This has to be the grand dady of all the oil analysis that I have done thus far. This guy owns a Dodge Ram 3500 Diesel. When he found out that I sell Amsoil he almost insisted that I come and change him over to Amsoil on his then newly acquired truck, so naturally, not wanting to argue I did so
At that time, Amsoil did not have any filters specifically targeted to diesel engines and because it is a turbo diesel Amsoil recommended around 7500 miles for the filter changes. The customer wanting to find out just how long the oil would last and get an accurate reading on the wear and oil life he used oil analysis at regular intervals.
I stayed in touch with him as much as I could because he was, at that time, my first diesel customer and I too was interested in making sure all went well. However, since he owns his own business and does a fair amount of driving I told him he would have to call me when it was time to change out the filters. He also bought and installed an Amsoil TS Foam Air filter.
Well, some time went buy and I had not heard from him and so I called him and asked if he had changed out the filter. He said he had not. So I asked him what the mileage was on the vehicle. He told me and we discovered he had went nearly 20k miles over the period of about 8 months and had not changed the filter. I went and pulled an oil sample and changed out the filter and topped it off with more HDD Series 3000 5W30.
The oil analysis came back and the report was outstanding and other than some break in wear, there was nothing at all abnormal about the report even though he had 20k miles on the filter and oil. About 6 months goes by again and he calls and tells me we need to change out the filter and pull another oil sample. He had nearly 8k miles on this one so there werent any major concerns. Again the oil analysis came back with an outstanding report.
Well now we both get busy and schedules all messed up and I dont hear from him for a long time. In the process he became a dealer, after seeing the oil analysis reports, and I just assumed he was buying his own products and doing the work himself now.
I call him up to find out how things are going and where he was with the maintenance. This was just a couple months ago. He told me that he had not done anything since the last time the filter was changed. My heart nearly leaped out of my chest and I insisted he get the mileage on the vehicle. He did so and my jaw nearly hit the floor. He had put nearly 60k miles on the oil and about 25k on this filter. I told him that if he wanted to continue to use Amsoil he needed to change out the oil and if not he needed to take it somewhere and just put new oil and a new filter on it. He opted for more Amsoil.
I meet him so we can pull an oil analysis. I do so and send it in. 57,938 miles on the oil, I surely expected the report to show elevated if not abnormal in several areas. Below you will see the report and just how well the oil and filtration held up. Im not surprised the oil did well, that I expected. Im surprised the oil did as well as it did with an oil filter with as many miles as it had. THAT is what makes this such an amazing report to me.
Iron: 57
Chromium: 5
Lead: 6
Copper: 438 (some of this is undoubtedly from the use of the filter for such a long time on a turbo engine, but it is mostly from the oil cooler and is not considered harmful)
Tin: 0
Aluminum: 21
Nickel: 0
Silver: 6
Silicon: 12
Boron: 2
Sodium: 0
Magnesium: 24
Calcium: 3784
Barium: 0
Phosphorus: 1121
Zinc: 1597
Molybdenum: 0
Titanium: 0
Vanadium: 0
Potassium: 0
Fuel: less than 1%
Viscosity at 100c: 12.64 (Just barely out of the 30W range)
Water: 0
Soots-Solids: 0.1 <-- remember this number
Coolant: Negative
Now, remember the Soots-Solids number above? Thats an indication of oil filtration. That number is about as minimal as its going to get and still register on the test. Nearly 25K MILES on the filter IN A TURBO diesel motor and its still showing excellent filtration.
Notice the TBN as well. PLENTY of life left in the oil. Typically the TBN will get flagged as being abnormal or the oil needing to be changed once it reaches 1.0 - 2.0 depending on the lab. He could have probably easily went another 5 - 10k miles probably further if he had kept up regular filter changes. He has NO by-pass system installed either.
This is by far the longest drain interval I have ever tested. He is now on another round of Series 3000 5W30 and a Donaldson filter so he will be good for 1yr/25k filter changes. Which is good for him, LOL.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
