SkyActiv Oil Analysis Thread

[Kedis82ZE8]

A dedicated thread was mentioned for oil analysis tests so I will start this thread off with mine. I realize there are numerous other threads with oil reports. Hopefully this one will be easier to find.

Just came in about 10 minutes ago.

Looks overall good to me

What are thoughts on the higher viscosity?

I did change on cold motor and at around 1/3 of a drain I took sample

I sure wish the pre-'16s allowed for the extended drain intervals.

 

[yugrus]

Thank you for posting this. My report should follow in a month or so.
You should post the report on BITOG too. I bet you'll get many valuable opinions from oil enthusiasts and experts in a short time. UOAs on that oil aren't very common there yet, nor are the reports for Skyactiv engines, so this would be a valuable contribution.
I'm sure you've read them before, but there are articles on bobistheoilguy.com forums that help deciphering the numbers that come out in the report.
By looking at relatively low fuel dilution, I assume you drive mostly highway? I bet mine will be much higher. This didn't affect your wear numbers regardless.
Quite often Blackstone ' s TBN numbers and universal averages are quite off, so this might be the reason for "higher then normal" viscosity numbers. Don't worry about that.
Speaking of fuel dilution, there is a very interesting thread on BITOG that goes about the formula Skyactiv + premium fuel = no fuel dilution. Backed with UOA data too. Interesting. I plan to check that theory with my UOAS over time too.

 

[yugrus]

How many months on oil?

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

A week shy of 6 months

75% highway / 25% city

 

[CX5_Pete]

Thank you so much for creating this thread. Is this using OEM filter? I hope we can get others to participate as well so we can gather more data and geek out a bit. I am almost at 4K mi and will change my oil at 5K. Will be replacing with mobil 1 and MoS2 additive from Liqui Moly as stated in another thread. Kedis, I hope you will be sticking with the Mazda Moly for awhile!

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

OEM filter and plan to stay the course with Mazda moly oil as well. I have one more kit in garage before I order more kits from Med Center to qualify for free shipping.

 

[CX5_Pete]

In regards to the high viscosity, quite odd. According to some of the post from BITOG, its suppose to have one of the lowest viscosity ratings in the 0W20 group. I dunno when you last started the engine and ran it up to operating temp before changing, but maybe (uneducated guess here) there was moisture build up? Seeing as how you live in WA and all, it is a wetter climate than say Arizona.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

It was overnight from a previous 25 mile drive. I put it up on ramps in garage after this drive, turned off vehicle and changed oil the following morning without starting motor.

On a side note for those that don't know you can obtain the Blackstone kits free from here:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/free-test-kits.php

You pay for postage to send it in and when they test. I just put postage stamps on the plastic bottle and dropped in the mailbox.

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

 

[Lbear]

Speaking of fuel dilution, there is a very interesting thread on BITOG that goes about the formula Skyactiv + premium fuel = no fuel dilution. Backed with UOA data too. Interesting. I plan to check that theory with my UOAS over time too.

That is interesting to me. Why would premium fuel bring no fuel dilution?

I run premium in my 2.5L SkyActiv engine because it seems to run better climbing grades under load. Maybe it's anecdotal evidence but I do it for peace of mind since climbing grades under load makes engines much more prone to knocking.

 

[yugrus]

The engine runs rich on regular to fight detonation at such a high compression ratio, evidenced by the soot build-up at the tail pipe. If you have that, pull a dipstick and smell the oil. It will have strong gas odor.
Premium fuel does not detonate as readily, so less fueling required to combat detonation. That's how the theory goes.
This should be the case mostly of the cars that see short trips and stop-n-go. At the high RPM/low load highway driving detonation rarely occurs, so less fueling is required, less soot and oil dilution.
That soot at the tailpipe further raises the question about what ends up at the intake valves through EGR and PCV. But no engines had been destroyed because of the valve deposits. Yet?

 

[MikeM.]

The engine runs rich on regular to fight detonation at such a high compression ratio, evidenced by the soot build-up at the tail pipe. If you have that, pull a dipstick and smell the oil. It will have strong gas odor.

I have a little soot at the tailpipe of my 2.0L CX-5 but my take on that is it's due to the rich warm-up coupled with the strategy of early exhaust valve opening to heat up the catalyst sooner during cold starts. I don't have a strong gas odor on my dipstick.

Premium fuel does not detonate as readily, so less fueling required to combat detonation. That's how the theory goes.

I saw that theory presented on BITOG also. I'm not convinced because the theory assumes the engine management regularly detects detonation and richens the mixture in response. If that were the case, running premium would give a little spunkier performance due to the leaner mixture and more advanced ignition timing but that was not my experience the one full tank of premium I've run. Also, I know timing is dialed back to avoid detonation (typically not in response to detected detonation but to help prevent it from occurring in the first place). Has anyone presented direct evidence that the mixture is simultaneously richened? Because that could be problematic from an emissions standpoint. In addition to the above preventive strategies (to avoid detonation) it has a knock sensor that can signal the engine to take more drastic measures should detonation actually occur. If the detonation sensor was coming into play on a regular basis, then premium really would give stronger performance.

That soot at the tailpipe further raises the question about what ends up at the intake valves through EGR and PCV. But no engines had been destroyed because of the valve deposits. Yet?

That's a good point. I think the fact that, after more than 4 years, there have been no problems reported speaks louder to the effectiveness of whatever anti-soot deposit strategies Mazda implemented than any speculation we can muster. Still, it's fun to speculate.

I bet the catalyst warm-up strategy of rich running coupled with early exhaust valve opening has a cleansing effect on the exhaust valves. Before the valves are hot enough to carbonize, they get a flow of unburnt fuel over them.

 

[MikeM.]

Kedis, thanks for the oil analysis!

 

[yrwei52]

It was overnight from a previous 25 mile drive. I put it up on ramps in garage after this drive, turned off vehicle and changed oil the following morning without starting motor.

On a side note for those that don't know you can obtain the Blackstone kits free from here:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/free-test-kits.php

You pay for postage to send it in and when they test. I just put postage stamps on the plastic bottle and dropped in the mailbox.

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

So you change your oil when engine is cold? I thought the common practice is changing the oil when engine is hot so that the oil can drain out faster and more complete? But that's dangerous, so I change the oil when engine is warm.

I didn't know you can do oil analysis for free. Thanks for the info!

 

[MikeM.]

I change it both ways depending on convenience. I really don't see any danger in this... if anything it has given the engine a chance to drain all oil back in to the oil pan.

I agree with this. But Kedis was thoughtful about it and put it on the ramps the day before while the oil was hot.

The wrong way to do it is to start a cold engine for a minute or two to get it on the ramps and then drain it. It would take a lot of idling to get the engine truly up to temperature so all the oil would drain into the pan!

 

[calebian21]

 

[gner]

I would like to add this report to the analysis report even though
i put it on this site back in Jan 2016. At the time i thought i fuel in
the oil so i changed it early. We mainly do short trips most of time.

<a href="http://s108.photobucket.com/user/mariner_03/media/Blackstone%20Report.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n1/mariner_03/Blackstone%20Report.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Blackstone Report.jpg"/></a>

 

[gner]

I forgot to mention i use Mobil 1 0W-20 Advanced Fuel Economy

 

[madar]

I would like to add this report to the analysis report even though
i put it on this site back in Jan 2016. At the time i thought i fuel in
the oil so i changed it early. We mainly do short trips most of time.

My stepdaughter did a lot of short trips over the cold months in her CX5, also. The oil really reaked of fuel when I changed it a month ago.

 

[CX5_Pete]

Just changed my oil today at a 5K miles. Going to send the sample on monday if I don't forget. This will be the factory fill. Only thing I really want to see from the first sample is the TBN.

 

[yrwei52]

Just changed my oil today at a 5K miles. Going to send the sample on monday if I don't forget. This will be the factory fill. Only thing I really want to see from the first sample is the TBN.

It'll be very interesting to see how much the molybdenum content is from your oil analysis. And it'd be nice to know if the factory oil is indeed the Mazda moly oil or something else. Keep us posted.