Blackstone Labs Oil Report After Second Oil Change at ~15,000 Miles (Gas Non-Hybrid Engine)

[Joe Dirt]

On my last comment I should have also mentioned that I come from the Boating world mentality and go by hours. Lots of sitting in traffic where I live.

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[Desmolicious]

I just received my oil analysis after sending in a sample after my second oil change. I went into ownership with the intention of maintaining a ~7,500 mile oil change interval, as that's what I've done on other vehicles with a recommended 10k interval.

Everything seems to check out pretty good. I do tend to drive a little bit harder than the average person, so that is something to keep in mind. My driving is probably 60% highway, 40% city/short drives. This oil interval also included a road trip from St. Louis, MO to Breckenridge, CO (1,300 miles each way), unsure how much that plays into oil degradation, if at all.

Curious to see results from others to compare.

Off topic, but the body color painted fender flares look so much better than the other options.

 

[bakutheleo]

Thank you, interesting objective info. What I always wonder about "The guy with a million years of experience" statements (generic for all the YouTubers as well as old mechanics and such) is how much of that is just "stuck in the old days." That is, "That is how I've always done it, and dad-burn that is the way it needs to be done and everything else is wrong." Please understand, if not obvious, I am trying to be a little silly here, and definitely am not saying anything bad about any of those folks--that almost (?) all probabaly have more real knowlege than I do. But, I do hear this sort of info ("Need to change that oil every 500 miles" or "Turbos eat up oil and you need to change it every 10 miles") a lot and feel at least some of it is no necessarily based on new, objective data. But maybe it is.

I will repeat what I have stated in another thread somewhere on this forum: My first vehicle was a 1984 Honda Civic (right, no turbo ;-)). After the first couple oil changes which I did at (before really) the manufacturer recommended intervals, I started using Mobil One synthetic oil. I changed the filter at (generally a bit before) the recommended oil change interval but the oil only every 20,000 miles. That car ran perfectly for over 380,000 miles. It failed (although still ran and drove) at around 387,000 miles by losing compression in 1.5 cylinders (it had lost partial compression in one a while before but still ran fine and continued to get 40 MPG, then lost another cylinder completely). I figured running on 2.5 cylinders was probably pushing it so retired the car (it was just shy of 30 years old). Yes, different vehicle, but still a gasoline engine doing the same thing. I do not think my long interval oil changes were a problem. The only repairs *ever* required was a clutchat 225,000 miles, a rotor (which was actually a new one that I proactively replaced!), water pump, alternator, and distributor (that last one was late in life). I think that was it.

 

[Lucky09]

That's amazing.
The difference with turbo engines is the heat the turbos generate.
Based on the story of your civic - God rest its soul - considering you were content to drive on fewer cylinders, tells me you likely didn't hotrod that thing, ever. Delicate driving prolongs everything, including oil life.
Turbo engines are at a disadvantage because they overheat the oil making it not last as long regardless of how polite you drive. I'm sure people will have long engine life with 10,000 miles intervals.
But all we ever read are the number mile intervals someone did and not how fast they drove on long trips, or how fast they accelerated in the city. Someone who drives the speed limit 100% of the time will generally have longer vehicle life than the someone who speeds everywhere and on long trips. So shorter intervals with turbo engines are more important than with a naturally aspirated engine.
All this to say, civics are amazing.

 

[bakutheleo]

Yep, I burned rubber all the time with that 1.3 liter 4 cylinder engine . You are of course correct--I do drive "easy" in general. And yes, I understand turbos run very fast. I take care to accelerate fairly slowly when the engine is cold (which is only a minute or 2 when it is not very cold out) then even after that I generally do not punch it.

My other previous car (that the 4Runner replaced) was a 2000 Sienna. My then girlfriend had bought it new, then after her unexpected death from a stroke I got the car. I drove it for several years. The only reason I replaced it is that it would not pass smog and replacing the catalytic converters would just not be worthwhile. It still ran perfectly and had about 380,000 miles on. Plus I did really miss my off-road vehicles (I had a Ford Explorer and Chevy Tahoe in the past as well which were both great vehicles)!

 

[mars001]

Wouldn't that already figured by the Toyota design engineers when they recommend 10k OCI? I'm sure they didn't want the truck to fail early.

The turbo is powered (spun) by exhaust gases which are extremely hot. The turbocharger has bearings that allow the impeller to spin at high RPM’s which draws In air used to pressurize the combustion chamber. The bearings are lubricated by the engine oil. The oil is critical to the life of the turbocharger. This is why you see a lot of owners myself included, that will change the oil sooner than the 10,000 mile interval specified by Toyota. This is why the OCI is related to the turbo. Hope this helps.

 

[CO/ZA]

Wouldn't that already figured by the Toyota design engineers when they recommend 10k OCI? I'm sure they didn't want the truck to fail early.

Turbos are cooled both with engine oil as well as the coolant/anti-freeze circuit.

10K OCI is fine with the proper engine oil, for which I would suggest is actually a Euro spec oil like Mobil 1 ESP x2 0w-20.

The German car builder standards exceed anything spec'd by the API or Toyota, and have years of institutional knowledge behind them.

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