Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
In one of my former jobs, one(of the many) things I did was test oil samples on internal combustion reciprocating engines. We sampled these engines daily, at least, and sometimes more often. One of the concerns on a viscosity test is this: IF you have oxidation AND fuel dilution at the same time, there is a POSSIBILITY of being okay on vicosity (i.e. testing within the standards for new in that type of oil), which also means sump levels are possibly okay. But what you have is fuel diluted oxidized oil. Fuel dilution is not good, no matter what. Now the question, is in this day and age, does it matter that much? The oils these days are much better at controlling less than ideal situations. My wife and I just bought two new F-150 2.7 ecoboosts in the past few months. We came from a 2013 F-150 5.0 and a 2014 Ford Edge 3.5, both naturally aspirated. These new vehicles are the first modern DI turbo vehicles we have owned. I was (almost) stunned, when after a couple hundred miles on both, I pulled the dipstick on both and noticed a strong fuel smell and a dark color. It was almost like being back in the early '80's!
I have given this a lot of thought, with a lot of considerations:
1). Part of the benefit of owning a new vehicle is that they have a warranty. I have been through warranty issues before. If the dealer you are claiming the warranty with has done the maintenance (oil changes), then they are much more likely to expedite issues. I don't give a [censored] about Magnuson Moss, etc. Technically that is true, but not realistically. Therefore, for $40+ bucks a pop, the Ford dealer will change the oil and filter, rotate tires, etc. After a couple initial oil changes at closer intervals, I am going to have this done every 5k miles. In between, every 2500 miles, clandestinely, I am going to dump the sump oil (no filter change), and put a new 5-ish quarts in of the same Motorcraft 5W-30. I am going to send samples of this 2500 mile oil off to see how we are doing. I have no problem with Blackstone's flashpoint test. It may not be as exact as a chromatograph, but it is a decent indicator.
2}. A lot of people think that this fuel dilution and oil darkening in the turbo DI engines is okay. It may turn out to be not a huge deal, but that oil is not in as good a shape as, say, the oil on my 2014 Edge, after the same miles. Anyone that says it is okay is full of _____. I think my regimen listed in 1) is a decent, not super expensive way to minimize complications.
DI Gasoline engines do create more soot than port injection engines so i would not worry.
Well, except, for example, I think soot was the reason for premature timing chain failures on GM DI V-6s. This prompted a fairly dramatic reprogramming of the oil life monitors on these engines. So soot doesn't seem to be a particularly benign addition to motor oil.,