ok...I got my analysis back from Blackstone labs yesterday of my Mobil 1 5w-30. My car showed more wear of Chromium and Iron than when I had Castrol GTX 5w-30 last august. They said that the Mobil 1 isn't doing as good of a job of protecting my piston rings as the Castrol did. WTF???? I thought synthetic was supposed to be SOO much better....F that...I might just flush my engine and go back to Castrol GTX.

I'll send Bill the full results when I have some time so he can add them to the sticky

 

That IS surprising. I guess that new "tri synthetic" formula may not be all it's cracked up to be. I'd already planned to go with Amsoil on my next oil change, but I may do it sooner than later.

 

will it be safe to just drain the mobile 1..and throw amsoil in it?

 

it's not a matter of being "safe". Of course it's "safe" to switch oils without flushing the engine....whether you want the piece of mind of flushing the engine is the question. I think it would be fine.

 

if you swtiched from regular oil to synthetic this late in your cars life that's prolly why your rings are breaking down along with other seals and stuff. you shouldn't switch oils past like 10k on a car tops. i did it at 3750 and i'm due to change it when i get my car back. i love the 7500 miles thing.

 

Well, normally that would be true but BriGuy has put a helluva lot more stress on his engine since last time around with the NOS, etc. I wouldn't necessarily blame Mobile 1.

When Brian gets those results to me I'll take a closer gander at them and try to make an informed recommendation....

 

Huh?

There is nothing wrong with switching oils later in a car's life. There is also nothing wrong with switching back and forth between synthetics and conventionals, though I can't think of very many reasons why you'd want to. Where did you get the 10K number?? There are tons of cars out there that switch to synthetics with higher mileage on them, some with over 100K on them. Did you read the background on Don Stevens' older 5 Series and when he switched that over? My personal car went from using Castrol GTX for the three years and 36K miles it was on lease to using Mobil 1 and then later Amsoil for the last 32K over the last few years and I have had no issues with any type of wear or oil consumption.

The higher ring wear is more likely due to Mobil 1's Tri-Synthetic formula, which apparently isn't working as well for him under his driving conditions as the Castrol could. As for "seals breaking down and stuff" where did you get that info from? He sure didn't mention there was a problem indicated in the analysis or that he was experiencing leaks. I hate to say it, but your post this time was almost on par with what 95emeraldgxe posts allthe time.

 

There is nothing wrong with draining the Mobil 1 and filling the crankcase with Amsoil. The engine flush is primarily for flushing out the varnish and other deposits left by conventional oil so your system is clean. Synthetics don't create these types of deposits, especially after so few miles, so a flush is overkill. Sure, it will get the majority of the Mobil 1 out, but the benefits of this are more psychological than practical. There is also the issue that the flush is a very harsh and agressive chemical, so it is not something you want to be putting through your system on a regualr basis.

 

Where did you come up with that?

I switched both my 4th gens to Synthetic, and my 97 Altima. The Maxima's had 55k miles or so on them, and the altima had 64k. None of them used synthetic before, and they all do now. Not a one consumes oil or has ANY problems.

 

Bill,
since we were basically typing at the same time, I didn't know he had NOS, which would help to explain the accelerated wear. What I don't understand is how can you say that switching to synthetic after 10K is a bad thing?

 

Yeah, I guess we know now NOS equipped Maximas should be changed fairly frequently, although another synthetic such as Amsoil may help more.



I never said that......hell I've switched the 94 from dino to Mobile 1 at 35k, then to ULX-110 (dino) at 85k, then to Amsoil at 105k.......I'm the poster child for switching oils in Maximas....

 

just one more side note....the wear in all areas was still with in the "average" range...just higher in that range than before. I used the Nitrous MORE last summer when I had the castrol than I did in the last couple months with the Mobil 1, heck...I barely used it at all this winter.

They didn't say that my engine is wearing faster than a normal VQ would...they just said that the Castrol was protecting better than the Mobil 1.

 

expecting e-mail very soon with results

 

I do and don't want to hurry my miles along lol I wanna get my RP tested!

 

I think Castrol makes good oil.

I only use Castrol Syntec Blend 5W-30 on my Maxima and it feels great. Oil is still clear after 2000 miles and I change mine every 3500 miles. Using Bosch filter because the Nissan dealership is too far

 

Please stop using that crap in your Maxima. Use GTX dino or a full synthetic. Otherwise you are wasting your money.


I still don't understand an oil making car feel different.





Color has nothing to do with protection.

 

(((((hug for Bill)))))

 

The oil being clear after 2000 miles, plus the fact I'm not burning oil, is an indication that my car is running great (and it feels great, doesn't everyone's?)

And why is it crap? I agree synthetic blends are not as good as full synthetic but it surely can't be worse than regular dino oil, right?

(Bill, not trying to argue but trying to get clarification ... you do have a greater knowledge of the 'oil' industry especially with the oil analysis, etc after all)

p.s.: << friendly wave for bill >>

 

First, I appreciate your taking the effort to read my comments and respond to them without calling me names or being a butt like other members around here are known to do.

I have yet to see an oil analysis result that justifies paying $2.50+ a quart for Castrol Syntec as opposed to a $1.69 for Castrol GTX. From what info we do have in the spreadsheet, Castrol Syntec probably isn't the optimal thing to put in your car. The Mobile 1 Drive Clean blend looks promising, but is still relatively unknown. I would spend more money on a good oil filter (Bosch is pretty much average from the research I have done and tests I have seen) such as the Mobile 1 or a Nissan OEM one. The processes used for manufacturing a blend oil don't seem to yield any benefits over just getting a good quality dino oil.....

 

Bill update the spreadsheet so we can see how the Mobil 1 is doing I just sent in my oil information from 5k on my Mobil 1 and it showed average readings as well. The readings seemed to vary from the other guys who had run Mobil 1 on the spreadsheet though Maybe in the spreadsheet there can be a Mobil1 tab that shows Mobil 1 readings on different cars over time to see if/how much the change in Mobil 1 affected readings. Personally I bought a case of Amsoil so the Mobil 1 doesn't affect me, but it would be interesting to see the results and let the oil sheet critics see.
-hype

 

My bad, that was originally posted by dmbmaxima88. I misunderstood your reply to his post and thought you were agreeing with him.

 

the debate never ends

Amsoil > Mobil 1 hehe

 

I too recently sent in a sample to be tested. Mobile 1 10w30, 4k miles, 3hr dyno session, ~100+ 1/4 mile runs, lots of street tuning runs and lets not forget the juicey boost. My chromium was at 8 and lead was at 10. I was told that the high chromium was probably due to the nitrous use and to keep the oil changes at 4k. I need to do a little write up and will send my sheet to Bill to be added.

Its the nitrous!

 

Bill

Purchased car in July 2001 w/ 77k miles, oil just changed at dealership with Valvoline dino

1st self-changed oil at 80.5k miles w/ Syntec Blend (Bosch filter) in 10/01

2nd oil change coming up in about 1500 miles. Is it too early to get the kit and send the results in or should I wait for a few more oil changes?

 

Qurious, what tests have you seen that indicate the Bosch filters are average?

 

Come to think of it, I thought the filter teardown indicated Bosch filters were considered good quality. I pay OEM filter prices for that ($5.49/each) so I hope it at least works as good as OEM.

$10 for a Mobil filter seems ridiculous.

 

I put a scan of my report on my web page. I also e-mailed it to bell to be added to the sheet.

 

interesting...you're numbers are very close to mine...although your lead levels were a little higher....other than that...our numbers are nearly identical...and my car has 93K miles on it!

 

Are you saying that the Nitrous is causing that much extra wear, or it is artifically raising the amount of chromium and lead?

 

Using nitrous is wearing the piston rings. There's nothing artificial about it. It's direct cause and effect. However, S/C only Maximas have yet to show this accelerated wear in analysis. Since this one is S/C and nitrous and showed the same wear issues as BriGuy's nitrous only Maxima, one could conclude that the nitrous is directly causing this wear. Therefore, extended drain intervals on NOS vehicles are probably not realistic. However, a switch to Redline or Amsoil for a similar interval would further clarify this....





However, if you are insane like Kev and like to use smaller and smaller pullies for more psi on the S/C, then it may have the same effects as the NOS. But Kev won't get off his butt to do an analysis for me so we still don't know.........

 

pocketrocket,

Forgive my stupidity and misleading statement regarding the Bosch filter. My comments were reflective of the lower line Wix and Napa Silver (not the Gold series) filters, which are the same and have an average filter media and "leaky" anti-drainback valves. From what I've read, the STP filter is a copy of the Bosch which is a copy of the Mobile 1 filter (i.e. made by the same people), and all are well made filters. The paper media of the Mobile 1 is better, but whether it's $5 better is up for debate. I would recommend you save a couple of more bucks and get the STP filter (around $3 instead of $5 like the Bosch), which looks to be identical to the Bosch except for the paint and name on the outside. One of my sources:

http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml

 

I support the insanity! But I too would like to know what kind of wear he is getting on the "inside". I would like to try and get close to his setup...but I have to know EXACTLY what it will do to the motor.

Me thinks deep down inside Kev really does not want to know what is going on....its to scary!

All in good fun though.....

 

but all wear was still well within the average range....

I don't think that the Nitrous is the cuase of a small increase in ring wear. I used MORE nitrous back last summer when I had Castrol GTX in, and everything was perfectly normal then.

Also take into account that both of these engines were run on Mobil 1...maybe Mobil 1 isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

I'm going to switch back to Castrol GTX next oil change....I'll get it analyzed and then we'll see what the effects of Nitrous are.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bill99gxe
[B]

I would recommend you save a couple of more bucks and get the STP filter (around $3 instead of $5 like the Bosch), which looks to be identical to the Bosch except for the paint and name on the outside.QUOTE]

Woohoo ... save $4 a year (I only average 2 oil changes a year) ... yeah, I checked the filter analysis too and the only thing that differed was the filter media.

Is it worth doing an oil analysis on my upcoming oil change? (see previous post).

 

Do you feel that way about any "Blend" oils?? I've been using Valvoline Durablend in all of my vehicles but not sure how its effecting my engine. I'll probably get the lab to test mine soon.

 

My opinion: blend oils are a waste of money.

I just answered this in the 5th gen forum this morning:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....4&pagenumber=2

 

Sorry Brian, I didn't state that clearly that the Mobil 1 was probably a cause of the "excess" wear as well. I should have stated "Since this one is S/C and nitrous and showed the same wear issues as BriGuy's nitrous only Maxima, one could conclude that the nitrous is directly causing this wear when using Mobil 1".......



What's going to make this stuff even more confusing is when Mobil 1 gets their new "Super Synthetic" formula out (I've only seen it at a couple of stores) to replace the "Tri-Synthetic" oils.....then we get to start revising an opinion of Mobil 1 all over again.....

 

Sure, that way you can better understand if your car was treated well in its first 77k of ownership, as well as to see how well the Syntec Blend has done on your vehicle. Based on what few results we have, I would definitely recommend getting an analysis and TBN reading done to see how it is wearing in your vehicle. This will also give us more insight into weather the Syntec Blend is a waste of money or not.....

 

I wouldn't say there is excess wear...just a little more than with my castrol in some areas and a little less in others, my engine overall still is in the "average wear" category.

Well I will see how everything goes with the change back to castrol, maybe that will get rid of my consumption too.

I think Mobil is trying to avoid being tested by bringing out new oils all the time

 

I am so lost...... any speculation on problems with amsoil?..im really considering grabbing a case. I do drive alot..14,000 miles in about 9 months...