2017 f150 3.5l ecoboost, Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 5.7k mi

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Well did my first UOA on my truck after what i thought would be enough breakin, so the high iron is hopefully just lingering breakin materials. My normal drive is terrible for the oil, 7 miles and 15 min of run time to work twice a day. Right now since it so cold in the mitten i have been using the remote start for a minute or two before I get ready to leave so that's not helping either. Also during the summer its primary job is to pull a 8500lb camper, about 2k of those miles on this change are towing.

I used Castrol EDGE Extended on this fill, honestly because it was the only thing on sale and i wanted to try something different due to a large amount of spark knock (on 93) and noise at the front of the engine. Dealer says its the HPFP but my stethoscope says otherwise. I'm interested to see how it pans out. Probably will change again next fill as i don't believe EDGE Extended is d1g2 and the 3.5l ecoboost can use all the help it can get with timing component wear. Might give the new marketing gimmick, i mean Rotella gas truck a try next time lol.

Blackstone has the oil listed wrong, oil was just PP not PUP.

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At 15k, engine should be done break-in, I'd be disappointed in these results.

Name escapes me now, but the Castrol oil with 'intelligent clinging molecules' seems to work well here (startup? Magnatec?)

Seen some good results with it in these engines.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
The oil will have no effect on spark knock. That is something that should be looked into.



LSPI is what trying to rule out as its occuring at low rpm under load. Obviously not sever as it hasn't windowed the block or had any failures yet but it's disheartening to hear. PP should help prevent LSPI issues but you never know. The actual knock i hear at ide i believe is a VCT issue, but the dealer refuse to look at it because they claim its the tappet on the HPFP. Oddly my mileage goes up on fresh oil, last 3 changes. I think as the oil thins out from shearing and fuel dilution its leaking past the VCT actuators and tanking the engines efficiency taking the mileage with it. Looking at $400 and a weekend of tearing the valve covers off and see if that resolves it.


Originally Posted by addyguy
At 15k, engine should be done break-in, I'd be disappointed in these results.

Name escapes me now, but the Castrol oil with 'intelligent clinging molecules' seems to work well here (startup? Magnatec?)

Seen some good results with it in these engines.


Yeah magnatech, I have that and some of the RGT on a price watch to snatch some up cheap.
 
Originally Posted by zorobabel
TBN looks spent.
What is the sump size?


Bit over 5qts, oil change is 6 with filter.


Originally Posted by doyall
I'm thinking more like 3% - 4% fuel dilution.


Probably. Oil smelled of gas and with my short trips and higher idle time it wasn't evaporating much out.
 
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Idle time and short trips will dilute your oil. Maybe you should try a little thicker oil. Maybe Mobil 1 5W30 or Quaker State Ultimate Durability.
 
The extreme short tripping isn't helping matters either. It's beneficial to take the long way sometimes to get the engine in prime operating temperature. Of course, that's easy to say on my part. We all have our schedules to keep.

I do agree on the Magnatec. There have been quite a few favorable analyses posted here with that oil.
 
We have been taking more trips to Detroit for camper and boat shows which are 120-160 miles round trip so that might help. With the brutal cold we had the last few months getting this thing hot would take a few trips to work. Now that we are above zero i haven't been using the remote start much so hopefully that helps. I think i'll change it again at 3k this time which should be right before camping season.
 
Originally Posted by doyall
I'm thinking more like 3% - 4% fuel dilution.


This is what I don't understand. Blackstone makes a ton of money, being as it's probably the number one oil analysis lab around, so why don't they use the proper method for testing for fuel dilution??
 
I'm going to guess it is because of the cost of the equipment. Gas chromatographs are not cheap, plus there is ongoing upkeep as well as operator training especially in regards to interpretation. They probably don't need a GC for any thing else.
 
If people are still using them for UOA's they probably figure there isn't a need. Like everything in business cost vs return is king.

I may do two sample next time for kicks as im interested in what the true fuel % is. Need to research testing alternatives eventually i guess.
 
355 flashpoint definitely points to significantly higher than 1.5% fuel dilution as others have noted. Use another lab.
 
Unfortunately those driving conditions are brutal on oil/engines. My commute is <5 miles to work.
 
Originally Posted by Patman
This is what I don't understand. Blackstone makes a ton of money, being as it's probably the number one oil analysis lab around, so why don't they use the proper method for testing for fuel dilution??


Even more confusing is that we can reach a better conclusion by looking at several pieces of paper than they can with their far greater resources.
 
Originally Posted by Terryd91

I may do two sample next time for kicks as im interested in what the true fuel % is. Need to research testing alternatives eventually i guess.


Good idea. Lots of fuel in there, maybe more than the 3-4% number (could be high enough to be causing the high iron). GC is the way to go these days.
 
Originally Posted by doyall
Originally Posted by Patman
This is what I don't understand. Blackstone makes a ton of money, being as it's probably the number one oil analysis lab around, so why don't they use the proper method for testing for fuel dilution??


Even more confusing is that we can reach a better conclusion by looking at several pieces of paper than they can with their far greater resources.


For sure. Blackstone shouldn't even provide a fuel number. Maybe they want low fuel numbers, so their customers don't realize they have fuel dilutuon issues and go to a real lab with GC? Sad that Blackstone misleads customers into a false sense of security.
 
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I fully expect a high fuel percentage with this engine. Yea its dual injected with port and DI but it doesn't take much for it to roll into DI and im not burning it off with my drive pattern. should be better next time, it's getting more long trips and once we start camping it will have plenty of time at high temps to evaporate some of that fuel out.
 
There shouldn't be any spark knock with 87, but spark knock with 93 means that something is wrong. Is it tuned or modded in some way?
 
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