Amsoil Euro 5W-40 92Benz 190E 2.3L 8V 3889 miles

[IllinoisSparky]

Report for the recent oil change.
3,889 miles on oil. 6 months on oil.
1992 Mercedes 190E, 2.3L 8V M102 Engine
Total miles 125,004.
Ams oil Euro Full SAPS formula.
Oil Filter K&N HP-2005, Air Filter Mann C41 121
Driving conditions: Teenager that drives it like it was stolen, never more than 10 miles.
Winter weather. Parked outside.
Head Gasket was replaced in 2014 at 113,641 miles.
Never used any oil. No oil visible in Antifreeze.

Just wondering what people think about the high Potassium level, and the low Moly level?
Are they just characteristics of this oil?
Also, I use suction for extraction. Could it be from ATF traces left in the can?
Thanks for any advice.

Code:
OIL AM5w40

MILES IN USE 3.8k Univ.

MILES 125k Avg

SAMPLE TAKEN 01/30/16



ALUMINUM 4 3

CHROMIUM 1 0

IRON 9 10

COPPER 14 5

LEAD 2 1

TIN 1 0

MOLYBDENUM 2 53

NICKEL 0 0

MANGANESE 0 1

SILVER 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0

POTASSIUM 16 2

BORON 42 70

SILICON 4 4

SODIUM 11 11

CALCIUM 2168 2210

MAGNESIUM 49 146

PHOSPHORUS 799 781

ZINC 979 911

BARIUM 0 0



INSOLUBLES 0.2
ANTIFREEZE ?

FUEL% 1.3
WATER 0.0
FLASHPOINT ºF 350 >375

SUS VIS 210ºF 61.8 65-78

cSt @ 212ºF 10.72 11.6-15.3

 

[901Memphis]

Potassium is from coolant, so it could be signs of a leak,although at those few ppm it's very very small most likely, something like a drop of coolant.

Moly is an additive so it could be something that's not in the particular flavor of Amsoil you bought. Most of the Amsoil line is loaded with moly though.

Everything else looks good, I would continue to UOA and monitor the potassium and see if it goes up or down.

 

[901Memphis]

Also I would recommend an oem style mahle oil filter too, the K&N lineup recently outsourced to foreign countries and dropped the quality from 95% efficient at 20 microns to 85% while keeping the same high cost.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: IllinoisSparky
Could it be from ATF traces left in the can?

I remember reading about potassium of some sort being used in ATF, someone else will know for sure what it is.
If so it sure could be a tainted sample making it almost worthless.

 

[Pontual]

Without a VOA that residual 11ppm of sodium should be considered just noise. Now, that lead could be from some abusage of throttle in a cold engine. Still low, but that what Id consider in such Uoa. You could let the engine heat the oil a little more before shoving the loud pedal to the floor.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: Pontual
Without a VOA that residual 11ppm of sodium should be considered just noise. Now, that lead could be from some abusage of throttle in a cold engine. Still low, but that what Id consider in such Uoa. You could let the engine heat the oil a little more before shoving the loud pedal to the floor.


Yes but there's potassium too

 

[Pontual]

Yes , youre right, I lost that K on the report. Still very little though. But to be observed next uoa time

 

[Astro_Guy]

Why is the viscosity @212 so low? Is this typical of that oil?

 

[IllinoisSparky]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Also I would recommend an oem style mahle oil filter too, the K&N lineup recently outsourced to foreign countries and dropped the quality from 95% efficient at 20 microns to 85% while keeping the same high cost.


Funny you should say that. I installed a Mahle filter with this OC!

 

[IllinoisSparky]

Originally Posted By: Pontual
Without a VOA that residual 11ppm of sodium should be considered just noise. Now, that lead could be from some abusage of throttle in a cold engine. Still low, but that what Id consider in such Uoa. You could let the engine heat the oil a little more before shoving the loud pedal to the floor.


Obiwan, If you could use The Force to get an impatient teen to drive slower, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[IllinoisSparky]

Originally Posted By: Astro_Guy
Why is the viscosity @212 so low? Is this typical of that oil?


I was wondering if the small amount of fuel might be diluting the oil slightly.
I used Mobil 1 Euro 0W-40 and Mahle filter this time, so we shall see what the next UOA shows.
Already bought Amsoil Full SAPS 5W-40 and Amsoil filter for the next change before it is off to college this fall. Might be able to go the entire school year on that change.

Thanks

 

[IllinoisSparky]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Also I would recommend an oem style mahle oil filter too, the K&N lineup recently outsourced to foreign countries and dropped the quality from 95% efficient at 20 microns to 85% while keeping the same high cost.


Thanks Memphis.
That was my one-and-only K&N.

Bought it before doing much research. Has a Mahle in right now.
Still have a Amsoil 25k filter to use next, then the re-branded WIX 51088's I got for $1.41 recently.
When those are gone, will go with Mahle or Amsoil.

 

[turboseize]

Originally Posted By: IllinoisSparky
Originally Posted By: Pontual
Without a VOA that residual 11ppm of sodium should be considered just noise. Now, that lead could be from some abusage of throttle in a cold engine. Still low, but that what Id consider in such Uoa. You could let the engine heat the oil a little more before shoving the loud pedal to the floor.


Obiwan, If you could use The Force to get an impatient teen to drive slower, I would greatly appreciate it!

Oh, that's easy.

1) Move to Europe (or anywhere else with prohibitive gas prices).
2) let the teenager pay for gas (and brakes...) out of his own pocket.

Problem solved.

My first car was a model year 1984 Saab 900 turbo that took 10-12 liters/100km (23.5-19.6mpg) in the city, but could also be driven with as little as 7 liters/100km (33.6 mpg) on country roads. On the very same country roads, you could also use in excess of 15 liters/100km (15.7mpg), if you wanted to. Autobahn @ 130km/h (81mph) would mean 8.6 liters (27.5mpg), driven flat out you could approach and exceed 20liters (11.7 mpg).
I also once killed a set of brake pads and rotors (turned blue and cracked) in just 750km (466 miles).
With prohibitively expensive german gas prices it did not take the young me very long to learn to avoid useless city driving - and to drive more economically in general. Drving economically means moderate speeds and, most important, the ability to "read" the traffic as well as the road, and to anticipate. So driving economically does not only mean saving fuel and brake pads/rotors, it automatically translates into anticipating, safe driving.

It is "common sense" it Germany to let starting drivers begin with underpowered econoboxes. I never understood this. Even 50hp Nissan Micra is enough to kill yourself or others when hitting oncoming traffic, and you can kill a biker or pedestrian even at city speeds - which even the most underpowered car can achieve. And there is no fuel consumption penalty on aggressive driving. A 90's to 2000's econobox with a gas engine can be driven with 5 to 6.5 liters/100km, when driven sensibly, but when you relly drive the [censored] out of it, it will not exceed 8-9 liters. Not nice, but bearable. Now compare that with a midsize car with adequate gas engine that will average 8 liters when driven sensibly, but ecalate to 16 when pushed...
What's worse, every car influences the driver's attitude subconsciously. If you do not feel at ease with your car and at ease with the traffic, you drive badly. A relaxed and confident driver is a safer driver. And there is no car more calming and appealing to the senses than a classic Mercedes. So you're doing something very right in the first step. (insert thumbs-up smiley here.) The next step is to let the teenager bear full financial consequences of his driving style.

A lot of my fiends/aquaintances have had access to high-powered cars as starting drivers - from Saab and Volvo turbos to Mercedes E- and S-classes, v6 and v8 Audis up to BMW M5s. Not a single one of us has ever caused an accident due to inadequate speeds. On the other hand, I konw a lot of people "starting small", who did.
So the "let the kid drive a gas guzzler and have him pay everything out of his own pocket" seemd to work very well for us. Besides, we always had the coolest cars.

 

[turboseize]

PS:
Something I found out to help with typical male teenage driving behaviour is participation in driver safety trainings. Not only is this a fun weekend and you learn some stuff, you also learn what you CAN NOT. And you learn, that you probably CAN NOT control a car in emergency maneuvers at ridiculously low speeds, and you gain firsthand impressions on how speeding makes nearly everything worse. It is one thing to be able to calculate stopping distances - you learn that during the theoretical part of the training for your driver's licence. So you know that a car going 50km/h will still be doing over 35km/h on the spot where the car doing 35km/h would have come to a standstill. And you have calculated that the driver speeding at 70km/h* would not even have completed the thought that he better brakes now at this point - still doing 70 at the spot where the cautious driver would have safely stopped. It is one thing to do this exercise theoretically. It is another thing doing this in practice and rush into the cones (or the styrofoam or the waterfountains... whatever the training facility uses), or having the instructor demonstrate it. When you stand at the side of the road at the stopping point of the first vehicle, and the instructor blasts by, just one meter away, doing 70, then you finally get it.
I do not know who offers drivers safety trainings in the US - in Germany, it's our motorist association (ADAC), and a day at the track usually costs 140€. That is money very well spent.


But we're steering slighty off topic now...



* Speeding not more than 20km/h over the limit is widely considered a trivial offense in Germany, and costs a mere 35€ if you get caught.