Nice. I may send a sample in next oc.

Did you do an oc when you sent in that sample? If so curious as to what oil you went with?

 

I did change, using an OEM filter and Castrol Edge 5-30 oil:

Castrol 03559 EDGE 5W-30 C3 Advanced Full Synthetic Motor Oil, 5 quart https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0161A4EU4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_RwqVAbX541TJ1

 

I just got my kit. I got about 4k miles left til I change my oil. How do you recommend getting a sample in the jar without making a huge mess?

 

Drive the truck for about 30-45 minutes. That gets rid of any water or fuel that's collected in the oil. Let the engine sit for about 30 minutes or so before draining.

As you drain the oil, let some of it drain in to the pan, and then dip the sample container into the stream and catch your sample. Make it a mid stream catch. You get oil on the outside of the container, but that's no big deal.

 

Good idea to create a dedicated thread for oil analysis.

This is my 2nd oil change. I dumped the factory fill at 1500 miles and replaced it with a Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oil. This is Mobil Delvac 1 ESP 5w40, previous PAO based CJ-4 formulation.

Oil has 5k on it. I was cold-start idling for 5-10 minutes which I believe is where the fuel dilution came from. Now I idle no longer than 2-3 minutes. Hopefully this gets the FD under control.
Also worth noting that for about 3k miles I ran exclusively on HVO as fuel source.

Oil was changed and re-filled with D1.

 

D1 is not Dexos2. Hahha, I use D1 as well.

 

I have twelve qts of Dexos2 left and just may go with a HDEO when I use that up. Mobil1 Delvac ESP 5W-30 is on my radar.

Check out this tool at the Lubrizol site.

Click on either passenger car or heavy duty for each tool. You can overlay specs within a each category.

https://www.lubrizol.com/Lubricant-and-Fuel-Additives/Engine-Oil-Additives/ACEA/Relative-Performance-Tool

 

Mobil makes two synthetic HDEOs in 5w30.

New Delvac ESP 5w30 and Delvac LE 5w30. The LE has better dynamic properties, probably due to better base oils and also contains moly and boron. LE looks like a superior product.

However both of these two are Euro market E6 lubes, so the Phosphorous is capped at 800 ppm. Both of these Mobil offerings are kinda middle-of-the road HDEOs, somewhere between a ACEA C3 and true CK-4/CJ-4 HDEO w/ 1000-1200 ppm of P in their forumulation.

An E6 Lube will be a definite step up from Dexos 2, but it won't give you the extra level of protection as a "Real" HDEO.

 

*Summary report in post 39*

I have had good luck with Redline in the past but I can't say I'm overly impressed with this. Silicon is low side of average so it isn't that. Fairly light use with no towing. DIC showed 7% life remaining at the change FWIW.
Seems Blackstone doesn't know the engine is VM Motori.

I have sent a sample out from my wife's '15 Golf TDI as well. It will be interesting to see that report. It's arguably "broken in" at 50,000 miles.

 

I have had good luck with Redline in the past but I can't say I'm overly impressed with this. Silicon is low side of average so it isn't that. Fairly light use with no towing. DIC showed 7% life remaining at the change FWIW.
Seems Blackstone doesn't know the engine is VM Motori.

I have sent a sample out from my wife's '15 Golf TDI as well. It will be interesting to see that report. It's arguably "broken in" at 50,000 miles.

That’s one of the worst reports I’ve seen so far. This is a broken in engine so wear metals should be leveling off.

Redline euro 5w40 is a mid saps C3 type oil. I haven’t seen any reports with this offering, but I would not use it again if I were you.

Low SAPS = lower engine protection. Perhaps redline full saps 15w40, 5w30 or 5w40 would serve you better in this application.

Also noticed that the measured viscosity @ 100c is 3.2 cSt lower than Redline spec. It’s now a 30 grade oil. You may have had significant fuel dilution in the crankcase which contributed to the excessive wear. Blackstone labs can’t accurately measure fuel dilution, it is the major drawback of using them for oil reports.

And finally. the 2.8 Duramax isn’t a VM engine. GM made a number of changes to solve multiple shortcomings in the VM A428, including the head and bottom end. GDE called it a “ground up redesign” so it is actually a GM engine.

 

 

Wow that's pretty good for 8k miles. Did you wait until the Oil life monitor hit 0% ?

I think this is the best result that's been posted on a Dexos 2 oil. Is this the Castrol Edge in the black bottles ?

Was there any make-up oil added ?

 

2016cc with 23k. Oil was 1/2 down on dipstick with dealer only changes up to this point. No towing,lots of Idling and very cold weather! (2 weeks @ 14 below every nite). Oil monitor said 30% left with 5 k on oil. Blackstone report said high Aluminium, Potassium and Chrome ?.(sorry could not get report to download) Blackstone report said this still could be normal left over from break in for our baby Duramaxs.(I bought truck with 12k on GM executive driven) Ive changed oil myself using Pensoil oil.I now have 2k on this oil and so far so Good! I'll report back.

 

If you can't figure out how to load the report, a screenshot can be taken and posted here. We'd like to see it. A modern engine on it's 3rd oil change should see decreasing wear metals as the engine is primarily broken in at this point in it's life.

High potassium is usually pretty serious and indicates a coolant leak into the oil, typically from the headgasket, EGR or oil cooler.


Lead – Usually a soft metal, most common related to bushings and Rod Bearings. Engine oil which are highly oxidized can attack the bearing material, leads to increased lead readings.

Iron – Mostly comes from Cylinder liners, Rings, Crankshaft, Camshaft, Rods, Valve Train, Oil pump gear, Wrist pins, cast iron components and Gears. Usually found as fine particles due to abrasion or wear.

Aluminium –Generally comes from Pistons, Turbo Bearings, Main and Rod Bearings, pumps, thrust bearings and washers, plates and Aluminium castings. Aluminium associated with silica indicates dirt. Aluminium found in
hydraulic system should be generally due to dirt ingestion and in final drives can be associated with dirt or sand.

Copper – Usually like a soft metal present in Main and Rod Bearings, Oil Cooler core, Clutch plates, Brass and Bronze bushings and Roller bearing outer cage. In engines it should be due to the water pump leak or coolant core. If it is found along with potassium, sodium and glycol, it will be coming from the oil cooler. If it is found along with lead and tin, it will be coming from bearing or bushing.

Chromium – Generally a hard metal generated from piston rings, Liners, Exhaust Valves, Shaft plating, Roller bearings, needle bearings, shafts, rods, gears, stainless steel alloys. Its presence indicates something harder is present usually silica and alumina. Chromium found in hydraulic system is from cylinder rods and valve spools.

Tin – Usually found in Bearings, Brass or Bronze Bushings and Flashing from pistons. Tin associated with lead and copper in engines indicate bearing wear.

Nickel – Alloy Valves, Crankshafts, Camshafts, Bearings and shafts.

 

Here's my report

 

Sorry having technical difficulties!?

 

Oil Change #3, NON Dexos 2 oil

This is my 3rd oil change and 2nd run using Mobil Delvac ESP. This is the older PAO based CJ-4 formula no longer sold here. I don't like Dexos 2 and I think it's a $hit specification, which is why I'm not using any "approved" oils.

70% freeway / 30% city. 11,700 miles on truck and 5,300 on oil. Normal driving, sometimes with a payload of less than 1,000 #. Sometimes I take trips to the mountains, switchbacks and steep grades. I use the exhaust brake and manual shift the transmission to engine brake on these drives, about once per month. This is the hardest it’s been driven, no towing yet.

Fueled exclusively with HVO dosed with Stanadyne PF @ 500:1 ratio. Changed oil early this time because I had fuel dilution in my previous UOA.

FD looks like it’s under control now.

Overall the D1 ESP looks like it did really well, however there was some valvetrain noise at start-up which I didn’t like. I tried RLI BioSyn HD SHP 10w40 CJ-4 oil this time. The RLI cSt @ 40c value is about 20% less than D1 ESP and it has a high VI of 172. Valvetrain noise at start-up is virtually eliminated with RLI.

RLI is weird oil, it is about 40% plant based esters blended with PAOs. Even though this 10w40 has a lower viscosity @ 40c and 100c, due to the esters the HTHS value is significantly higher. My hot oil pressure at 65 mph (1750 RPM) is now 48 PSI.

 

VM Motori redesigned their 2.8l engine from the ground up for the 2007 model year in European Jeep applications (Called the Panther engine). In 2011, VM came out with the Cheetah 2.8l engine with slight changes to the panther engine like, injectors, piston and a few other minor details. GM licensed the Cheetah engine from VM. GM then changed the turbocharger, changed the balance shafts and went with a Delphi fuel system.

The GM I-6 is loosely based on a 2.0l 4-banger that GM has, but the combustion system has been reworked.

 

So basically what I said earlier is correct. The 2.8l "duramax" is based off of a VM Motori design, obviously with some changes made.

I don't think anyone should get defensive about that. The engine seems to have a decent reputation, but it isn't a true Isuzu/GM duramax design.

 

*Summary report in post 39*

 

Here is my second oil change, DIC showed 13% remaining. Mostly city driving, some light towing. Castrol Edge 5/30 dexos2 oil.

It's interesting how thick the oil is at change time, it's in the 40wt range. Has anyone else seen this? I'm wondering if it's caused by my driving habits, this specific engine or the oil.

http://www.coloradofans.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=321837&thumb=1

 

Here is my second oil change, DIC showed 13% remaining. Mostly city driving, some light towing. Castrol Edge 5/30 dexos2 oil.

It's interesting how thick the oil is at change time, it's in the 40wt range. Has anyone else seen this? I'm wondering if it's caused by my driving habits, this specific engine or the oil.

https://www.coloradofans.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=321837&thumb=1

No that thickening is not normal for synthetic oil and only 6500 miles.

Usual causes of oil thinkening:

• oil oxidation (no TBN or oxidation test done, so ??)
• coolant contamination
• High soot accumulation
• Analytical error

Try a different lab next time who will accurately measure soot, oxidation and TBN so you can narrow down the cause of the thickening.

 

I missed this thread somewhere along the way. Subscribing now. Posting Blackstone results from my third oil change (back in late Feb). Am going to be doing #4 in the next few days. Will be the first change I have done myself on this truck. First 3 were from the dealer. Plan on using Penzoil Platinum 5W-30 and OEM filter. I will also post the results of the analysis once I get it back from Blackstone. I am at about 27.5K miles at the moment, DIC showing 5% oil life.

 

Total Quartz INEO

Folks,

Thought I'd share the first oil analysis from Blackstone for my truck. This interval contained about 75% highway and 25% city driving including a 300 mile trip with approximately 1700 feet of elevation change towing 5000 pounds. Here are the details for reference:

2018 Z71 CCLB 4x4
First oil change at 2800 miles
6qts Total Quartz INEO 5w30
ACDelco PF2262G

Miles on oil - 7383 mi
Hours on oil - 263.9 Hrs

The current oil being used is Motul 8100 X-clean 5w40. I will be using about the same interval, 7500 miles, and then have that oil checked.

Clever, thanks for the heads up on this thread.

--Matt

 

Great info! The Total Quartz seems to be a good choice. Sadly I can't find it locally and have ordered it off Amazon. Motul makes a great oil in general, I imagine that will test well also.

 

for me it seems the more I look into the oil for this engine the worse it gets lol. I have a big background in competition drag race engines. Owned a competition engine shop for many years But really not much of what I know and use is relevant here. Always had large tow rigs with conventional over the road truck type engines. And of course some 1 ton type trucks with early power strokes or Dodge Cummins. And really that's not much help either. I'm not necessarily a heavy viscosity oil guy and like synthetics. I however am not real interested in using an oil that is of an unrealistic cost or difficult to get. I'm not saying I want oil for 2 bucks a quart, I routinely use 10-13 bucks a quart oil. but I believe there should be a reasonable cost and readily available oil. Dexos rating is un-important to me. I have quizzed Clever in other threads and he has shared some good info with me. I feel like I am putting too much brain damage in on this subject LOL. I may be being too hard headed about not using Mobil1. it just wont work in my world but it may just fine in this truck. The factory fill oil had tappet noise at start up before 1500 miles and I live in Florida . I changed it to the Euro Valvoline 5/40 I think it was . that was at about 1800 miles I'm now at 6700 miles and ready to change again. It just started tappet noise again in the morning start up. Its not excessive , but I notice it. It did make it longer then the factory fill though. Clever seems to think a 10/30 is in order and I agree. so I'm still on the search lol. Thanks for posting these reports it is interesting an informative I appreciate it.

 

It sounds like the tappet noise you're hearing is due to the oil shearing with age. A 100% syn 10w30 would definitely resist shear better than any Dexos 2 5w30 or 5w40. 10w30 or even SAE 30 would be excellent in Florida's climate.

There are only a couple 100% synthetic 10w30 Diesel oils that I know of.

Amsoil HD 10w30 CK-4 https://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-prod...-product/motor-oil/diesel/heavy-duty-synthetic-diesel-oil-10w-30/?code=ADNQT-EA

Renewable Lubricants HD 10w30 CJ-4 https://www.zoro.com/renewable-lubricants-engine-oil-bio-synthetic-1-gal-10w30-85173/i/G1776905/

I'm currently using the Renewable Lubricants 10w30 mixed 50/50 with their 15w40 HD CJ-4. I had the blend tested and it's a thin 10w40 that flows better than the 5w40 Delvac used previously. All good after 3K miles, oil pressure still very strong so it's resisting age related shear pretty well.

The Amsoil 10w30 specs look really good too.

 

Results from oil change #4. This was the first change I did myself. The truck still had the AC Delco oil in it (last change was at dealer) but I have now moved to Penzoil Platinum 5W-30 w/ OEM filter. I'll report same results next time I change the oil!

 

Good to hear the oil is holding up well when taken up to the 7,500-mile interval. I didn't really expect otherwise, really, but good to know that soot wasn't an issue.

 

Update to my previous post my truck still seems to like to use a half a quart every 5000 miles which is when I change my oil. My latest Blackstone report said my Chrome was about normal at three parts per million Aluminum and Potassium are still a bit high but Blackstone said as long as they track together it should be okay. I'm using Pennzoil Euro L dexos2 oil and they said I could go up to 7000 miles before oil changes I'm sticking to 5000.

 

One more data point. Read, ignore or... not sure what's left. As reports are added I will update and point back to this post. No need to duplicate data.

3/27/18 sample was taken from the bottom early in the drain stream at end of change interval. Redline 5W-40 Euro. Truck was GDE tuned for 40% of this change and had some lugging issues with a beta trans tune. Both following changes are 100% GDE engine and trans. All things considered (including subsequent reports), my best guess as to cause of elevated metals here is that this stuff makes a fairly good solvent.

6/20/18 sample was pumped from top 5500mi into interval. Redline 5W-40 Euro. Same oil as prior but iron dropped by factor of 3.

1/15/19 sample was pumped from top a bit prior to 5500mi into interval. 5qt Redline 5W-40 Euro + 1qt Redline 10W-40 (Cleaned off my shelf). Mostly 5W-40 Euro but had 1 qt 10W-40. Iron dropped by factor of 2.

 

Latest Blackstone report at 35K. This is the first analysis of my switch to Penzoil Platinum Euro 5W30. All prior reports were on the AC Delco oil from the dealer. I had no idea that idling the truck would raise fuel dilution but that apparently is where the spike (small) came from because I did NOT drive 10-15 minutes at highway speeds before sampling. I had driven home from work, and had dinner, but wanted to make sure I was at good temp before the oil change so I let it idle in the garage for 5-10 mins. I had noted that on the sample slip so that picked that up on the comments back to me. Thoughts?

 

Looks to me like Pennzoil is the supplier for the AC Delco dexos2 oil. The additive quantities and results are nearly identical, IMO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Here’s mine. Oil life went to 0% at 7200 and I pushed it out to 7600 because I was on a road trip and towing a trailer.

This is Biosyn Xtra CJ-4 which is a motor oil made from non-toxic esterfied vegetable feedstocks grown in the USA. I used a 50/50 blend of the 10w30 & 15w40 to make it a 10w40. This oil has some unique properties that make it superior to fossil fuel based synthetics oils.

All wear metals are very low however I have no idea where the manganese came from. Manganese is usually alloyed with steel and they track together. Iron is low though so It doesn’t appear to be a wear metal.

I started using a new fuel additive on this oil change interval and perhaps it contains a manganese based compound. Or the sample got contaminated somehow. I know this is my sample because there is antimony present which is unique to the Biosyn formula. So no switcheroo at the lab...

It’s kinda obscured but the soot value is 0.1% and fuel dilution was 1.9%.

 

Just throwing this out there-- comparing UOA would make more sense if you all used the same lab and gave a lot more information about your use-cases.

 

I dont think we can all agree on using the same lab. That’s not practical. I like oil analyzers because they do real fuel dilution, measure soot, include TBN and test for Antimony which Blackstone Labs doesn’t do.

I think it is good to give details about your usage and the brand of filter your using.

 

Anyone have any input on AMSOIL European car formula:
https://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-prod...or-oil/european/european-car-formula-5w-30-synthetic-motor-oil/?code=aelqt-ea#B


Not a great HTHS but it mentions Dexos2. I don't know if that means it's actually Dexos 2 certified.

 

No, Amsoil doesn’t have any dexos2 certified/licensed oils. Amsoil is just claiming to meet or exceed the spec but there’s no guarantee.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk