VE Atlas 3.6 VR6 w/ 50k mi & 10k oci 0w40 M1 Euro
- Thread starter Taylor
- Start date
SP formulation contains more Mg and less Ca compared to SN. Blenders have been moving to SP formulations for around the past year.
The UOA looks really good.
Looks like it has more magnesium and less calcium in order to pass an LSPI test. It doesn't have an API SP certification, it just "meets or exceeds the requirements". I haven't seen an oil with the actual API SP certification that has more than 1300 ppm calcium, so I'd be curious if this new formulation actually passes the test, not that it's relevant to this engine.
The new M1 0W40 is API SP and explains the lower calcium and higher magnesium.
Sample 1 is obviously the factory fill. It's cool to see how different its make-up is to the M1 0W40 UOAs that follow.
If you compare samples 2, 3 and 4 to 5, it appears like the new formulation has a better TBN retention. More data points needed to confirm.
I'm not sure why samples 2,3 and 4 are red in oxidation: they are all within 15 or less increase from virgin baseline. That is perfectly acceptable. Sample 5 has some carryover, but virgin SP M1 0W40 starts at 7 oxidation, so that 23 is not an indication of oil use. Will have to wait for the next sample to get a more accurate representation.
Sample 3 is an outlier with fuel dilution and viscosity. Was there a significantly different driving pattern for that oil change interval? Perhaps a lot more long highway drives?
It's really cool to see all these UOAs for the history of this vehicle. For those who like to complain that UOAs are useless or pointless, especially for a brand new vehicle, study this series of UOAs and at least tell me that it's interesting to study the trends.
Sample 1 is obviously the factory fill. It's cool to see how different its make-up is to the M1 0W40 UOAs that follow.
If you compare samples 2, 3 and 4 to 5, it appears like the new formulation has a better TBN retention. More data points needed to confirm.
I'm not sure why samples 2,3 and 4 are red in oxidation: they are all within 15 or less increase from virgin baseline. That is perfectly acceptable. Sample 5 has some carryover, but virgin SP M1 0W40 starts at 7 oxidation, so that 23 is not an indication of oil use. Will have to wait for the next sample to get a more accurate representation.
Sample 3 is an outlier with fuel dilution and viscosity. Was there a significantly different driving pattern for that oil change interval? Perhaps a lot more long highway drives?
It's really cool to see all these UOAs for the history of this vehicle. For those who like to complain that UOAs are useless or pointless, especially for a brand new vehicle, study this series of UOAs and at least tell me that it's interesting to study the trends.
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Good to know. I don’t keep up with this info like I used to!
It’s obviously dropped significantly, but there could be residual from the last OCI as well. Perhaps a VOA is in order for a new baseline.
FS
I went and looked back at my previous posts, appears sample 2 was the only one with significant highway miles. All of the others are only short trips and significant idling. (Wife’s DD - 15 min from town, put the kids on the bus etc).
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