UOA of previous Maxlife & testiment of 3.2L

[Ramblin Fever]

EQUIPMENT MAKE: Isuzu
EQUIPMENT MODEL: 3.2L V-6
FUEL TYPE: Gasoline (Unleaded)
OIL USE INTERVAL: 4,000 Miles
OIL TYPE & GRADE: Valvoline Max-Life 3 qts 5W/30 & 2.5qts 10w/30
OIL FILTER: Napa Gold
Total miles on unit: 166,200

Blackstone's comments: No anti-freeze, water or gas were found in this sample of your "special-mix" oil. Viscosity measured in the SAE 20W range. Insolubles (oil oxidation due to heat, use and blow-by) were normal at
0.3%, showing good oil filtration and complete combustion. Silicon was okay at 12 ppm, showing adequate air filtration. All of the wear metals read close to universal averages for this type of V-6 indicating normal wearing parts and careful operation. We should all look this good at this "age". At the rate your Rodeo is going, it will probably outlast all of us!

Current OCI 4k / Previous - Havoline 5w-30 blend /Universal
Napa Gold / Isuzu OEM filter w/ 3K /

AL 5 1 3
CHR 1 0 1
FE 5 3 8
Cop 4 1 4
Lead 0 0 1
Tin 0 1 0
Moly 264 47 53
Potas 0 0 0
Boron 8 67 34
Si 12 6 11
sod 4 1 3
Cal 3680 1280 1898
Mag 9 7 135
Phos 711 490 709
Zinc 873 576 874
Barium 0 0 2

Nic,Mang,Silver,Titanium, Potassium were all 0

SUS 58.4 57.5
FLA 405 385
Fuel <0.5 <0.5
Antif 0.0 0.0
water 0.0 0.0
Insol 0.3 0.5

This is OCI & UOA was the 2nd run of using Maxlife, otherwise this truck has had a life of Havoline 10w-30

Their comment is good testiment that these 3.2L V6 Isuzu engines are very stout, IMHO, as this truck has had a "working" life for a V6 that obviously is not showing any issues. This engine thins out oil quickly however, the far right numbers are Universal averages for this engine with 4,750 miles.

[amigo-2k]

so your Moly 264 is pretty high then?

[Ramblin Fever]

Yeah, Moly is a good additive within the oil itself.

[trooperbc]

what's your analysis of the blackstone analysis service?
and besides the 'fun' of looking at all those numbers, do you figure that this is a worthwhile thing to do? inotherwords, in real world terms, does it make any difference?
and have you used other services, how do they compare?

thanks

//bc

[Ramblin Fever]

Blackstone is the only service I've used, only used them twice now.

I've only had the oil done, but next partial fluid change on the auto transmission and I'll send that in too.

I'll probably stick to only doing a UOA once a year on this truck, probably not 100% meaningful, but it is nice to know there is no trace of any kind of moisture or antifreeze. And obviously this engine has a LONG life left to live.

[surferfletch]

Good to hear the engine is doing well with good maintenance. Sucks to do the recommended stuff or more and still have it break down.

[Ramblin Fever]

It is very upsetting to do all the recommended stuff on an engine and have issues; happen to us 4 times on our old '85 Toyota. Very, very upsetting - but, twice we did suspect a teeny tiny amount of antifreeze missing from the reserve tank, that's all it took.

And no, this UOA test is not exact science or even 100% exact on what's occuring, but the lead number is 0 - meaning the bearings are extremely happy and every other *wear* metal is in the single digits which is excellent for an older engine, along with the .03 Insoluables, meaning the engine itself is clean internally and that the filter I'm using is working extremely well.

I'm mainly only doing this once/twice a year just incase any antifreeze gets detected so we can hopefully be aware of it before a major issue/expense, but for now, seeing as I only did this test once last year, and once this year, and the numbers are still the same, it'll probably be next January before I do another test. I still change the oil every 3-4k though.

Oh, and this test also informed me that these 3.2L's like to shear the oil back fairly quickly, in which a heavy 30wt oil is one I would definitely recommend for summer use. This UOA oil that was tested was a low/middle 30wt and sheared it back even in cold weather use.