Castrol High Mileage 10W40 3K MI 1997 F150 4.6

[OldBlueTruckin]

Code:




OIL CHM10W30 CHM10W40

MILES IN USE 5.3k 3.1k

MILES 194.8k 216.9k

SAMPLE TAKEN 7/9/2014 6/13/2015



ALUMINUM 13 5

CHROMIUM 2 0

IRON 20 4

COPPER 5 1

LEAD 0 0

TIN 0 0

MOLYBDENUM 0 0

NICKEL 1 1

MANGANESE 0 0

SILVER 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0

POTASSIUM 8 6

BORON 42 84

SILICON 16 10

SODIUM 8 14

CALCIUM 2223 2309

MAGNESIUM 16 10

PHOSPHORUS 706 747

ZINC 815 859

BARIUM 0 0



INSOLUBLES 0.2 0.2

WATER 0 0

FLASHPOINT ºF 390 370

SUS VIS 210ºF 58.9 60.0

cSt @ 212ºF 9.90 10.22


Your F-150 has really been eating up the highway miles you've been putting on it, and there's a lot less wear than we found last time. The shorter oil run helped out some with that, but we don't think that deserves all of the credit for the improvements. This run was only ~1,300 miles shorter than your first sample, so your engine made less wear per-mile than before. The viscosity read in the 10W/30 range, but that didn't do any harm. That's what you're running now anyways. The trace of fuel is harmless. A TBN of
4.8 is strong.

I am thinking of switching to Rotella T6 5W40 for my next run, any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Brybo86]

Looks like that engine likes the heavier 40 weight better. T6 sounds good to me try 5K? Or 6-7k

 

[901Memphis]

T6 is a great product but will last much longer. It would easily go 7500 miles for you

 

[KCJeep]

Sometimes thicker IS better!

Is this the current "Resource Conserving" catalytic converter friendly Castrol HM. Another recent UOA on here has a considerably different add pack but frankly yours are very consistent and more what I would expect.

 

[aquariuscsm]

^^Yep,the 40 weight is superior in your truck. Keep using it.

 

[Shannow]

The viscosity and flashpoint indicated that the "trace" of fuel is more than a "trace", and the 40 is doing a better job covering for it.

 

[dustyroads]

You asked for thoughts or suggestions...so I think the 10W40 Castrol HM did fabulous for you and suggest you stick with it

.

There's nothing to gain with T6 unless you want to go to super long oci's. The CHM that your using is working great and still has lots of life left in it. With a little bit of fuel showing up, I'd rather do more "typical" oci's with average HM oils as opposed to really long oci's with T6.

T6 is great stuff but don't know what you would get out of it.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: dustyroads
You asked for thoughts or suggestions...so I think the 10W40 Castrol HM did fabulous for you and suggest you stick with it

.

There's nothing to gain with T6 unless you want to go to super long oci's. The CHM that your using is working great and still has lots of life left in it. With a little bit of fuel showing up, I'd rather do more "typical" oci's with average HM oils as opposed to really long oci's with T6.

T6 is great stuff but don't know what you would get out of it.


^^This. Keep on using the Castrol 10W40.

 

[Brybo86]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
The viscosity and flashpoint indicated that the "trace" of fuel is more than a "trace", and the 40 is doing a better job covering for it.



Huh? The 10w30 has a higher flashpoint. 390 vs 370 for the 10w40

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
Originally Posted By: Shannow
The viscosity and flashpoint indicated that the "trace" of fuel is more than a "trace", and the 40 is doing a better job covering for it.



Huh? The 10w30 has a higher flashpoint. 390 vs 370 for the 10w40


There's a whole bunch of other lines on the UOA that can help fill in the picture.

 

[CarbonSteel]

I would say the UOAs are "OK" but they are nothing spectacular for such short OCIs; I have 15K OCIs that are as good if not better. There seems to be an improvement from one oil to the other and by lowering the OCI, but I would want to try another oil to see if there are improvements to be gained. The other thing that comes to mind is that for a 5K/3K OCI the silicon is high which could be contributing to the levels of wear metals. I would check the air intake system, unless the engine has been opened up recently.

 

[dustyroads]

We don't have any background on these uoa's but I think there must have been something going on during the first one, or during the oci's leading up to it. I certainly think it was something other than the 10W30. I think if he uses 10w30 again it'll look much better than the first one posted.

The 10W40 sure looks great. Theoretically, if he had extended the oci, aluminum should have remained at 4PPM with only the iron continuing to rise. The iron is at a fine rate during the first 3K miles and as the miles piled up, the rate per thousand would only get better.

I said he should stick with the CHM 10W40, and still say that would work great. However, something was wrong during his run with 10W30, i don't believe it was about "lighter" oil itself but rather operating conditions during or before that run. Maybe there were mechanical issues not mentioned by the OP.

As FX4 noted, silicon isn't too good for the miles, but in these posted uoa's I don't think it was an issue. It would be wise to check over the intake (again giving credit to FX4 for bringing it up).

 

[OldBlueTruckin]

Ok...here's the deal.
I purchased this truck from a friend of mine last March.
He had used it in his lawn care / landscaping business for 10 years. He had the motor replaced shortly after he purchased it.
It was subjected to towing a trailer with commercial grade lawn mowers on it. All city (hard stop and go life) The truck sat over the winter months as it was not needed during that time.

The first set of numbers was taken after the second oil change I had performed on it since I purchased it. My guess is that some of the readings seen there were due to some of the wear and tear of it's previous life was still washing through the motor. I have put over 42k miles on this truck since March of 2014.

I am in WI now, and I want to avoid having to change the oil in the truck over the winter months, so I am looking for a good oil that I can run potentially a long OCI on. Rotella T6 came to mind, which is why I am looking at taking that route. I might also look into a block heater as well.

Does that help explain the situation?

 

[KCJeep]

Makes sense.

M1 0w40 and Castrol 0w40 might be real viable options for you as well.

 

[901Memphis]

Mobil 1 0W40 European Formula would be my choice. Any type of heater used in extreme cold will help, whether it's an oil pan heater or the preferred coolant heaters they all help a little.

The recirculating engine coolant heaters are nice because they reduce cold starts emissions greatly and also help get warm air into the passenger compartment quick too.

 

[OldBlueTruckin]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Mobil 1 0W40 European Formula would be my choice. Any type of heater used in extreme cold will help, whether it's an oil pan heater or the preferred coolant heaters they all help a little.

The recirculating engine coolant heaters are nice because they reduce cold starts emissions greatly and also help get warm air into the passenger compartment quick too.


I have heard, and seen with my own results that the Mobil 1 0W40 shears down to near 30 weight specs by the end of the run. Is that still the situation? Does Castrol's )w40 do the same thing?