Ok have a few things I should point out. I’ve had heaps of these done on my other cars. IMO, its the best $30 you can spend on your car.
Before you read on, check out the report. part1 and part2 is the report cut in half.
I’m not qualified to draw a conclusion on the wear rates in the Barra240 during the run in period. If I was to draw a conclusion, I couldn’t quantify the conclusion with accurate evidence. As I had NFI with the R&D of the motor. Having said that, typically engine surfaces that move relative to each other are separated by an oil film thickness of 3 to 6 micron. Draw your own conclusions.
Maybe someone from ford could enlighten us? But in the mean time…
1) The Acid index. The acidity of the oil increases as heat from engine operation and exhaust gases are absorbed by the oil and causes the oil to oxidise. My result was a 3 on the scale of 1-5. 1 is a typical result from new oil, 5 means its overdue for an oil change. If my XR6T is simular to all XR6Ts, then I would suggest oil changes be made at min 5000km.
2) Oxidation and Nitration. Basically identifies the levels of oxygen and nitrogen in the oil. The greater these levels the greater the degradation of the oil. My levels were OK.
3)Water and Glycol. Water in the oil can come from a number of areas, condensation of the moister in the air when the oil cools down or the coolant system. Glycol is what’s in anti freeze. Water in oil is bad news, as it turns to steam during engine operation and clears the oil away from engine parts, allowing engine wear. My levels were OK.
It appears the engine oil itself did a fine job.
What I can say is, this is the first of many oil analysis. Each time I change the oil. The test was done at 4000km. The 3000km service was done at 4500km. My next change will be at 6500km where I will get another test done. Then I’m doing a five day trip from Sydney to Broken Hill and back. Then I’ll get another analysis done.
Where who when are this mob who check the oil, what predefined measurements are used, is there data on them online, how does it compare to individual manufactures..
Sorry heaps of questions, just interesting to see thats all!
Reading the report I cannot see why they have chosen to use the take action item when none of the measures are outside the acceptable parameters.
It is fairly hard to draw any conclusions based on this info as it is too early (single test) to see a trend and because the state of the oil will very much depend on driving patterns. Looking at the acidity index I would think this vehicle does a lot of short runs.
This looks very much to me like a slanted test of the type often used by the floggers of oil additives and thus I would question the conclusions rather than the raw data.
Having said that I have always favoured 5,000 km oil changes anyway.
Oilcheck can be found at Sefton, a suburb of western Sydney. number is 02 9644 9100. They are great people and very helpful.
ACA use them for years in their expose on the ethanal petrol stations. They've been around for years, and have a good rep in the industry.
The reason for the sad face is because the metal wear in the engine is very high. Back from my uni days, this result was not uncommon for running in an engine. I would have thought machining practices would have improved. Iron, copper and silicon content in the oil is very high! Iron possibly due to liner or cam wear, copper/lead possibly due to bearing wear and silicon from gasket wear. Trend is VERY important. I guess we'll see over the coming months.
I can defiantly say there have been quite a lot of long trips mixed into the short run about trips.
Back to the oil, you defiantly get what you pay for. So use good oil and change it often.
Judging from that and my unexpert opinion you don't have much to worry about. The engine still is in its running in period depending on how you drive and how you have driven. Given that the 3000km service was conducted after this test as well I don't think this is cause for alarm just yet.
Ensure on the long trips to vary RPM as per thread on breaking in the engine.
Turbos are generally pretty hard on oils. Changing your oil periodically at 5000-7000 km is what many people do. Obviously the good oil is important.
It is a interesting service that they do, I know a chemist who works for Castrol/BP and she does simular analysis however not usually for engine wear issues. More of manufacturing quality etc.
From the report there was no silver in the oil, which the turbo ball bearing are made out of, so all is well there.
Interesting that there is virtually no info on the 723157-0001GT40 turbo. As far as I can gather turbine diameter is 2.41 inch and the compressor diameter is 2.45inches. Talk to Ford and they won't tell you anything and Garrett say talk to Ford.
In stock trim with the rear housing, i would expect to see boost spikes if the turbo was boosted up.
Perhaps more turbo information will arrive when people start rebuilding them or modifiying the engine.
Its a new engine, but I am guessing they still have the same basic "wear in" issues as older make engines. With so many new moving parts any ability in improving new engine wear, would have to be offset somewhat by, twice the number of cams, valves, vct etc.
Is it just me, or during run in (first 10,000km) different oils are used to make sure that everything beds down and that the oil flows as freely as possible to ensure that it is as least moving?
Something about using superthin oil which is specifically for breaking engines in for the first 5 thou and then a thinner than normal for the next 5 thou and then normal oil after that (synthetic).
Anyone know of a place which can do this for me? How do you approach the dealer to give you the collected oil in a manner which is suitable for chemical analysis? Or do you just drain 1 litre out and then top up youself?
When you have short trips water/moisture can build up in the oil. This is often 'burnt off' when you go on a longer trip. However, during the period of the short trips the water provides compounds that allow the creation of acids. The additive package in the oil counters this by sacrificially neutralising the acids. Hence despite the fact the watre disappears on a longer run the additive package is already depleted and the damage is already done.
Typically acid or nuetralisation number tests give an indication of the condition of the oil's additive package. If you had a small amount of neutralisation additive you could add it to the oil tank and be as good as new.
The above info supports my theory - buy oil based on its additive package performance. Mobil 1 0W40 has one of the best and most complete additive packages around which is why its a bit exxy!
As for wear, no matter how hard you try first run engines (early hours after rebuild) always display higher metal contamination. Even jet engines, and big diesels.
Kinda off topic, but what is deamed a short trip and what is a long trip.
Obviously a trip to the supermarket/bank/etc is a 'short trip'. But when does a short trip become a long one. I guess i'm after the defination of a long trip as, how long until this water/moisture starts to burn off rather than just just vapourise.
Some engines as they get older don't need thinner oils.. For a while (while my brother had a fleet card) used to use mobile 1 in my 300,000km skyline. Ran wonderfully, infact I don't like using thicker oils seems to create too much rattling, so now Im using mobile S. but Im thinking about thinner.
Pete is right, it is 0W40 and use it in my WRX. I buy it from the local Mobil distributor here in Canberra for around $75 for 5 litres. You won't find it at your local servo or on the shelf of any of the autoparts places.
I've seen the results of similar analysis comparing various oils and the 0W40 stuff came out very well. But there is definitely no substitute for regular oil and filter changes (every 5000km).
I get all our machine g/boxes checked at different intervals (PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE)through CASTROL (labcheck)
For $132 you get 10 kits ,which consist of a sample bottles,all relevent info on machine to be filled in,post it kit, take the sample at service,just put it in the post and they post back an analysis of your oil condition,and over a period of time they trend oil conditions and will then tell you your oils optimum life span,can point out any potential problems with the unit/gbox etc.eccesive water/iron so.on.
They also suggest oils to suit your application,speeds and conditions
No I dont work for castrol But do provide a professional service
thanks
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