2011 Fusion 2.5, 17.1k mi UOA, PUP 0W20, Napa Plat

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OK guys, after some delays because I didn't go to Fort Wayne when I originally planned, here is my latest UOA. Based on what I am seeing and what dnewton has previously observed, I do agree the combo of PUP, my engine/filters, and the Napa Platinum are serving me well and I likely will try to hit 20k on the current OCI. I do understand that "some" of the slight thickening would be partially combatted if I needed to add any oil at all, but when it starts off at the top of the hash marks and 17k later is at the same point (with a 2.9 TBN no less!), I'm not going to complain.

85ish% is what I consider highway- I drive 21 miles each way to work, essentially nonstop at speeds between 30-65. Rest is in-town but this OCI had about 8500 miles in 2 months driving for work... most of it 75+mph on interstates, and finished the OCI with a 1700-mile trip to VA and back. One thing I forgot to tell Blackstone and you guys might have some input... about the first 10 tankfuls (~5k miles) of this OCI I used some synthetic TCW3 oil at 1oz/5gal, and then maybe 3-4 more times after that.

My question is, could the TCW3 oil have been the reason why the viscosity crept up some? I see that it didn't help wear rates or really mileage either, so I won't be doing that anymore most likely. Anyways, I know there are lots of Napa Platinum "haters" here... the 12k run was a FU filter, 13.6k was Amsoil EaO34, and this run was the Napa Platinum 41516... longest OCI yet and the insolubles are the lowest they've ever been... What's up with that?:) Enjoy!
 
Just for some additional background... the two oldest UOAs were both PP and the one at 58,650 got a bottle of MoS2. Next 11,950 OCI was PUP with no additives but looks like residual moly from the MoS2. Same with the 12k run- PUP, no additives. The 13.6k run had a big jump in moly but a HUGE jump in boron... due to a can of Ceratec. The 17k run was additive free.

So, I'm one of those mostly scientific guys... and as much as I love the 'gut-feel' of putting some crafty additives in, if you run the numbers and to a Student's T-test... none of the additives or difference between PP or PUP has made any statistically significant changes to the wear rates (or gas mileage) of my engine. ATF was changed at 90k and coolant/thermo at 100k, and neither of those really showed anything either. Silicon just appears to run a little higher than most.

Oh... and for the really geeky nerds who love this stuff... this car alone is responsible for 9 of the 201 samples Blackstone uses to calculate these universal averages... @ a 7200 mile average. When I started sending this car's UOAs in, the average was 6,650 miles
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Adam, yes... this was a full changeover... I will be mailing you the Napa Platinum and a MicroGreen 201-7 from the Odyssey for board dissection.

Another load of gray-bottle PUP 0W20 went in along with a Microgreen 301-1 filter (FL400S replacement, I like bigger filters). I will change the filter at 10k and top up with pre-GTL PP 5W20 as this was the last of my gray bottle PUP, but I intend on holding off on another UOA until 20k.

If SOPUS would ever get the supply chain full of PUP, I'd fill every sump I touch with it!
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I hate having to hop between Suckmart and Amazon to find it when I need it.
 
It looks great for the amount of miles driven. I ran 5W30 PU and had it thicken up a bit too, but the wear numbers were very good.

Good question about the TCW3. I doubt it had an impact on the viscosity though, jmo.
 
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
My question is, could the TCW3 oil have been the reason why the viscosity crept up some?


No - the viscosity crept up because the oil started drying out. 17,000 miles will do that.
 
But the oil level didn't change over the entire OCI... not even a 1/16". I did read in another Blackstone UOA comment that they opined that high heat probably drove the viscosity up some... the first 8500 and last 1700 miles of this OCI was all high-speed (70+) driving for 250-350 miles nonstop. While it wasn't exactly "hard" driving, I do understand that the long, extended heat definitely gets the oil temps up.

I am disappointed there are not more comments, but I do know this report was really kinda boring
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Afaik, conventional wisdom is that oil will begin to thin almost immediately as molecules are sheared. But as oil gets much older oxidation will begin, thickening the oil. I suspect that the high mileage on your interval has allowed the oxidation effect to more than offset the shearing.

As an example, look at UOAs of known 20 weight DI fuel diluters: they seem to dilute down to around 6.0-6.5 cSt in the first couple thousand miles. Viscosity of sample's taken with much more mileage seems about the same, implying oxidation has compensating for shearing and more fuel dilution. Maybe...
 
Originally Posted By: Danh
Afaik, conventional wisdom is that oil will begin to thin almost immediately as molecules are sheared. But as oil gets much older oxidation will begin, thickening the oil. I suspect that the high mileage on your interval has allowed the oxidation effect to more than offset the shearing.

As an example, look at UOAs of known 20 weight DI fuel diluters: they seem to dilute down to around 6.0-6.5 cSt in the first couple thousand miles. Viscosity of sample's taken with much more mileage seems about the same, implying oxidation has compensating for shearing and more fuel dilution. Maybe...

Just to comment on this statement, oil molecules do not shear, at least not in the environment of an ICE. If anything shears it is the long-chain polymer viscosity improvers but Sonofjoe has commented that this does not happen nearly as often as people imagine it does. He said that the polymers are quite stable. As you mix in your comment above it is more likely that any thinning is due to fuel dilution but Blackstone has demonstrated that they are quite unable to determine accurate fuel dilution numbers.
 
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When doing this kind of interval the TBN isn't enough on it's own. What is the the TAN to go along with it? What is the oxidation.. it is showing up in the visc thickening. You don't have enough information here to support a 17k mile interval let alone going to 20k. Do a UOA with a lab like wearcheck or polaris if you really want to do extended intervals.
 
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I understand the viscosity concern on DI engines... but this is a port-injected one. We'll see if the same thickening happens on the next UOA, as it will have a filter change and top-off at 10k into the OCI due to the Microgreen filter.

As a side note, I have plugged my entire OCI history into JMP (statistical software like Minitab) to play around with the numbers. There are some curious things I wanted to get some opinions on:

1. Lowest wear rate in Fe/1k miles was with pre-GTL Pennz Ultra @ 0.78ppm/1k (16ppm in 20,637 miles).
2. Highest wear rate is with PUP(GTL) at 1.04ppm/1k (32ppm in 30,750 miles).
3. Pennz Plat (pre-GTL) and Mobil 1 AFE were nearly identical at 0.878 and 0.917ppm/1k.
4. While there is a general distaste here for MotorKote and clorinated products, the OCI treated with it resulted in the highest TBN (4.5 @ 9640 miles) and the 2nd lowest individual wear rate (0.726 ppm Fe/1k).

So.... while iron is steadily increasing with longer runs (given), the wear rate is just slightly up as well. Would you drop the oil at say the 12k mark because technically the lowest recorded wear was there, or run 17k+ because 1ppm is still nothing concerning?

Graphs for the geeks:

 
Sorry if this is harsh, but if you know what minitab is you probably also know that this data isn't close to being statistically significant. Also ask whether 1ppm/1k vs. .8ppm/1k has any practical meaning in the life of the engine.

There is more to UOA's than wear numbers. Running the oil too far will result in deposits before the corrosive wear really starts showing up. How are you going to find out about piston, turbo and other deposits before it results in symptoms like oil consumption.

It would sensible to drop the interval back to something reasonable like 12k and do a UOA at a proper lab, you'll get more data for less money. TAN and Oxidation are critical! Blackstone's fuel test is also not very good.
 
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vinu, that's part of what I want to discuss... although I would argue that 8 UOAs and 90k miles of data DO constitute something statistically significant. The only thing that really isn't trending with mileage is TBN, and for that I have no rhyme or reason other than maybe where I got my fuel from (top tier vs. non)? I may split my next 10k sample and send one to Polaris and one to BlSt.

But yes, a difference of 0.1 or 0.2ppm Fe/1k is not going to affect engine life at any point during my ownership of the car
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I'd love it if dnewton or molakule to chime in. I think they give good insight on their posts.
 
Good numbers you have there, that's for sure. Overall, per 1k miles, I'd say your numbers look very similar to what I've been seeing for my 2010, although your Moly and Boron numbers are substantially higher. I get that, though, considering your additives.

Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
Oh... and for the really geeky nerds who love this stuff... this car alone is responsible for 9 of the 201 samples Blackstone uses to calculate these universal averages... @ a 7200 mile average. When I started sending this car's UOAs in, the average was 6,650 miles
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Nice... and between your 2011 and my 2010, I'd say we've been responsible for close to 8% of the samples.
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Thx Sir... just a few minutes ago I was thinking to myself (bad idea)... I have 10 quarts of PUP 5W20 and 10 quarts of PPE 0W40... since neither of my vehicles 'need' 0W40 but it ran well in the Odyssey... what if I made an oil change blend of Pennz Ultra Platinum Euro 0W30? LOL Would have great cleaning ability, high TBN, and a 2.5W30 rating (that part is just a joke). Then again, is it?

Sleep deprivation can be a fun trip
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