wanted even longer times between oil changes or if you wanted to reduce your wear, you might try a couple other products and see what you get on the analysis.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
Thanks for the info and input. I did an oil analysis because I hope to get rid of the Focus in the future and I wanted to see if it could be a good indication of life remaining (which seems to be good) and to show a buyer that I did keep the car maintained. It has been a great car, but I'll be graduating soon and I need something bigger. I plan on getting a Volvo S40 in the future, and I'll save the more expenisve, but longer lasting oil for that.
But for now, I plan on driving on this fill more conservatively, and I've already put 1,500 miles on it since last week by going and visiting my family in Michigan. It should last a little onger this time and show better wear than the last sample.
Outstanding. No better way to show the condition of the car (specifically the motor) than with oil analysis. If you wanted to go the complete route you can get an analysis done on the transmission fluid as well, that way you have an all around picture of the engine and drivetrain.
If you are driving more conservatively I would almost guarantee that your wear numbers will be lower. And you know what, I forgot to thank you for posting your analysis report here. I hope if you do any more of them you'll stop by and post them as well.
Dont be a stranger either, I forgot to welcome you to the board. Stop by let us know what is going on, mingle, have some fun, all that stuff. There is a great group of people here.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
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