Hard to say as colour hue on dipstick probably is not comparable against colour on Blotter Spots.
I have a feeling your Total could go at least 8000-10000 km no sweat assuming typical history of local oil replacement.
Why not share with us here your Blotter spot test sample.
You need a chromatograhy paper or white coloured name card ...... but I use a letter head ........other people say coarser paper and thinner paper maybe slightly different. IDK.
Mine is a bit coarse type paper and the sample above is about 48 hours after putting the blot, though shorter hours one looks marginally 'better' than this sample.
Refer to my links above in BITOG for some basics if you can.

Edit: My history of oil replacement above would suggest that my sample should be dirtier than others here.
Edit2: This Tesco Quartz Energy 10W40 is fourth round here.

This post has been edited by zeng: Feb 8 2017, 03:05 PM

Just changed my oil last month .
Just snap the oil on both vehicles @1000km
Color almost same..
Top naza ria
Bottom saga blm
Left new (cannot see) above the 500ms mark


Attached thumbnail(s)

Kudos for having taken the first step ....... and it's free and easy ..... keep 'playing' around with Blotter Spot Tests further ...... and along the way , take some 'guessing' out of equation....... enabling quite equal comparison of USA sunkist oranges against Australian sunkist oranges.

You may want to use separate 'paper' of say, A4 size for differrent engine/vehicle/auto transmisssion etc for trending (at a glance without fumbling around with different images while comparing..... ) ....
recording times/km travelled progressively.

Edit: if you are sharing images, may be good to write up oil brand/viscosity grade etc and vehicle brand/model/Turbo/engine or auto transmission etc.

This post has been edited by zeng: Feb 8 2017, 04:19 PM

Hmm maybe I'll give it a try sometime later but I doubt it'll come as clean as yours. Now is already about 9k km so normally I'd change at 10k.

If your targeted OCI is 10k km, then it's best to take Blotter Spot Test sample around 8500-9000 km and/or 9500 km sample with a view of ascertaining whether :
a )You must replace said oil at 10000 km as planned/scheduled if sample shows bad/lousy signs, or
b ) You may have option to extend OCI further if 9000 km sample or 9500 km shows that oil sample still looks nice and promising.

My previous OCI was 11000 km in Aug 2016.
So I took Blotter Spot sample at 10441 km (and at earlier mileage), which I felt OCI could be extended further to either 12000 or 13000 km.
Then at 11700 km and 12200 km , I took another two samples separately (showing far better result than previous Aug 2016 sample of 11000 km ) giving me confidence to possibly push to 13000 km OCI.
Hence my current posting here and on Bitog soliciting for comments .......which you could do the same!

This post has been edited by zeng: Feb 9 2017, 12:54 AM

Where can I get chromatography paper, Sir?

In Malaysia ? Honestly I don't know, mate.
You may have better luck with US online stores like Amazon/Ebay though.
Alternatively business card and coarse texture company correspondence letter head should be easily available.
In times to come, I may try Blotter Spot Tests (BST) on fine texture computer printer paper for comparisons.

Goohtj, do you have 48 hours( or thereabout ) pictures for sharing ?
Appreciate that.

u mean leave the oil sample for 48 hrs?

I mean taking pictures 48 hours or thereabout AFTER depositing the above Blotter Spots of yours ...... as is my picture in post #1.
There is usually minor variations against those taken say, 2 hours after depositing the Blotter BST.

Curious..Did you change the oil filter in between the oil changes? If yes on what mileage?

No.
Filter is of same mileage as this oil, now approaching 12600 km.
Is there something to be wary of ?

This post has been edited by zeng: Feb 10 2017, 08:14 PM

Hmmm...In read somewhere it says that it is better to change the filter every 5k-8k eventhough the oil didn't change. Then just too up the oil. Forgotten where and not sure how true is that though. All i know is original oil filter is the best if compared to other aftermarket brands. Seen the video and filter elements inside in YouTube.

Agree with you that the rule of thumb was filter change in every 2 oil changes totaling 10,000 km.
But, from what I read at bobistheoilguy.com the Americans are habitually changing oil filter at more than 10,000 miles (not km)........
granted our filters used here might differ from theirs.
From this Blotter Spot Tests picture above at 12,238 km mileage (and other pictures with me as well) , I'm of the opinion that this RM12 filter is holding up well so far ......
though it's always to safer to change earlier or as recommended by OEM etc.

I think it highly depends on our driving conditions. For daily stop go traffic as in Penang,Kl, Johor..I think it is better to change the filter earlier. Engines are more strained in these conditions, furthermore the air will be more dusty.
I do not know how well foreign particles are suspended in the oil, so no comment on the blotter spot test for this dirt aspect. . Best is take out the filter and cut it open to check the filter elements.

It's up to 30000 km, the engine keeps record of how you drive, and under what condition, and calculates when it is time to go for an oil change. French and Italian manufacturers go up to 35000 km between oil changes (or even 50000 km for diesel engines). However VW demands inspections at other intervals it seems, which is good because there they hopefully find any upcoming defects before they get serious. IMHO that is very important, 35000 km between oil changes... not much of an issue I believe, but not noticing a small defect that causes other, bigger ones... that is.

wow. Never drive below 3000 rpm? I rarely ever drive above 3000 rpm... usually in town I'm at around 1000 rpm, maybe 1300. Shift gear at 1500-1700. Only on the highway the rpm is higher, because I run out of gears... May I ask why your revs are so high?

Aahh ..... European VW engines, no wonder.
Is this sort of 'intelligent' type of Oil Life Monitor (OLM , being GM's, not VW, terminology) ? ....
and do higher sulphur RON 95 and lower sulphur RON 97 give you different mileages according to OLM ?


Don't get alarmed though. This is 1.3L Avanza gearbox with lousy gear ratio, I have.
3000 rpm is too slow at 90 km/hr.
I drive 100 to 110 km/hr most of the time, and occasionally push to 120-140 km/hr on long distance travel.

Edit:I believe engine oil temperature in higher rpm engine would warm up faster in morning startup with cold ambients.

This post has been edited by zeng: Feb 11 2017, 09:02 PM

I don't fuel up 97 because it's more expensive. Usually I fill up with E10, which is roughly RM 0.10 cheaper than regular 95 (the ethanol content is 10% rather than 5%). 97 is roughly RM 0.50 more (at 50 liters a week or so that makes a difference).

Yup, it's this "intelligent" system I suppose. Without long life oil and with the monitoring turned off the interval is 15000 km. Also, that's for people that mostly do long distance drives (since the engine is already warm... cold starts are the big issue). If you're mostly doing short distance journeys, don't expect to get a 30000 km interval. Some people are reporting significantly less than that. In Malaysia manufacturers seem to prefer to play it safe (or you may say they want to cash in), and truth be told I guess the average driver mostly drives shorter distances.

On the other hand even a cold start in Malaysia is at significantly higher temperatures, and it takes forever for the engine to cool down. Like I could return to my car hours later and the engine was still warm... not 90°C, but above 30°C. In Germany I can be at a traffic light and watch the oil temperature drop with the engine on... A cold start can mean the engine has -20°C when starting on some days, which is much harsher on the oil than it ever could be in Malaysia. Basically, IMHO Malaysia is rather gentle on cars (apart from potholes... but we've got cobblestone, so that's perhaps even worse).

I found an overview of oil change intervals in Germany: Fiat and Alfa Romeo generally get their cars back at the 30000 km mark (diesel 35000 km), which is rather... optimistic. Then again my old Renault diesel was also 35000 km I believe, and the engine was still going strong after 255000 km. Citroen 20k (petrol) 25k diesel. Audi is like VW, 15 to 30k depending on driving style and conditions. Hyundai and Kia are usually 30k, while Toyota is 15k. Not so confident in their engines, it seems.

Ah, no wonder. Yeah, on the motorway my revs are higher too. My car could do with another gear, or a longer 6th, I'm around 2500 rpm at 110 when the engine could easily do that at lower revs. Yes, higher revs would warm up the engine faster (higher loads even more so... so full throttle). However I don't want too high revs at low temperatures when lubrication isn't good. What is really damaging is idling though. Don't idle when the engine is cold, because it does very little to warm it up, so the engine is running forever at low temperatures, leading to premature wear. Start engine, put on seatbelt, go.

Agree with you the Malaysian OEM's play safe and cashing in on local buyers recommending very very short OCI (even with high-priced SC oils) ..... .

The practice of morning start warm up by idling for xx minutes here ... to me is a joke ..... but that's what experts suggest anyway ..... ....

What's your take on relative engine failure rates (or engine life in km travelled) between German (Euro) engines of typically 3x,000 km OCI and Malaysia's Asian car(generally known for durability) <10000 km OCI engine ?

What about vs Msia's Euro engines of VW/Volvo OCI of xx (12000 km ..IDK?) ?

Btw, would appreciate your sharing Blotter picture upload at 30,000 km OCI in times to come ........ that's going to be eye opening for most members here with disbelief .

This post has been edited by zeng: Feb 14 2017, 11:28 AM

Cost benefit , is the cost of an oil change worth the benefit of saving some little money ?

For me the clearer the oil , the less the detergents are cleaning the engine.

Secondly all cars now fitted with exhaust gas recirculation for emission controls , it just dumps so much garbage back into the engine , if the oil isn't picking and holding that garbage , it's going into your cylinder walls and main bearings