Used Oil Analysis of CAMRY'S Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30 after 4,920 miles

And the winner is?

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Can't say yet who the winner is. The RLI Bio-Syn 0w-30 is still in the car ;-)

It's great oil--the motor is so, so quiet. Start-ups during the winter were so easy, too (effortless).

Next I'll try Amsoil 0w-30.

Umm.... you're really not going to be able to make _any_ judgement at all with a single test on each oil.

--scott

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Umm, I'm less interested in finding a winner than safely extending my OCIs (oil change intervals) to 6,000 or 7,000 miles :-P

Here's what Blackstone-Labs.com had to say about the Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30 UOA in the Camry:

"All wear read near or below averages for this type of engine, which is a very good indication of normal wearing parts and careful operation. The universal averages show normal wear after ~4,600 miles on the oil. Insolubles (oil oxidation due to heat, use, and blow-by) were low at 0.2%, showing good oil filtration. No fuel dilution or anti-freeze was found. Silicon was normal at 17 ppm (parts per million), so your air filtration is still getting the job done. The TBN (Total Base Number) read 4.7. 1.0 is considered low, so plenty of the additive was still active. Nothing abnormal was found. Looks like a nice engine."

Later in an email correspondence, Blackstone Labs stated:

"As far as the oil use goes, I think you could easily go past 5,000 miles for the oil change and 7,000 miles would be a good sampling point next time. If everything continues to look good, we'll suggest going even longer after that." [End Quote]

Well, I don't plan on ever extending beyond 7,000 miles, but if I wanted to do 5,000-mile and 6-month oil changes, the non-synthetic Castrol GTX would probably suffice, as it appears to be one of the best dinos from a UOA perspective. But I don't really relish getting underneath the car anymore, so my preference is 6,000 or 7,000 miles changes and up to 10 months time.

I'll probably even use an oversized filter next time like the Mobil 1 209 in place of the specified Mobil 1 103 (some people do that), but the 103 would probably be fine too. Right now I'm still using the OEM spec'ed Denso filter (YZZF1). For the next UOA, I'll get a particulate count so I can compare the Denso with the future Mobil 1.

I guess this isn't all about fun. It's also about saving time and getting underneath the car less often. And I'd rather not have to trust dealers and independent shops to do the work. Nobody will do the work better than you, as we saw with the over-torqued lug nuts on my Camry, when the dealer rotated the tires ;-)

And what do you think you will find on a single data point that will tell you something that will help this?

--scott

Don't be a party-pooper. He's enjoying himself. Sometimes that's more important than getting answers to life's imponderable questions.

--Vic

You can fiddlefart around with these oil analyses as long as you like, but I am not sure that you get anything as valuable as an oil change would deliver.

And I am a chemist.

They are very helpful for huge sump capacity engines and machinery, such as OTR truck engines and stationary generators. For a Camry, I agree :-)

Well, the oil analysis is a lot like an oil change, in that you can't just do it once, you have to keep doing it on a regular basis.

What the original poster's analysis tells him is that his engine is not showing any obvious signs of impending catastrophic failure, his rings aren't totally shot, his air filter is good, and his oil is not breaking down. All of these things are things that he could probably have guessed before doing the analysis.

All a single analysis tells you is that you don't have something horribly catastrophic wrong. It'll let you know you don't have severe oil breakdown, and to be honest with ANY motor oil today you won't see severe oil breakdown after 7,000 miles. This isn't 1970 any longer. The problem is that what you want to know about your engine is a little bit more detailed than that.

The problem is that to do long-term oil analyses and keep accurate plots for years on end is an expensive proposition... much more expensive than the oil changes you might save. But you can do it if you're inclined to do such things.

You could buy three identical cars, keep changing the oil on all of them with a different kind of oil in each, and try and rotate your commute around all three of them so you put about the same mileage on them. Then you could do long-term oil analysis on each and five or six years later probably get a good idea of how each of the oils is doing. I could see someone doing that.

I mean, I'm the guy who does electrophoresis plates on soy sauce and titrations on dishwashing detergents so I know which one to buy... but even I'm not crazy enough to do regular oil analysis...

--scott

Nerd!

Sorry, just having some fun...

Syn oil is already so cheap compared to a replacement engine...what's the big deal about getting modest increases in oil change intervals? Sounds like penny wise and pound foolish. Google is your friend.

Why do you overfill it, more oil =3D more friction at the crank- less milage, try 0-30 Mobil 1. I notice a reduction in performance at around 3-4000 with synthetics, aditive packages loose efffectivness over time.

well built. do you drive your wife crazy? just wondering ? DAVE

Such tests have been done, and no advantage was shown for synthetic oil. However they did not do extended change intervals. It could be that if they had gone 7500 or 10,000 miles between changes that they would have found an advantage to synthetic.

If possibly you are saying synthetic has ho benefit put some regular oil and syn in the deep freeze and see which one pours at -15f better, it also doesnt burn up in high heat like regular oil. Cold startup can really starve a motor of oil.

If possibly you are saying synthetic has ho benefit put some regular oil and syn in the deep freeze and see which one pours at -15f better, it also doesnt burn up in high heat like regular oil. Cold startup can really starve a motor of oil.

Just looking at a few cases leads to anecdotal, and probably useless, information.

If you keep your car in a deepfreeze at -15F (or geographical facsimile), then the low temperature flow characteristics become more important. I weathered a lot of winters in Norway, but it never got that cold where I lived. I used both synthetic and dino oils in two different cars because that is what the manufacturer recommended. Both cars did well enough, although the synthetic user "seeped" from the time it was new.

The dino lubricated car started well, developed oil pressure instantly, although the lowest temperatures involved were in the range of -15C.

All of this is, of course, anecdotal.

Our two new cars used dino. I change them regularly and well within the manufactures recommendation (5000 miles recommended). I would not at all change over to synthetic because I no longer live in a deepfreeze, the manufacturer does not recommend synthetic, and I see no advantage in my case.

Yes, in extremely cold climates, and in very high performance engines that run very hot, there's an advantage to synthetic. The issue is that so many people use synthetic in mild climates and in normal engines, and also don't extend the oil change interval. They're throwing money away because all the tests show no benefit.

Not extreme cold is needed to benefit, even at 20-30f oils dont flow as well as they do when warm, also there is a group of earlier toyotas known to sludge and ruin motors from the motors higher operating temp, synthetic would have been a big benefit to them. I use it, I notice a diference, oil is cheap compared to a new motor.

Electrophoresis plates for soy sauce? Why, how, ??? !!! ???

Use Datu Puti (cheap, tastes good) and you're done. :D

Michael