kt

Sent oil into Blackstone - below are results for 02 996 C2 cab (purchased 2 months ago with 32k on odo).

On its 3rd 3.6L (yes, third), 34k on car, 7k on reman engine (full service records), 1st oil change at 2k miles, this one at 5k:

Blackstone report:
"It looks like this is just the second oil change for your 911, so this Porsche is still finishing its break-in period and these numbers are not unusual. Copper is often the last metal to come down after wear-in, and it should continue to drop each oil change until it gets down towards our averages, which are based on ~2,600 miles oil use in this type of engine. Silicon is from sealers and sand-casted parts, and it will also come down more. All other wear was low, and no contaminants were found. The slightly low viscosity isn't a problem. This looks like it will be a nice engine!"

knfeparty

centiStokes a little low on the 100*C reading there, but you have less than .5% fuel dilution so I wouldn't worry about that. Ditto I wouldn't worry about the copper just yet.

How is the car on its 3rd? I don't even really want to know. Please drive the poor thing so this engine will last.

What brand/weight oil was this?

kt

Yeah, the 2 PO's put about 3k miles/year. I've already put that much in the last 2.5 months. At 7k on this engine, it pulls strong and lively. A blast to drive. PO's had a spotless service record but I guess just bad luck. Current reman was installed in June 2009 - assume that it's with the larger factory IMSB but can't confirm.

Mobil 1 0W40 - same oil that's been in since day 1 and all three motors.

Steve2112

If you don't mind me asking - how much does this oil analysis cost?

MiamiC70

Here is mine at 45,000 miles

Flat6 Innovations

Why no TAN or TBN? These are things that we take into heavy consideration when evaluating any UOA. Might want to see if they can provide you with that data as well.

kt

$25. Go to their website, request a kit ("free"), fill it with oil, mail it, get results back via email.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

kt

Not sure what those tests would show?

From their website:
"Do you want a TBN? This is a test used to measure the amount of active additive left in the oil. It may be useful if you are interested in extending your oil usage."

A more in-depth explanation from their website: http://www.blackstone-labs.com/do-i-need-a-tbn.php

--
I wasn't "interested in extending my oil usage" so I didn't opt for it. What else does it show?

What is a UOA?

knfeparty

I'm still pretty curious about oil weights on 996 engines, because by the owner's manual we should all be using heavier weight oils. I know the auto industry has all shifted towards thinner oils like 0w and 5w, but I thought a lot of that was trying to get that elusive fleet fuel economy average up and not for protecting engines.

I just don't see how if the owner's manual suggests 10w-40 or 15w-50 in 200X how the exact same engine should use 5w-40 or 0w-40 in 2011.

I posted an analysis from my mobil 1 15w-50 awhile ago and the results were good but I've still shifted to Motul 5w-40 since then. We'll see how that analysis comes out.

redridge

Ive stated this before, that the 996 long term test reports that it gets faster after 45k miles. Takes awhile to break in.

MiamiC70

I have beem using 5w-40 in mine and that is what my local indy recommends as well and uses in all his cars. So I duess we will see...

Flat6 Innovations

This is one of the most important aspects of an oil analysis.. It helps determine how much life is left in the oil so you know IF you need to REDUCE the oil service intervals. Without this number it is possible to have already over extended the oil service in your engine and not even know it. Closely watching TBN values is what we have used to develop engine oils. This value is also what proved to us that the M96 engine needs oil service every 5,000 miles or 4 months (at least in our climate) for the oil to remain effective.

M96 engines see a lot of fuel intrusion compared to others, the OPs oil sample had 2% fuel intrusion. Due to the fact that fuel is solvent and not a lubricant this fuel can take a tremendous amount of life out of the oil and this will impact the TBN.

Without TBN you may see wear metals, but you can't grade the oil and help figure out if oil services need to be shortened or can be extended. Having developed oil packages from scratch with Lake Speed Joe Gibbs Racing oils I can say that TBN has historically been the main focus of our discussions and our trial and error development of M96 oil.

TBN is also very useful when comparing anti-wear packages between oils.

TAN is also important. It surprises me that they don't include this info. We don't use Blackstone for analysis, we use the lab at Lubrizol, the company that makes the additive packages for Joe Gibbs.

No HTwo O

Jake, you're reading the report wrong. The OP's fuel dilution was <0.5%. The 2% number you were reading is the Universal Average for that motor with approx. 2,600 miles on the oil inverval.

No HTwo O

KT:

1) Good job, keep doing the UOA's
2) Maybe decrease your interval to 4,000 miles until your copper comes down
3) I don't want to start an oil war/thread, but maybe consider a "better" oil to give you more high temp and high shear protection. Maybe, for example, Mobil One 5W50 (hard to find, Porsche approved) would be a better choice. Again, no oil wars. Just a thought.

kt

Thanks for the additional info, Jake!

Unless I'm reading the results incorrectly, I think my oil sample had less than 0.5% fuel in the oil?

Blackstone does provide both TBN and TAN analysis if you request. But since I didn't understand the need, I didn't shell out the additional money. Not a big expense (now that I know which ones to select) but I don't like to spend money for the sake of spending money. Looking at the available tests, one could spend hundreds of dollars analyzing oil.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/tests-price-list.php