Blackstone lab says my Mobil 1 SUV oil is out of specs
 

Here are my first Blackstone results on my 1983 300SD at 3,217 miles oil change (mobil 1 5-40).

Looks OK except for:

My number / Universal Average for OM 617

Molybdeum, 24/21
Potassium, 10/5
Magnesium, 394/339
Phosphorus, 1233/1149
Zinc, 1473/1369

Sus Viscosity, 80.3/65-78. :confused:

Car runs great! No leaks does not smoke or burn oil between 3,000 mile oil changes. 27 - 30 mpg mixed driving and good pickup. I change the Mobil 1 5-40 every 3,000 miles, hot overnight draining and fill to between the full and add mark.

Are these the universal numbers other members with the 617 where given? Is my car's number showing something to come? Have I been driving it wrong - for 22 years?

That report looks pretty good overall. The moly, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus are from the oil addatives, so those will vary depending on the type of oil used. The potassium is worth watching as it sometimes means antifreeze is getting in the oil. In this case, the sodium is normal, so it is doubtful that the potassium is from antifreeze. My 300D does the same thing. There is no potassium in virgin oil (at least not in that brand), so the potassium has to come from somewhere. Blackstone seems to think it comes from fuel addatives, but I am not sure about that yet.

Palangi,

I agree about moly, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus are from the oil additives in Mobil 1.
However, would not the "standard" numbers of Mobil 1 SUV be known and adjusted by Blackstone lab? The point of this type of report is to be compared to what it should be to the oil used. I think, I do not known this, the lab may be using "brand X’ or dino oil "normal numbers which would make the report not very useful unless there is a big problem.

Besides the potassium of 10 ppm instead of <5 ppm is the viscosity of 80.3 after 3,000 miles. Again it is my first oil report but I am not clear about how useful an oil analysis is for an average car that does not have obvious issues.

I don't know how they come up with their "standard" numbers. I suspect they are just averages from many samples of many types of oil. I doubt if they are specific to the type of oil being analyzed. Oils and addative packages seem to change periodically anyway.

Your viscosity being a bit out of expected range is not a problem. Maybe there is still a bit of some previous heaver oil in there. Don't worry about it unless it starts thinning out.

There is a brief explanation of how to interpret their reports on their website www.blackstone-labs.com . Or, for some deeper reading, check the forums at www.bobistheoilguy.com .