Quote:
Originally Posted by blankstar43
just got my results back after a good amount of track time on the oil
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Blankstar43: FWIW I think that's a great report. There is one thing, however, you may want to keep an eye on and that's fuel dilution. It can negatively affect the viscosity or thickness of the oil, and it will also negatively affect the flash point of the oil, making it more likely to vaporize and drop deposits. Your report shows both vis and flash point below the norms for a 6k M3 oil change. Usually when both these metrics are sub-par, fuel dilution may be the culprit.
I know your report shows fuel dilution as nil (<.5%). That's a problem with Blackstone uoa's. They report fuel dilution, but don't really measure it - - they estimate it using a formula that I believe compares the flash point of the virgin oil (if they have it ) and the used oil. My experience is that they can be off. I once submitted a sample from the same drain to a lab that actually uses gas chromatography to test fuel dilution, and a sample from the same drain to Blackstone. Blackstone showed fuel dilution as nil while the other lab (Polaris) showed fuel dilution as almost 2% (what some consider the limit).
It's no big deal, and this is no rant against Blackstone, but if you want to verify fuel dilution, you might use a lab like Polaris that actually measures it.
So if you have high fuel dilution, what can you do about it? Assuming you don't have leaking fuel injectors or some other physical problem with the car (e.g. overly rich mixture), the only other thing you can do is look at how the car is driven. Lots of operation at wide open throttle will add fuel dilution, and frequent cold starts with short trips, and lots of extended idling, will all contribute.
If you want to try an actual measurement of fuel dilution next time, I'd suggest a lab called Oil Analyzers, Inc. They are a private label operation for Polaris. In other words, all the actual lab testing is done by Polaris (ISO accredited for accuracy). Order the kit02 and you will get a test kit that you can send back to OAI (Polaris) by prepaid UPS. So you'll get the results faster than if by US post. You'll also get TBN, oxidation, and nitration included in the uoa report.
http://www.oaitesting.com/index.htm
http://www.polarislabs.com/
Sorry for the bandwidth!