mrtrodonet

I'm new to 996 ownership and after reading everything that can happen to a 996 motor, I'm very paranoid about my engine falling into pieces.

So i have learned there is a thing called oil analysis!

I did one, but apparently, not all tests are equal and 996 is special so I needed to do it in a different place...

So if there is someone with experience interpreting these numbers for 996, please let me know what we have here.

Doing it primarily for IMS I guess..
I bought the car from a used car lot and the owner had no idea what IMS was and had no service records. He then supposedly reached out to the previous owner and confirmed that it was done, but no records of when with what part or anything else. The guy was nice and seemed honest, but I take it with a grain of salt anyway.
The car is in perfect condition otherwise. Well taken care of.

79000k miles, 5w-40 synthetic unknown oil. ran for ~4300 i guestimate. Added 2 quarts of oil during this time.
Car was smoking on startups sometimes. I replaced AOS with an oil change. No smoke noticed on startups so far (15 or so)

If you know an article where each of these numbers are explained with values within the norm, please post it here so I learn too.

Thank you

Eric Kessel

Maybe remove your home address from the pdf?

-Eric

binaryaudax

Take a look at Lake Speed Jr's explanation at SPEEDiagnostix: https://www.speediagnostix.com/reading-the-report

RWPinNC

If that's the actual report you received, its pretty slim on info. I and many others here use Blackstone. With your first report, you get a listing of typical values and a longer discussion. As you get subsequent analyses, they are added to the original report and they comment on trends. I do this at each oil change and file with my maintenance records.

GC996

Tough to tell with your oil test. Would be helpful to know what the oil is that is currently in the engine. It's helpful to get a virgin sample to see what it looks like to compare with your test. Some oils have higher metal content than other.

The first test starts the baseline. The next set of tests show the trendline. If it was my car, i would get a speeddiagnostics kit from LN and test it again and then change my oil to whatever Lake Speed would recomend after looking at the test. You can call him for a conversation after using his testing service. He is a good guy and knowledgeable guy. See link below which may be helpful.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...pca-video.html

Then I would find the best damn porsche indy near me and have them (1) drop the sump to see whats in it, (2) cut the oil filter open to see what's in it, (3) scope the bores from the sump to see their condition.

It's a 20+ year old car so there is no reason to loose any sleep. Its all about understanding its condition and then taking appropriate actions to prolong engine life and enjoyment.

Depending on what the oil tests show and what your indy finds will give you your next step marching orders of prevention and longevity.

silver_tt

A few brief thoughts:

1. Your wear levels are high for a 4300 mile OCI. 15 ppm iron, 8 ppm copper, etc. You likely could reduce this simply be choosing a better oil.
2. The methods to derive the values shown in this report are different depending on which service you use, and it matters. For example most of these services use the oil flashpoint to determine fuel dilution but this is only a very crude approximation and you must use GC (sometimes in conjunction with FTIR).
3. This service thinks your vehicle is a Porsche 911 "Careva"