Blackstone Oil Analysis
I haven't found any evidence of a leak anywhere. The front end radiators probably need a good cleaning though. It should reach 30K miles in the next few months and while I've changed the brake fluid and oil more frequently based on age (rather than mileage -- as did the prior owner from what I could tell), I've been told that the 30K mile maintenance check-up is fairly comprehensive.-Eric
Get those radiators cleaned pronto. If they have not been cleaned in a while I believe the best course would be to have the bumper cover removed and the condensers unbolted and moved away some to give better access so all the trash/dirt can be removed.
Then afterwards every so often have the trash blown out when you have the car serviced.
The radiators do deserve a bumper-off cleaning. I've been meaning to do it for a while. I just have to find the time to do it. I'm assuming removing the bumpers is a relatively painless process...hopefully? Is it the kind of thing that should take a couple of hours for a first timer?
Thanks for all of the great feedback everyone!
-Eric
1) Without a dedicated oil temperature gauge, how does one know if they are getting elevated oil temperatures on a stock vehicle?
2) If the only way to do this is to add a sensor, where can a source be easily tapped? This question has been asked many times, but never seems to be satisfactorily answered.
there is an easy technique for doing this... you can determine oil temp by watchiing your oil pressure:
@ normal temp (needle strait and slightly to the right) you should be getting 4 BAR pressure @ 3000 rpm
if your engine temp is hotter then you won't get a full 4 BAR on 3000 rpm maybe 3.7 or so... (3.7 is still ok @ 3000 rpm - you are safe)
on the track the rule I use is that if I see the pressure drop to 3 bar when I'm driving in a strait away and my rpm is 3000 rpm I engage in a few cool down laps and then see what the pressure has gone up to... I usually find this does the trick as I have GT3 rad and hgh speed cooling fans enabled...
50 weight oil will give you much better pressure at the track than a 40 weight oil... I would NEVER use a 40 weight oil tracking as the heat things it out and your compromise oil pressure.
so next time your out for a drive do the 3000 rpm test and see where your pressure is at...
Thats just me and results may vary, but I don't go to a 50 grade until I alter the internal clearances of the engine for specific track application. That said, even our Grand Am engines (none of which have ever failed) still run XP9 which is a true 40 grade oil.
If using M1 the reason why you have to go to a 50 grade is because the oils all perform like a 40 grade at temperature, because they were never, ever developed to run over 212F. When we want to perform severe duty testing of any internally lubricated component, or an entire engine, thats the only time that I'll even consider running M1.
This is where a 50 weight oil shows some value providing you keep the change intervals short.
Also a 50 weight oil like m1 or castrol or motul will flow better when hot because these 996 cars do run on the warm side at the track ... At those temps I would imagine there is little hp loss.
Last edited by Tbred911; May 9, 2013 at 10:56 PM.
I had the oil analysis done but have no idea how to read this sheet and can't find anything useful online. Oil was changed a little over a year ago and was used for about 4,000 miles (best guess)
We checked the oil pan and found no debri. Tomorrow we will scope the cylinders. I just need to know which part of the engine is deteriorating? Yes I have the large internal IMS bearing. Is it time for an engine rebuild or replacement?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
We usually see iron become elevated first, them aluminum, lead and then copper as this is the composition of the main and rod bearings. Blackstone doesn't know this, because they are not engine developers.
Copper= worn bearings, as there is no other copper within the engine's composition.
Without TBN or TAN values its hard to say how much corrosive wear that the materials could have been seeing on top of mechanical wear.
A good illustration of this with forum members engine (symptomless other then the UOA elevations) last year is here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...4914693&type=3
Here is your aluminum, lead, tin and copper, from Mike's engine.

I've attached an UOA of a failed engine that had its IMSB falling apart. Cringely was the owner and I bought the roller from him and currently rebuilding the engine. I sent a sample to Blackstone for an UOA just out of curiosity to see how the UOA looks on the oil.
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...wn-engine.html
Last edited by Ahsai; Jun 15, 2016 at 12:05 AM. Reason: Corrected typos
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The data on this one is not that bad. Yes, it is elevated some, but the values are not excruciating. Plus, you sent this to Blackstone, which never gets my vote.
I would drive 2K on a current oil service, then send the samples to ALS or Caterpillar for true data, which includes TAN and TBN values.
I would not tear anything down for values at these levels.



