Oil Check Please!

[jamied]

As promised the sample, and my oil looked like dark brown metallic paint, I had a few small chunks of metal the first change. I'll be doing another oil sample soon. I'm hitting 4000 miles so the next sample will have 2600 on it. Here's the importance of changing oil early on I think my first oil change was 400 miles. This is Quaker State 5w 30 I bought from Walmart, I was looking for cheap oil because I knew I'd be changing it early up until the first 10,000 miles. I'll probably do 4000/5000 mile intervals after that.

 

[FSUZ33]

No water.
No lead.
Copper mildly elevated.
Moly elevated, but they didn't even mention it, so I assume that's 'normal' based on mileage.

That oil looks SO MUCH WORSE than this report says it is. Whew!!!

 

[Drago86]

This is my first post but the picture looks worse than it is. This is exactly how my oil looked even after 2 oil changes and 3000 miles later, but got better with time and miles, there were brass and metal chunks at the bottom of my 1st oil change, Happens on all new engines, my new Kawasaki ZX10 looked the same way on the first few oil changes. I'll post my Black Stone report after I get it as well with the details. I wouldn't sweat it, it will subside by 8000mi as the automotive tech stated. It takes a while for new motors to fully break in, the piston rings will seat much quicker, everything else takes some time.

Honestly, I've never seen this in any new car I've ever owned or any other car, including engines I've built myself and broken in.

Glittery oil is a huge red flag for me that engine damage is occurring.

 

[Drago86]

No water.
No lead.
Copper mildly elevated.
Moly elevated, but they didn't even mention it, so I assume that's 'normal' based on mileage.

That oil looks SO MUCH WORSE than this report says it is. Whew!!!

UOA looks for microscopic wear particles suspended in the oil, you don't need a UOA when the oil looks like glitter to tell there is severe bearing damage occurring.

Please read this: The UOA for this failed engine also has low "wear metals" and blackstone responds about why (largest they can detect is 5 microns and it won't catch "glittery oil" if caused by a sudden failure and not slow wear over time): What Can Used Oil Analysis Tell Us About a Failed Engine? | 900BRZ


I can't believe we're actually arguing on a car forum that glittery oils is "normal"...


Also, moly isn't a wear metal it's an anti-wear additive in the oil, but again, this isn't "wear" this is catastrophic failure.

 

[FSUZ33]

UOA looks for microscopic wear particles suspended in the oil, you don't need a UOA when the oil looks like glitter to tell there is severe bearing damage occurring.

Please read this: The UOA for this failed engine also has low "wear metals" and blackstone responds about why (largest they can detect is 5 microns and it won't catch "glittery oil" if caused by a sudden failure and not slow wear over time): What Can Used Oil Analysis Tell Us About a Failed Engine? | 900BRZ


I can't believe we're actually arguing on a car forum that glittery oils is "normal"...


Also, moly isn't a wear metal it's an anti-wear additive in the oil, but again, this isn't "wear" this is catastrophic failure.

Wow. Very interesting. Didn't know about Blackstone before I joined here, but assumed what we're talking about now is what it was specifically for...pinpointing signs of failure.
Seems to me it's like going to the ER after chopping your hand off on a table saw and they say, "Your bloodwork looks good. You're good to go!"

 

[jamied]

Well I'll take a pic of my metallic brown oil, I'll continue changing it at regular intervals and overtime the metal will disappear. I'll continue to get oil samples and send it out to Blackstone and we'll see how long the motor last. I put about 20,000 miles a year on my car. It's just information it would be a fun experiment to track. I'm not arguing anything about oil, or metal on break in, or how much is normal. I'm just telling you what I see, and what I've seen in the past, if you think that's bad, look at a new Moto Guzzi, that thing pukes metal parts in its oil, and keeps on ticking like an old time X watch.
Do me a favor. Next time you change your oil or have it changed, take a flashlight and a screwdriver and stir it up. You'll see metallic in the oil unless you have over 8 to 10,000 miles which at that point the motor is pretty well broken in.

 

[Zplz]

Wow. Very interesting. Didn't know about Blackstone before I joined here, but assumed what we're talking about now is what it was specifically for...pinpointing signs of failure.
Seems to me it's like going to the ER after chopping your hand off on a table saw and they say, "Your bloodwork looks good. You're good to go!"

LOL. My first change was at around 6 months and the Z only had 1 to 1.5K miles on it. I think I’ll just following a reasonable oil change schedule per the Nissan severe service schedule here on out and leave it at that. I’ve changed oil/ filter every 5k/ 6 months for every vehicle I’ve owned for decades, after an early break-in change, from Mazda to Mercedes and in between and never had any engine problems, including for engines that went over 200K miles. I guess I’ll continue to live in my “ignorance is bliss mode” until I have an engine that reaches critical mass.

 

[jamied]

LOL. My first change was at around 6 months and the Z only had 1 to 1.5K miles on it. I think I’ll just following a reasonable oil change schedule per the Nissan severe service schedule here on out and leave it at that. I’ve changed oil/ filter every 5k/ 6 months for every vehicle I’ve owned for decades, after an early break-in change, from Mazda to Mercedes and in between and never had any engine problems, including for engines that went over 200K miles. I guess I’ll continue to live in my “ignorance is bliss mode” until I have an engine that reaches critical mass.

Sounds logical, that's effectively what I'm doing but wanted to get a sample early on, I'm not concerned about fine metallic particles that I can see that look like metallic paint during break-in. If the motor is self-destructing, it'll happen in short order. I've got to dig up some pictures of a BMW R 1200 GS that I had. Overtime the Blackstone test showed a rise in iron. I was hearing a tapping sound from the right side that got louder in time. When I pulled the valve covers one of the cam lobes was completely worn out. All that metal oil was slashing around in the motor. BMW replace the cam under warranty, they flushed the motor once with fresh oil and a filter then replaced it with new oil in a filter and I continued to ride it for about 12,000 miles without any other issues before I sold it.

 

[jamied]

The way I look at it is my crankshaft, connecting rods, and turbine shafts are all getting micro polished by the metal floating around in the oil that the filter is not catching.. It's a free blue printing/ polishing process for less friction on a race motor.

 

[Hernandooo]

A lil hack for metal particulates, Magnetic oil drain plug and a few magnets on your oil filter

 

[trackratZ]

Blackstone has been used very extensively amongst the Porsche community and many others. It's purpose is to 'monitor' an engine's health over time with metal wear levels, fuel water dilution, etc. It is a very complete analysis and can show engine weaknesses. That report of a sudden failure with large metal flakes not being detected, thanks for pointing it out @Drago86 , shows limitations at that catastrophic level. When you do see the glitter next time, see if you can analyze it another way aside from visual. Hoping for the best.

 

[Thefunk]

FWIW Mobil1 extended life does very well with high miles. I've been using 5w30 in my Murano and one cycle in the Z (have since moved to Motul for the Z, after 5k miles it's still gold!).

 

[trackratZ]

Here's my Blackstone report monitoring the VR30, as expected still breaking in gradually, metals still showing, second oil change at 2,394, first was at 980 miles. More upcoming oil changes soon, 1k intervals, until averages are met. Hotter summer weather coming up will move to 0W30.

'So far, so good!'

Certainly won't track it until averages are met!!