Back-to-back Blackstone Lab reports w/Motorcraft 5W-30 vs. Amsoil

[Glocker]

If you follow the manufacturer's recommended intervals for service to start with, you have a high chance of your vehicle not having as many problems as one might think. Of course the transmission is not the same idea in this case lol.

Oh for sure, but...

My patrol car saw regular service, but the motor went, and went big. A Blackstone report would have shown higher than normal metal values resulting from a cam lobe getting chewed up. Now if I personally owned that car, and I had the knowledge that something was going wrong in the motor, I'd get out of it!

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[Frenchy]

Oh for sure, but...

My patrol car saw regular service, but the motor went, and went big. A Blackstone report would have shown higher than normal metal values resulting from a cam lobe getting chewed up. Now if I personally owned that car, and I had the knowledge that something was going wrong in the motor, I'd get out of it!

I'm going to assume said patrol car is a Fiat power charger of sorts?

Yeah I would not be surprised with those failing as that manufacturer does not have the reputation for such here

 

[mtsoxfan]

For a minute, I agreed with you. But then I started thinking, "If I start getting the warning bells that my motor is starting to feast upon itself, it might be time to preemptively trade my truck in!"

I guess you would have to put in the effort to research what numbers would constitute an issue. I figure Blackstone must have a range of normal, but how bad is a number out of that range? Is it worthy of dumping, or just a heightened sense of something may be coming? I am not in the know of these things. Also, never had an engine grenade on me either. Pretty conservative driver now that I'm older...
A question for those who change their oil before recommended mileage, when it was recommended to change every 3k, did you change every 1k? I have trust in Ford and this motor. I stick to 10k, but that's my thing. Still trying to figure out the tranny maintenance...

 

[VAMike]

I guess you would have to put in the effort to research what numbers would constitute an issue.

The thing is, the only people with enough data to answer that question work at Ford, and the data isn't public. Anyone else interpreting the number is basically making stuff up.

A question for those who change their oil before recommended mileage, when it was recommended to change every 3k, did you change every 1k?

To be real safe, just change your oil every time you get gas. I mean, if one BS interval is good an even shorter interval must be better, right? People waiting 1000 miles to change their oil are just suckers!

 

[Glocker]

The thing is, the only people with enough data to answer that question work at Ford, and the data isn't public. Anyone else interpreting the number is basically making stuff up.


To be real safe, just change your oil every time you get gas. I mean, if one BS interval is good an even shorter interval must be better, right? People waiting 1000 miles to change their oil are just suckers!

The comments the reports give you will tell you if a particular metal is showing up too much in your oil and what it's cause might be.

 

[Frenchy]

The comments the reports give you will tell you if a particular metal is showing up too much in your oil and what it's cause might be.

Notice that key word at the end? I do

 

[Glocker]

Notice that key word at the end? I do

Huh?

 

[Frenchy]

Huh?

The key word being "might"

 

[Glocker]

The key word being "might"

Ahhhhh. Yeah, of course. But, if you have a really high amount of iron, copper, and lead in your oil analysis, after the normal engine break-in period, it's a good sign that you need to start looking at something going on in your motor. So, the Blackstone service can act like an early alarm in those cases. And if, after a couple of oil changes, you see the numbers getting bigger on the elements that aren't supposed to be growing, then you have a clear sign of abnormal metal-on-metal friction.

 

[VAMike]

Ahhhhh. Yeah, of course. But, if you have a really high amount of iron, copper, and lead in your oil analysis, after the normal engine break-in period, it's a good sign that you need to start looking at something going on in your motor. So, the Blackstone service can act like an early alarm in those cases. And if, after a couple of oil changes, you see the numbers getting bigger on the elements that aren't supposed to be growing, then you have a clear sign of abnormal metal-on-metal friction.

Why? Do you know what the acceptable range is for this particular motor? Neither does blackstone. For all either of you know, the motor could go another 500k miles with an "unusually high" reading, or it could blow up tomorrow.

 

[Glocker]

Why? Do you know what the acceptable range is for this particular motor? Neither does blackstone. For all either of you know, the motor could go another 500k miles with an "unusually high" reading, or it could blow up tomorrow.

Oil analysis is not some kind of new magic. It's old science and in regular use in many industries to predict wear and abnormal wear on engines. Those "in the know" can look at an oil analysis and tell you things like, "You have a cam lobe skipping." based on the numbers because of their experiences in the biz. For sure, you might be able to limp a motor on for hundreds of thousands of miles with abnormal wear, but the abnormal wear is still...

...abnormal! And while we might not know if a particular range of numbers is really abnormal for these motors, there is a pretty educated idea of what is and what is not a healthy amount of metal elements in engine oil.

And the whole idea of the oil analysis is to get an idea of how healthy your internal engine surfaces are. I don't think anyone has claimed it to be a bulletproof method of ascertaining engine wear. Just another tool for keeping track of potential issues arising.

 

[VAMike]

I don't think anyone has claimed it to be a bulletproof method of ascertaining engine wear.

I disagree--I see a lot of people treating it as voodoo science that's absolutely essential for driving your car to and from the mall. I can see the benefits in some situations (heavy use, fleets/places with in-house service, situations where it's worth preemptively replacing equipment to lower downtime risk, etc), but spending that money for a car seeing normal service it's more aspirational (as in, I want to pretend I'm driving F1 and a fancy sheet of numbers is very impressive) than useful. (What does a consumer do if the numbers are "bad"? Pay out of pocket to speculatively tear down their engine? Smart money just runs it until it dies, following specified maintenance schedule, then gets it replaced under warranty.)

 

[Glocker]

I disagree--I see a lot of people treating it as voodoo science that's absolutely essential for driving your car to and from the mall. I can see the benefits in some situations (heavy use, fleets/places with in-house service, situations where it's worth preemptively replacing equipment to lower downtime risk, etc), but spending that money for a car seeing normal service it's more aspirational (as in, I want to pretend I'm driving F1 and a fancy sheet of numbers is very impressive) than useful. (What does a consumer do if the numbers are "bad"? Pay out of pocket to speculatively tear down their engine? Smart money just runs it until it dies, following specified maintenance schedule, then gets it replaced under warranty.)

Or, as I mentioned before, if I see abnormally high numbers that indicate a high probability of bad internal wear, it might be a clue to head to the dealership to trade my vehicle in on a new one!

You see a lot of people treating it as voodoo science, but oil analysis is an established method used by many fleet operators. Why can't the service be applied to cars regularly driving to the mall? Fleet vehicles see normal service, just like regular cars see normal service. In fact, most street vehicles probably get more attention than regular people's street cars! (That's just anecdotal right there.)

I'm reading a lot of non-arguments against getting oil analysis here. But They are just non-arguments. Is it necessary and essential? Nope! Can it be a good indicator of abnormal, catastrophic engine wear? Yep! Is anybody forcing you to do it? Nope! Is it useful to us that might want to know the internal conditions of our motors? Yep!

Just for the record, I haven't had one done on my truck or Mustang. But, I will be getting them done, because;
1. I am hard on my truck during its daily driving routine.
2. My Mustang sits for long periods of operation. I am concerned that cold starts with oil circulation after it's been sitting and might cause abnormal frictional wear.

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