valvoline synpower 0W20 7,162 miles 2011 taurus

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This is from my 2011 Taurus' fantastic 3.5L V6 (naturally aspirated). This sample was taken last october (2014) after a 51 week run. The miles accumulated were mostly rural back roads (many of them dirt) with some state roads mixed in. While we do climb a lot of 12-15% grades, that's more of a transmission concern, the engine rarely goes over 2250 rpm. Mostly runs 1,000 to 1,500 rpm. More than anything it's driven 6-7 miles at a time, some very short trips and once per week it gets out for a 44 mile round trip. Odometer at sample was 39,464.

You will see that insolubles were way high.
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I have not taken the time to dissect the filter yet. The truth is that I just recently sent the sample in after five months sitting (ok, actually buried) in my garage. I shook it up several times over a couple days before mailing it. I don't know if sitting so long caused an issue with the insols or not. Filter was Fram XG10575.

Blackstone notes: Dusty: Wear metals look great again, staying low and steady compared to previous samples. The only mark was for insolubles, showing that your oil filter was used up. For that reason, we would not go not go much more than 6,000 or 7,000 miles on next oil. TBN was 3.0 and TAN read at 4.1. Other than the insolubles things look great.

ELEMENT............UOA.......UNIVERSAL AVERAGES (last I knew 5,800)

Aluminum...........4.............4
Chromium...........1.............0
Iron...............15............11
Copper.............26............25
Lead...............0.............2
Tin................0.............1
Moly...............6.............63
Nickel.............0.............0
Manganese..........5.............6
Silver.............0.............0
Titanium...........0.............5
Potassium..........4.............2
Boron..............3.............57
Silicon............14............15
Sodium.............302...........63
Calcium............1935..........2128
Magnesium..........11............179
Phosphorous........520...........678
Zinc...............662...........779
Barium.............0.............1

SUS visc @210F..... 53.3
cSt visc @100C..... 8.28
Flash point........ 415F
Fuel %............. Antifreeze %....... 0.0
Water %............ 0.0
Insolubles %....... 0.7 (should be TBN................ 3.0
TAN................ 4.1
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
OMG! You could have gone 10000 more miles on this OCI!

Just kidding! Not too bad really!
smile.gif




Yes the TBN/TAN clearly indicate that it could have gone much farther but if the insols are accurate, that wouldn't be good. I have to believe sitting for five months messed up the sample but...
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Really a lo-tech ad-pack. Unless its a super sale I would use Syntech- much better additive pack
 
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That brings to mind...the bulk of this oil was from a 5 QT jug with a half quart from a quart size bottle. I did a voa using the one quart bottle in july 2013.

That voa showed:

Sodium 429
Calcium 1982
Magnesium 8
Phosphorous 693
Zinc 754

SUS 55.6
cSt 8.95

Flash point 455F

TBN 8.2
TAN 1.9
 
Man, if I said that...

Originally Posted By: Al
Really a lo-tech ad-pack. Unless its a super sale I would use Syntech- much better additive pack
 
When a suspect uoa using a *different oil* is discussed, the comments suggest something array with the vehicle.

When a suspect uoa using Valvoline is discussed, the comments suggest something wrong with Valvoline.

LOL.
 
Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
Man, if I said that...

Originally Posted By: Al
Really a lo-tech ad-pack. Unless its a super sale I would use Syntech- much better additive pack


Again! You typed what i thought. Twice in 15 min. LOL
 
7K+ miles, lots of short trips, dirt roads - that UOA looks pretty darn good to me. Thanks for sharing.
 
Clearly, Blackstone isn't drinking the FRAM Ultra Kool Aid.

Sounds like the filter is having trouble in this application/usage.

Did you run two OCI's on the Ultra?
 
Wait - so you can analyze an oil's overall performance via Blackstone's UOA and make comparisons to other oils?

And even if it is "lo-tech" does that make it inferior? Why?

Originally Posted By: Al
Really a lo-tech ad-pack. Unless its a super sale I would use Syntech- much better additive pack
 
Originally Posted By: SilverC6
Clearly, Blackstone isn't drinking the FRAM Ultra Kool Aid.

Sounds like the filter is having trouble in this application/usage.

Did you run two OCI's on the Ultra?



I have "blueovalfitter syndrome"
smile.gif
and still stuck in my ways of changing filters each time, but I may get to the two oci/filter someday.

The previous oci was QS ultimate durability and the XG10575. Insolubles were at 0.3% after 6,697 miles over nine months. That oci had about 1100 miles of interstate cruising, otherwise the rural driving was standard.

The air filter (napa) was new when I purchased the car at about 24,000 miles so I don't think there's any problem breathing (even if it does run a lot of dirt roads).

I will mail my recent oci sample out next week. I ran QSAD and a MC FL500s from 10/8/14 to 4/1/15 and I hope insols are back to normal. The car has never used any oil, staying right on the full mark throughout each oci.

I just spent a week at home and could have hacked the filter open had I known what was coming in the report. By the time I got the report I had to hit the road again. It'll be awhile before I get back home to dissect it.
 
Originally Posted By: Al
Really a lo-tech ad-pack. Unless its a super sale I would use Syntech- much better additive pack


Maybe that lo-tech ad-pack found some sludge from my car's rental days and cleaned it up
smile.gif
.
 
Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
Man, if I said that...

Originally Posted By: Al
Really a lo-tech ad-pack. Unless its a super sale I would use Syntech- much better additive pack


Oil Changer, while I don't share your hatred of Ashland, I certainly don't hold it against you. Bash away if you like
smile.gif


I have done three drain and fills with maxlife low vis atf since last summer. Draining/filling one gallon at a time. So far so good. No better, no worse than the factory fill.

That said, I'm going to try to stick with oils without sodium and have been liking the conventional QS green bottle.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
7K+ miles, lots of short trips, dirt roads - that UOA looks pretty darn good to me. Thanks for sharing.


You are welcome!
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Wait - so you can analyze an oil's overall performance via Blackstone's UOA and make comparisons to other oils?

And even if it is "lo-tech" does that make it inferior? Why?

No you can't analyze an oil's performance without doing a UOA and you can't even analyze it on many UOA's unless you benchmarki it against other oils on many similar vehicles.
Here is a 9700 mile UOA which is clearly better than the one above.
1_oilreports.aspx-page-001_1_.jpg


Is it the oil (SuperTech Syn) or the vehicle? You tell me. I don't know.

I am just saying Valvoline is a cheap oil. Group III with a cheap lo-tech add pack. (IMHO) Does that mean it will underperform a Group IV with a better add pack? I don't know. you tell me.
 
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The very same way you can find a 'good' UOA using a different brand oil, there will be someone with an equally good run using Valvoline (or any other oil in question). So, that 'good' UOA does not exclude Valvoline (or anything else) from being a quality product.

The OP would need to use this UOA as a baseline and conduct further UOA using the same oil to gather enough pertinent information on the oil and if a change is in store after that.
 
Originally Posted By: wemay
The very same way you can find a 'good' UOA using a different brand oil, there will be someone with an equally good run using Valvoline (or any other oil in question). So, that 'good' UOA does not exclude Valvoline (or anything else) from being a quality product.

The OP would need to use this UOA as a baseline and conduct further UOA using the same oil to gather enough pertinent information on the oil and if a change is in store after that.

Not disagreeing with you. I have been into oils for 25 years. The more I learn and see the more I feel (for every modern oil).."Oil is Oil" Certainly syns can run longer and you can't "wear out" the oil and expect good results. But other than that...results of oils are similar if operated within "reasonable" parameters.
 
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Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: wemay
The very same way you can find a 'good' UOA using a different brand oil, there will be someone with an equally good run using Valvoline (or any other oil in question). So, that 'good' UOA does not exclude Valvoline (or anything else) from being a quality product.

The OP would need to use this UOA as a baseline and conduct further UOA using the same oil to gather enough pertinent information on the oil and if a change is in store after that.

Not disagreeing with you. I have been into oils for 25 years. The more I learn and see the more I feel (for every modern oil).."Oil is Oil" Certainly syns can run longer and you can't "wear out" the oil and expect good results. But other than that...results of oils are similar if operated within "reasonable" parameters.


Completely agree Al.
 
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