Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Personally I think Ramblejam's sample has already started to thicken up from oxidation. The extremely low flash point means there is quite a bit of fuel in the oil which will thin it out, so I believe the real viscosity without fuel contamination should be closer to 12 cSt, thicker than virgin. While running the oil that long did no seem to cause extra wear, it probably didn't help with varnish buildup inside the engine.
Here's the word from Blackstone: "As for a trace of fuel, it's slightly more than 0.5%. A trace is the lowest level we are able to read with our flashpoint method. We can't accurately detect any fuel below 0.5%, which is why when no significant fuel is present we report it as span>
I'll let others decide if that corroborates your "quite a bit of fuel" assessment.
"I think"
"I believe"
"It probably"
When it comes to figuring out what's going on with an engine, supposition and theory is no replacement for objective data.
Look, the 1MZ crowd gets entirely bent out of shape when it comes to the topic of extended OCI's. There's much out there all over the internet on the subject, but in reality, causation can always be traced back to bargain bulk oil from 10+ years ago on 7,500 mile city-driving OCI's, and maintenance practices that can be best described as putting gas in the tank and taking it to the car wash.
As it stands, I've posted up a couple complete reports from Blackstone now (not saying that I have results and to take my word on it, or putting up unverifiable info, etc.) showing excellent wear for a daily-driver car that sees a mix of city and highway driving. As well, it continues to easily deliver fuel economy in excess of EPA numbers, is quiet as can be, and ZERO oil is added during those lengthy OCI's.
Nor does this engine experience any leakage from the valve cover gaskets - if and when that ever happens, and replacement is needed, I'll certainly take pictures and let you take a look at deposit accumulation.
