About 7 months ago, I mailed to Blackstone Labs a used motor oil sample that came out of my oil pan's drain plug when I did an oil change. Here are the results of the UOA (used oil analysis).
OCI means Oil Change Interval. PP means Pennzoil Platinum, a synthetic oil (Group III anyway).
6-month OCI (from May 16 to November 12, 2008). Toyota OEM air and oil filters (Denso 90915-YZZF1). 19,620 total car miles.This was my second consecutive fill with PP 5w-30 (API SM & GF-4). I had previously used Mobil 1 and Valvoline Conventional. Always gentle driving on roads in Columbia, Missouri and St. Louis.
Special Notes: The first 3,200 miles of this approximate 5,000-mile OCI was exclusive city driving with most trips averaging somewhere between 15 miles and 30 miles (all city, again). The next 1,700 miles of this OCI was a 50/50 mix of city and highway.
On the actual day of the oil change, just before changing the oil, I drove the car about 30 miles on the highway, then let it idle
15 minutes while I brought out the ramps and other equipment.Although my manual calls for 4 quarts of oil when changing the oil and oil filter, I always put in 4.25 quarts.
This is Toyota's 2.4L 2AZ-FE engine, an inline 4 cylinder.
Blackstone-Labs results:
Miles on oil: 4,920 Miles on engine: 19,610 Sample date: 11/12/2008 ; Report date: 11/24/2008 Makeup oil added: 0
[First number = my sample's results] , [Second number = Universal Averages for this engine]Aluminum 3 , 3 Chromium 0 , 0 Iron 7 , 10
Copper 1 , 2 Lead 3 , 2 Tin 0 , 1
Molybdenum 53 , 90 Nickel 0 , 0 Manganese 0 , 0
Silver 0 , 0 Titanium 0 , 0
--------- Potassium 2 , 1 Boron 28 , 39 Silicon 17 , 17 Sodium 4 , 14
---------
Calcium 2795 , 2347 Magnesium 15 , 121 Phosphorous 714 , 719 Zinc 860 , 853 Barium 1 , 0
MY RESULTS // VALUES SHOULD BE
SUS Viscosity @ 210* F = 59.3 // 56 - 63 cSt Viscosity @ 100* C = 10.03 // 9.1 - 11.3 Flashpoint in * F = 400 // > 365
Fuel % is < 0.5 // < 2.0 Antifreeze % = 0.0 // 0.0 Water % = 0.0 // < 0.1 Insolubles % = 0.2 // < 0.6
TBN = 4.7 TAN = 0.9
Built_Well's Note: The UOA cost about $22 or so. The TAN and the TBN readings cost an extra $10 each, and you gotta request them at Blackstone if you want them. I forgot to request the TAN, but I emailed them a day after receiving my results, and they pulled my oil sample and ran the TAN. I was happy that they hadn't immediately thrown away my oil sample after running the standard tests the day before. I don't know how long they keep the oil samples, though.
Anyway, I wanted a TAN (Total Acid Number) reading just for fun to compare it to RLI's Bio-Syn reading when I send the used Bio-Syn 0w-30 to Blackstone in the future (RLI is Renewable Lubricants, Inc's oil available at RenewableLube.com). The results above for the used Pennzoil Platinum
5w-30 oil happened during moderate temperatures and weather from May to November (mostly Summer and Fall). I think it'll be interesting to compare the nice weather PP results to the harsh weather Bio-Syn results (Winter).Finally, I think the numbers that Blackstone provides for the "Universal Averages" for the Toyota aluminum 2AZ-FE engine are from many oil samples tested with an average distance of 4,600 miles for the many samples sent in by their customers.