Oil Sample Results[S70/98]

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Oil Sample Results[S70/98] posted by Dale on
Monday, 13 July 1998, at 7:22 p.m.

Gents,

Several weeks ago I bought an oil sample kit made by Mobil at the local Autozone store and promptly sent it in with my old oil, real easy to do by the way. To start with I have a 98 S70-T5 automatic, I installed Amsoil series 2000 0W-30 in the engine at 200 miles along with a Volvo oil filter (couldn't get an Amsoil one in time) and a K&N air filter. The sample was taken with 5000 miles on the odometer which technically is 4800 miles on the oil. Here are the results:

Note: All numbers are parts per million with "borderline" starting at 250.

Chromium - 1
Copper - 12
Iron - 16
Lead - 4
Tin - 10
Aluminum - 6
Silicon (dirt) - 5

I added a note to Mobil that I used a K&N air filter and was very interested if this was causing any excess silicon, here's their answer to that question, "With chromium and aluminum in acceptable ranges it indicates the air filter is working properly and no abnormal conditions in rings and pistons". They didn't mention anything about the silicon levels but they were very low as you can see.

Here's the thing that I was especially interested in was how the oil held up in the Atlanta heat in a turbocharged engine that is run quite hard by yours truly, the answer is "The weight of your product is within limits" I guess I'll continue to use the Amsoil 0W-30 year round with results like that and will probably extend the drain interval to 10k miles after the next oil change.

Here's what I'm doing different for the next oil sample:
1. I installed the original volvo air filter, with 200 miles on it, just to settle the paper vs. gauze question with a technical answer instead of a gut feeling. It really doesn't make any difference with a figure of "5" but I can't help not trying it just to see what the difference is if any.
2. I installed an Amsoil oil filter which should lower the results, if it is as good as they say it is.

Good news and bad news folks, I don't have anything to compare these numbers to until I change oil again and that's the bad news for those interested, it will probably be another 6 months before I hit 10k miles, it gets very little use as you can see. The good news is these kits are readily available at all the Autozone stores for $10. So anyone out there feel free to have your oil analyzed and please post the results.

Hope everyone finds these results as interesting as I did.

Dale

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