2010 S4 Blackstone Lab Results Are In - Should I Be Concerned?

[MikeIC23]

Below are the results of my 2010 S4 oil analysis. The car has 70K miles, I just changed the oil at 10K miles (Mobil 1 0W40). To the best of my knowledge, it was APR Stage 2 since about 40K miles and I just went dual pulley at 65K. The aluminum and iron levels are elevated in particular (although Blackstone did call my car an A4 in their comments, idk how much of a difference that makes for their “universal average” figure). Thanks in advance for your input!

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[AlaskanAudi]

Could it be the A4s use different metal in their engines? If that’s the case then it’s not concerning as it’s apples to oranges. But if the benchmark values are indeed apples to apples, then I would be concerned. Some of the values are more than double the average. Did anyone with an A4 do this comparison, or even someone with a 3.0T A6?


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[Dr GP]

First of all, If I were running a car with similar mods, I would not be stretching my oil change interval to 10k miles. Maybe you could get away with 7.5k, But 5k might be better. Secondly, I have no personal issues with Mobil 1 oil, however, I would try using another name brand full synthetic oil to see if there was a difference after next oil change.

[Corradobrit]

Any cold start rattle?

[MikeIC23]

Any cold start rattle?

None. It runs perfect.


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[socrates42]

Blackstone reports are great when you are comparing your same vehicle and engine over time. Agree on the interval, 10k with any kind of tune or even with 50% city driving is awful. Every 5k is what you should be doing. If you do analysis on that over time you will see a trend, or a sharp change, thats when you should get worried. A single point of data isn't enough evidence to loose any sleep over. Check again in 5k.

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[Silver Streakin]

Stop using M1 0w40 if you’re going to run it 10k. That stuff wears down to a w30 anything beyond 6-7k. This was well documented back in the days of the B5 S4. It appears you added 2 qts as well. This should tell you it’s being burned up and done. Look at the viscosity values...they’re below spec. And that adding fresh oil to it.

Either use the M1 again and try a 5k-7500 interval or just switch to a 5w40 like Liqui Moly Syn/High Tech or Motual 8100.

[Indepth]

Stop using M1 0w40 if you’re going to run it 10k. That stuff wears down to a w30 anything beyond 6-7k. This was well documented back in the days of the B5 S4. It appears you added 2 qts as well. This should tell you it’s being burned up and done. Look at the viscosity values...they’re below spec. And that adding fresh oil to it.

Either use the M1 again and try a 5k-7500 interval or just switch to a 5w40 like Liqui Moly Syn/High Tech or Motual 8100.

FWIW - I tried LM Leichtlauf and while it is great oil, I gave Rotella T6 a shot afterwards and saw the same performance from my car with the T6 (at a much cheaper cost). I run the T6 for 5K-7.5K miles and do majority highway (likely a 75/25 split highway/city) and have had zero issues in almost 15K miles.

Just throwing another instance in the ring for comparison, my oil analysis results are showing minimal wear - better than what Blackstone typically sees for our cars.

[97B518TQM]

I don’t think you, the driver, can really feel any difference in performance due to using a different oil, unless you put water instead of oil in the engine. The measure of “performance” of an oil isn’t exactly in acceleration.


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[Dr GP]

I don’t think you, the driver, can really feel any difference in performance due to using a different oil, unless you put water instead of oil in the engine. The measure of “performance” of an oil isn’t exactly in acceleration.


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DING!

[Dr GP]

.This should tell you it’s being burned up and done. Look at the viscosity values...they’re below spec. And that adding fresh oil to it.

Either use the M1 again and try a 5k-7500 interval or just switch to a 5w40 like Liqui Moly Syn/High Tech or Motual 8100.

Could also be losing oil from the PCV valve as well

[tar]

Let's just all agree m1 is garbage. And 10k changes at dp is flat out dumb.

[Dr GP]

Let's just all agree m1 is garbage. And 10k changes at dp is flat out dumb.

I don't agree. I have seen some Blackstone oil analysis that show the oil is still protective @7500 miles. Depending on driving conditions,some may be able to get by just fine with a 10k oil change interval. I believe that unless you car is being driven under harsh conditions, 5k miles is probably not necessary. IMHO,7.5k is ideal in most cases. As far as Mobil 1 is concerned, it' s not a bad synthetic oil but there are others that are just as good if not better. Mobil 1 produces an Extended Formula variety that is better then the European formula.But costs about 2x times as much. IMHO, not worth it.

[jbain2]

I don't agree. I have seen some Blackstone oil analysis that show the oil is still protective @7500 miles. Depending on driving conditions,some may be able to get by just fine with a 10k oil change interval. I believe that unless you car is being driven under harsh conditions, 5k miles is probably not necessary. IMHO,7.5k is ideal in most cases. As far as Mobil 1 is concerned, it' s not a bad synthetic oil but there are others that are just as good if not better. Mobil 1 produces an Extended Formula variety that is better then the European formula.But costs about 2x times as much. IMHO, not worth it.

You said you have seen “some” analyses where oil is still protecting. There are cases to the counter. The OP in this thread for example. I don’t understand why you would push it unnecessarily just to save a few bucks. If you drive the car for 100k miles and change the oil every 5k vs. 7.5k that’s a difference of 6 oil changes so $320 over the 100k miles. I’ll spend the extra $320 (assuming I drive the car for 100k) for peace of mind.


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[sbw]

I recently switched to Motul but was running Castrol’s Syntec O.E. I’ve been running oil changes anywhere from 7-9k. Each change I’ve done black stone analysis and they’ve all come back excellent. The oil level dropped slightly by that time, but never enough to need to add any (I wanted to get an undiluted sample for black stone). I would suspect some burning with any car running higher than normal boost levels without some kind of aftermarket oil/air separator with a return.

Anyway, I know I go against the grain but I haven’t had an issue running higher intervals. I try to run a slightly heavier weight if I am running through the summer to combat that a little. It may be worth you considering that.

Just my .02


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[Lbsigman]

Here's my UOA as a comparison. Mind you, this is before I went stage 1 EPL tune. Majority of my driving is in the city 75:25 and I change my oil every 5,000 miles. Before I switched to Castrol Edge Titanium, I tried Motul X-Cess 8100 with okay results. I will never use M1 as the cold startups were noiser compared to Motul and Castrol.

[MikeIC23]

Here's my UOA as a comparison. Mind you, this is before I went stage 1 EPL tune. Majority of my driving is in the city 75:25 and I change my oil every 5,000 miles. Before I switched to Castrol Edge Titanium, I tried Motul X-Cess 8100 with okay results. I will never use M1 as the cold startups were noiser compared to Motul and Castrol.

Thanks for sharing!


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