Up to mile 5,424 I changed the oil on the Mustang to a new grade and brand. I submitted used oil to two different labs and got results. Then I tested samples of Swisstrax and RaceDeck against physical and chemical torture. I also took a trip to New York to see my family!
Mile 5,424: Oil Change to Motul 300V Chrono 10w40
I decided to get my 5w20 factory spec Mobil 1 Extended Performance oil tested at two labs for viscosity and contents. I had only about 1,500 miles on the oil which I filed after installing the supercharger. I had suspicions that temperatures from the supercharger, horse power output, and Texas heat are incompatible with the factory spec oil grade. Ultimately I received the following results from the two labs.
| Oil Contents | Oil Analyzers Inc. | Blackstone Laboratories |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel Dilution | <1% Vol | <0.5% Vol |
| Soot | <.1% Vol | 0.1% Vol |
| Water | <.1% Vol | 0.0% Vol |
| Glycol | N/A | 0.0% Vol |
| Viscosity 100C | 7.8cSt | 7.6cSt |
| Base Number | 3.20mg KOH/g | N/A |
| Oxidation | 9abs/cm | N/A |
| Nitration | 9abs/0.1mm | N/A |
| Iron | 16 ppm | 19 ppm |
| Chromium | 0 ppm | 0 ppm |
| Nickel | 0 ppm | 0 ppm |
| Aluminum | 4 ppm | 6 ppm |
| Copper | 6 ppm | 7 ppm |
| Lead | 33 ppm | 41 ppm |
| Tin | 0 ppm | 0 ppm |
| Cadmium | 0 ppm | N/A |
| Silver | 0 ppm | 0 ppm |
| Vanadium | 0 ppm | N/A |
| Silicon | 11 ppm | 12 ppm |
| Sodium | 4 ppm | 5 ppm |
| Potassium | 7 ppm | 4 ppm |
| Titanium | 0 ppm | 0 ppm |
| Molybdenum | 78 ppm | 88 ppm |
| Antimony | 0 ppm | N/A |
| Manganese | 101 ppm | 105 ppm |
| Lithium | 0 ppm | N/A |
| Boron | 71 ppm | 80 ppm |
| Magnesium | 728 ppm | 865 ppm |
| Calcium | 1077 ppm | 1167 ppm |
| Barium | 0 ppm | 0 ppm |
| Phosphorus | 724 ppm | 799 ppm |
| Zinc | 771 ppm | 915 ppm |
Oil testing results on sample from 2016 Mustang GT Supercharged taken on October 4th, 2017. Vehicle is supercharged with 5,424 miles on Coyote 5L engine. Oil was Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w20 as specified by manual with approximately 1,500 miles on oil. Filter and oil were changed as the sample was taken.
As you can see after just 1,500 miles the oil is starting to fail. The base number is starting to drop. The viscosity at 100C is at 7.8cSt which also on the low side since it should range 6.9 to 9.3.
The 101 ppm of manganese seems normal due to my use of unleaded race fuel. However the 33 ppm of lead is interesting. For 8qt of oil it means I had 0.25g of lead in the oil. Where did it come from? Bearings? I had a conversation with an engine builder who confirmed no lead in factory bearings. Blackstone also confirmed this in their analysis. So chances are (and it’s Blackstone’s theory) that the fuel probably has lead in it. The first lab also suggested that as a possibility, along with leaded solder since it’s a new engine.
The fuel I use from Sunoco, although marketed as unleaded, I suppose could contain TEL anyway. Would sort of explain why this particular fuel works so ridiculously well. It works a lot better than the VP and Gulf unleaded offerings with similar marketed specs. I wonder if the TEL content is just low enough that it’s considered unleaded? Going to take some time to research how that works and if there is any standard for classification. Perhaps it’s like calories on food items, where if it’s below X calories they can just call it zero calorie.
I’m told by the staff at blackstone their margin of error is around 3 ppm. However, we see some of the results are off by more than 3 ppm between labs. Being that I only have two lab reports, I don’t know who’s closer to the truth. I’m going to ask the first lab what the margin of error is and maybe take a sample to a third lab. My method was to take the sample mid stream and store one big container. I then shook it up before distributing a sample into each lab’s jar. It’s not like I took samples at different parts of the stream. I’m trying to be as scientific as possible.
As you can see the results are fairly different but seem to indicate similar performance overall. i.e. there is no major surprise, like one showing a ton of copper or aluminum, etc… However if you look at some of the things like Zinc the variance is huge. Blackstone told me their margin of error is around 3 ppm. So assuming the other company has a similar margin of error (waiting to hear) it means we’re way outside for this to be margin of error at >100 ppm variances. My method for sample distribution was to take the sample mid stream and store one big container. I then shook it up before distributing a sample into each lab’s jar. It’s not like I took samples at different parts of the stream.
I’m now going to considering sending each lab multiple identical samples to verify their results. For example I could take a virgin jug of oil and split it up into six samples labeled as different. Send three of each to two different labs and see what results are received. The goal being to at least find one lab that gives consistent and plausible results within margin of error.
In the mean time I decided to go for Motul 300V Chrono 10w40. Because the car is only for track and fun use it’s never going to see cold temperatures. Not even remotely near freezing. The tires won’t work at that temp anyway. I will take samples in 500mi intervals from this oil and see how it goes. I may also try the Redline 10w40 depending on what kind of results I see.
Swisstrax vs. RaceDeck
I’ve recently decided to remodel the garage of my new house. I’ll be posting more video and blog entries about it next week. In the mean time I decided to start thinking about flooring. Today I have epoxy and I’m now considering getting Swisstrax or RaceDeck to go over it. Both companies sent me samples and I had fun testing them to see which is strong and more chemically stable.
Videos
Enjoy two videos of my work on the Mustang/Garage and my trip to NY.
https://youtu.be/a6wOMMlIZRs